Cruisepilot News

A Cruisepilot Member recounts her journey from the UK to Australia as a “10 pound POM” – nearly 50 years ago.

Article posted: June 15th, 2009 by Administrator | No Comments »

I set sail from Tilbury Docks, London, on the SS Orontes, on the 19th July 1960, as a 7 year old. There began the biggest adventure I had ever had in my life, and for me, a love affair with the sea and cruising that is still very very strong. My parents made the decision for my older sister, younger brother and myself to live in Australia as they felt there were far more oportunities for us, than there were in England. They were right of course.

I remember many exciting ports we visited eg Colombo, Port Said, the Suez Canal where we were met by Bum Boats and we all brought stuffed Camels off them that were all confriscated as soon as we arrived in Australia! We went on a tour to Pompeii which was quite frightening for a 7 year old who did not really understand about volcano eruptions, and who thought another one might happen any moment we were there!

My parents are both quite artistic, so we all entered all of the various dress cup comptetitions on board and got a first, second or third place in every competition we entered. The most memorable was my father dressing up as Tweety Pie in a cage. My mother stapled his yellow crepe paper costume to him amid yelps of pain which were promptly dismissed. It wasn’t until after the comptetion when we discovered the staples had gone into his skin!

I remember the voyage as being fantastic and loving every moment of it: the onboard school, the free ice creams mid afternoon, having dinner with all the other children (which always turned into a riot!), the King Neptune ceremony when crossing the equator, sleeping on the deck chair on steamy nights, playing hide-and-seek with my sister and our friends, and best of all, looking over the deck and seeing nothing but sparling blue sea for as far as the eye could see. Although nearly 50 years ago, the memories are as clear now as if they were yesterday.

My dream is to one day make the return journey on a cruise with my husband who, like me was also a “10 pound tourist” and migrated to Australia with his family when he was a child…. dream on Pam!