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New Zealand, along with UK RAF/Army and RAAF personnel (later on, I came across an Army sapper, who I had befriended at Maralinga, whilst in Aden, Yemen, and we had a great reunion).
At Maralinga, the RAF prepared and cooked the food, and Fridays were always a good day because of the fresh crayfish on the menu; this caused a rush at dinner!
My accommodation was adequate, and I was allocated a ‘donga’ to myself. I discovered that the entertainment consisted of a bar (bring on the ‘pitchers’ of beer), the snooker table and cinema. After a few days, I ventured to the NAAFI shop and paid in old Australian pounds, shillings and pence, to purchase a few items during my time based at Maralinga.
We had a few pets around the ‘dongas’ (the Australian slang for
temporary housing), a couple of dogs, and I had a cockatiel/parakeet for a while.
As we were servicemen, the standards had to be kept up by wearing our No. 1 uniforms on parade, or ‘divisions’, the RN equivalent.
One of the most distinguished servicemen I had ever met, was Warrant Officer Beresford. WO Beresford’s job was leading the transport section during my time. He taught me a lot about the Australian bush and Aboriginal people, by taking me along with
him on his visits to their settlements. We took old clothes, shoes, and,
for some reason, old newspapers. On my first trip out with him, and before we reached the settlement, he told me to stand by the rear of the station wagon Land Rover to stop the Aboriginals going in.
During that first trip, I didn’t understand why WO Beresford told me to do this, until when I turned my back for a split second, the rear door flung open, and a number of people dived in, clearing nearly everything in a flash! This didn’t
go down well with Mr Beresford, and I learned a lesson on that trip. I came away with lots of items
that would not be allowed to leave the country today, which have since been lost over the years.
On occasions, ideas were thought up to relieve the boredom, in such land-locked, desolate surroundings. One idea was for the RN boys to take out four short-wheeled Land Rovers for a jolly into the bush.
Mr Beresford laid the law down for us regarding the vehicles, as he had lost a long-wheeled vehicle driven by RN personnel, which turned out to be a right-off.
CAMPAIGN SPRING 2021