[21/11/1915]
D Company 8th Reinforcements
Sunday Nov 1915
Dear May
Left port this morning after an enjoyable run ashore. As you will see by the pictures sent it is a decidedly picturesque little place, & we were fortunate in having an opportunity of running round the town and spending a few hours admiring the Botanical Gardens & the natural beauty spots of the town. It is a comparatively old settlement & many of the old time shops & houses still occupy prominent positions & to a certain extent mar the appearance of the town. In the more recently settled suburbs the houses & gardens are delightful. Flowers, especially roses & geraniums, are to be seen everywhere, great bushes of them. It is a lovely sight & after being on the briney for a week you can imagine how much we enjoyed it. In town there are some very nice shops but generally speaking the business position seems rather tame & shopkeepers & assistants appear to lack energy & push. This is all the more noticeable after coming direct from bustling Wellington. The youngsters alone seem keen on business & pestered us
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continually with postcards & cigarettes & if we gave them any encouragement they would ask for badges, buttons & even money & when refused they would curse us in great style. Most of them are roughly dressed & evidently belong to the poorer class. Of the better to do class of boys we saw scores dressed up in cricket togs & carrying bats & in every spare corner there is a game of cricket going on. To a New Zealander it is very striking. Taking it all round our trip ashore was most enjoyable & very interesting & the people received us an unmistakably hearty manner. At night a concert party with a piano came down to give us a concert but the authorities would not let them on the wharf so they held the concert outside the gates. We could hear parts of it & joined them in singing patriotic & other songs (often finishing up 3 or 4 bars ahead of the piano). I forgot to say that while in town we indulged in the pleasure of strawberries & cream and arrived back at the ship with bags of cherries, oranges & bananas & a big cocoanut. It was late before we were steaming out of the port. Most of the day we were sailing in sight of land & the passage
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has been rather good. Developed two films today have one or two nice ones of the city & surroundings. Had a little violin & piccolo music during afternoon but Hargest got seasick again. Bagrie & I are still good & I think we will have no further trouble. We eat almost continuously & Hargest asked us today if we aren’t beginning to find this eating business getting monotonous. Monday Right out to sea again today – cold, windy & rough. We can’t do any thing to keep warm, can’t even get a scrap of rope to have a skip so have to roll ourselves up & walk up & down deck. Our balaclavas come in handy we roll them up & use them as caps. They are the only thing that will stick on. Bagrie & I have just had a sparring match seeing who could knock the others hat off. It warmed us up in good style, especially about the ears. There is a fairly good library on board & I got a book out tonight – “At The Foot of the Rainbow” by G. S. Porter. Tue Sea much calmer today & sun shining brightly. Best day we’ve had so far. The bight is not nearly as bad as we expected. It’s sposed to be
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the roughest part but so far we are well pleased with it. Cutout my book today – it’s not nearly as good as “The Harvester”. Saw two things they reckoned were whales this morning but they were a long way off. Wed Weather much better today, sea calm & everyone seems to be enjoying the trip. Had a parade for physical drill this morning & a lecture on Fire direction. This afternoon we are suppose to put in an hour at semaphore but I am sitting in a quiet corner writing – the chances are they will go & have the parade without letting me know. Hargest & I have done a lot at it in our own time & can easily pick up the signals from the other ship, whereas the rest of the Company are just learning the alphabet & it is not particularly interesting. The “gift” stuff is being distributed today & tomorrow – so far we have had a big box of apples to each platoon – about 4 or 5 apples a-piece & I believe there is some clothing etc to be given out yet, however I am not anxious about that as I have as much as any kit will hold. What we want most is something for lunch. By the way we get lovely tinned pears here at the canteen. They are
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“All Gold” brand & the label is gold colour all over. They are delicious, had a tin each for supper last night, far ahead of any other pears I have tasted – you should try them if you ever see the brand. Albert H says they are new to him. We pay 7d for them. Passed several more whales today two of them quite close to the boat. They weren’t far out of the water but were spouting in great style. Mail closes tomorrow at midday so won’t be able to write much more. We are all properly accustomed to the roll of the boat now & are getting a good deal of enjoyment out of the trip. Reveille goes at 5 am & we have to parade at 5.30 for physical drill. It seems unnecessarily early when we loaf round deck pretty well all day but it’s “orders” & that is the end of it. We never know what we are going to do next or when we are going to do it. It would be much more satisfactory from our point of view if definite instructions were given & adhered to. Same with the canteen. Everything has to be bought with coupons obtained from the Officer between 8 pm & 8.30 pm – a most rediculous time & a time when most of the men wanted to be in bed especially for the first few days when they were feeling not too good & the weather was so cold. To make matter worse I have
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waited up to get tickets & then found that the officer was no where to be seen which meant of course that I could buy nothing the next day. Of course these are just trifles & we will have many greater disappointments before we get back, but after being used to Trentham where work is planned & plans are worked & everything done right on the tick, this erratic & apparently haphazard way is rather annoying. Thurs Still enjoying calm weather and are able to have a good deal of sport on deck. Spend a good deal of our time at leap frog, hop-step & jump & various acrobatic tricks. Last night we had a good orchestral concert on the deck, 2 violins, a clarinet, flute & piccolo. As we are losing our band at the next port of call there is some talk of getting an orchestra together to take their place but so far there has been nothing done. We have great difficulty in getting a decent piano player in fact I don’t think there is one to be got among all the N.C.O’s & men on board. Will be glad to go into port tomorrow & see a paper. We are properly cut off here & never hear a word of news. Last we heard Greece was still on the verge & every thing else was pretty much as when we left. We don’t expect to get
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any more news after tomorrow until we get to the end of the voyage. Must stop now as I have a few more letters to write before dinner. It will be just on Xmas before we write again so wish you all the Merriest of Xmases. As far as I know it will be my first Xmas away from home & although I’ll miss all the fun that I always associate with Xmas I will be having enjoyment of a different sort & in a very different place. Instead of Dome Creek & Round Hill I’ll explore the Nile & the Pyramids, but possibly I’ll have to eat my lunch without butter – just as we did last Boxing Day. In any case I’ll be having a good time & hope you will too. We have already developed the habit of thinking not so much of the pleasures we have left behind as of the many new pleasures that we enjoy and although I am continuously thinking & talking about home & our NZ friends I have never felt at all home sick and am enjoying the whole business just as if I were wealthy tourist having a pleasure trip around the world. In fact plenty of wealthy men go through more than ever we will have to, exploring unknown countries, climbing mountains peaks & even going to the South Pole & they get
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so much pleasure out of that we might well envy them, so that it is only natural after all that we should derive pleasure out of our trip if we look at it in the right light. Must stop or I’ll miss the mail.
Love & Best Wishes to All
Len
[Written at top of Page 1]
Excuse “dog ears”, dirty paper etc.
