Tranquil WEE Places you have visited in MN

[happy daze john in oz]

How about Frey Bentos in Uruguay, or Ushuaia right down the bottom of Argentina , both of them were one brothel towns where the girls were very accommodating

Did you say Frey Bentos or frayed benders???????

[alf corbyn]

g'day den cougars?? who counts them. cheers. alf

[Celsis]

I remember going to the coal port at MacKay in Queensland and getting directions to the nearest bar. I had to walk along a road bulldozed out of the bush but when I got to the bar it was beautiful! Right ont he beach with palm trees gently swaying in the breeze.

It's on my list of places to visit again before I take the deep six!

[alf corbyn]

fray bentos. you had to pass the brothel to get to town. took my cycle with me and made freinds with some o the locals. cheers. alf

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I remember going to the coal port at MacKay in Queensland and getting directions to the nearest bar. I had to walk along a road bulldozed out of the bush but when I got to the bar it was beautiful! Right ont he beach with palm trees gently swaying in the breeze.

It's on my list of places to visit again before I take the deep six!

Hi Celsis.
Mackay! You wont recognise it now, one of Queenslands biggset ports shipping wise. I remember loading sugar there in 1950, [if you remember it has a 14 feet rise and fall] went for a swim at the beach, hid our swimming costumes between some rocks, went to the cinema, open roof, could sit there looking up at the millions of stars. On the way back picked up the swimmers, all had big toads sitting on them, ugly bloody things.
Cheers Des

[Celsis]

Hi Celsis.
Mackay! You wont recognise it now, one of Queenslands biggset ports shipping wise. I remember loading sugar there in 1950, [if you remember it has a 14 feet rise and fall] went for a swim at the beach, hid our swimming costumes between some rocks, went to the cinema, open roof, could sit there looking up at the millions of stars. On the way back picked up the swimmers, all had big toads sitting on them, ugly bloody things.
Cheers Des

I guess that's the problem for all of us. We remember places as they were and not as they are now. Having said that, I was only in MacKay 30 years ago and the town was about 25km away from the coal port, so it was MacKay in name only.

[Gary Worton]

Hi Frank;
Oddest place I can recall visiting was Pepple, up the river a ways from Freetown, Sierra Leone on the West African coast. On the Naess Trader (Denholms) at the time. There wasn't even a quay; just tree stumps on the river bank. No gangway, just a conveyor belt for the iron ore. It was a bit scary going ashore, along the belt over about thirty feet of open water, but such was the pull of the village hut, where they sold bottles of beer. I can't remember going back aboard, but I don't think anybody fell in the river! Just as well really, as we were told that there are all kinds of snakes and other wee beasties in there. Some of the local kids as young as six or seven used to paddle their
canoes out to the ship and dive for coins that we threw. They never missed once, nor were they detered by monsters of the deep! As you say, it sure is a change from the big city ports.

Yorkie

[Bill Cameron]

Frank, the mention on Botwood Nfdl, brought back sweet memories, in 1958 I was serving as a Cabin Boy on the MV Dundee a small vessel built in Burntisland especially for the Great Lakes for the DP&L or Dundee Perth & London shipping Coy. Each March the three vessels from the DP&L set sail for the Great Lakes the Dundee was the largest at 2500 Dwt and the others the Perth and Lunan were smaller, this was in the days before the Seaway opened.
This was the 10 best months of my time in the Merch' the Dundee had 28 of a crew that included Officers, it was one of the happiest ships in my whole career. We arrived over in the States late March and in 1958 we had to break ice on the way west to Detroit, we were the first salt water vessel to reach Detroit that year.
We took general cargo from the US & Canada to Nfdl, we carried everything from shoes, clothing, Dhobi dust, to cases of liquor and we called in at all the usual Nfdl ports Corner Brook, Botwood, St Johns, where we usually spent a few days and if my memory is not playing tricks on me St Johns was a wet port, tho being 18 I was not allowed in the bars.
We then sailed around all the little fishing ports such as Placentia, Argentina, Boxey, and the strangest one of all Isle aux Morte.
We had a great time and as a single bloke I had the time of my life, Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dertoit and the hell hole as it was in those days Montreal it was the time of Quebec Libre and if you could not speak French you were dead.
But getting back to Botwood, I ended up in the Cottage Hospital there for 2 weeks with a badly poisoned leg. I had the time of my life the Matron was from Edinburgh, the main Surgeon/Doctor was from Dundee and I was the only Scot there . Well the best bit was, all the Nurses aids were 17 to 19 year olds, and I was the centre of attraction, every day . Botwood at that time had a ratio of 7 women to every man in the town, what more can I say, I had the Agent's wife and her pals looking after this poor wee Scots laddies so far from home, a part I played to the full.
We continued the voyage until Dec when we were frozen in to the locks in the Lachine Canal, for 5 days, no wonder all of us hated Montreal. We finally arrived of Liverpool on Hogmanay, but had to anchour off, because of Fog, the Skipper George Wood a great Skipper threw open the Bond and what a party we had.
Frank thanks for awakening my memory of my time in Botwood,
I have now been on the beach in Leith since I left the Merch' married a Leither canny be bad.

[happy daze john in oz]

fray bentos. you had to pass the brothel to get to town. took my cycle with me and made freinds with some o the locals. cheers. alf

Gee Alf mate, surely there must have been some local bicycles there!!!!!

[happy daze john in oz]

G'day Des, yes mate like so many ports that have changed around the world. Remember going to Brisbane in 64, like going back to the late 40's. Went back a few years ago and boy what a change, now about 1975. The big slaughter house on the river is gone, loaded frozen beef there, and all the dirt roads around the town have been surfaced.