Hi Des, I was of course only having a joe about the medals :), it's just that I never had the wish to see that part of the world only
as passing through the canal, but always enjoy reading other members experiences of living and working there. I was never interested
in tankers or liners, only ever wanted to go on on the cargo ships, maybe if I'd been given a tanker as my first ship I may have felt
differently? but I will always feel very lucky that my first company was the NZSCo and my first trip was to NZ , I really loved that
country, not just for the great times I had there but the land itself with its natural beauty and the people who were so friendly and
welcoming, I was very interested in the Maori history and culture, I went out with a lovely Maori girl for a couple of trips and still have
the greenstone Hei-Tiki she gave me. Just recently watched a great program on BBC four, it was called New Zealand, earths mythical islands.
My first sighting of NZ was when we arrived in the early hours, we anchored off Rangitoto Island to unload munitions on to barges, when
I looked out of the porthole Rangitoto Island was being lit up by a beautiful sunrise, then we went to New Plymouth and I saw the snow
capped Mount Egmont, there was so much to take in, even coming round the coat seemed a bit special with the smell of the vegetation
in the sea breeze, add that to Curacao and the Panama canal for a sixteen year old from a london estate who had previously not travelled
further than Liverpool it was all a wondrous experience, NZ is the only country I could have left England for and i did come very close but
for various reasons it never happened, so Des sand and sandals is not for me but I do envy you for the years you had on the NZ coast,
I would have loved that. cheers, John F .