大象传媒

After all the excitement of catching a sexual deviate on board and after a day of entertainment for the troops: life on board resumed it's usual pace:The lazy life of eating, sleeping and just "doing nothing"!
Long ocean swells made us lazy as did the warm sun.
Nobody even thought about a storm like we had in the Atlantic:seasickness was forgotten.
We thought we might as well enjoy life as our final destination would be anything like this.
Most of the girls had never been to the tropics and they would have to do a lot of adjusting:not only to the climate but also to the change in food-:no dishes they were used to eat and liked, but a diifferent menu alltogether: mostly native:Rice was not eaten with butter and sugar like in Holland but with spicy meat, fish, veggies they never head of.

And then the BUGS: scorpions, cockroaches, spiders, bedbugs and "livestock" like that.
And what kind of patients would they take care of?

A good thing we did not know what was in store for us.

We, who were born there, only remembered the wonderfull life we had as a child: School only in the morning hours, a forced si毛sta we did not particularly care for, but trips to the swimmingpool,birthday parties,going for ice cream in the few restaurants where it was safe to eat ice cream.
Life was just great!
W had vacations in the mountains where it was cool and where we had to wear a wool sweater something that would cause :"Prickly Heat" - a kind of rash -where it was hot!!
We went horseback riding, made trips to visit non active vulcanoes ,saw roses for the first time and the food was more european than native as the cold climate changed our appetite.

On the Troopship we still slept outside on a deck reserved for us.

But one day we were told we had to sleep in our cabin: a storm was forming and it turned out to be a TYPHOON!
The stewards in the diningroom had their work cut out for them :"RIMS" on the tables were raised so nothing would slide off when the sea would be rough.
There was a kind of excitement in the air.
But before long the ocean got angry,The ship started to heave and most of the girls got green around the gills again like in the Atalantic.
They retired to their bunk and were not very happy.
We were not allowed to walk outside on the decks again:it was batten down the hatches.

I loved it: slowly but surely less and less people came to the diningroom;I had the place just about for myself, could eat all the food I wanted.
Several of the stewards did not show up.
One time with a temendous wave: all the crockery and utenils jumped over the rims crashing down on the floor.. ...The ship shuddered I could see the screw out of the water when she fell into a deep valley, the bow of the ship tried to climb up again against the moutaineous waves shuddering when she had to work so hard!:.... up and down up and down. The ship creaked as if she was going to break apart.

Being young and feeling invincible I did not expect to loose our life at sea: We had a super captain! He would get us safely through this typhoon and it might keep Japanese U-boats in quieter waters.

There was enough to eat for anyone wanting it: I DID!! but it was not served in the usual fancy way.
I went to the cabin to check on my room mates:they looked half dead, most of them clutching anything they could find to
throw up in; they looked absolutely miserable:one had a half eaten roll in her hand she must have tried to eat it but gave up . I took it away as she would start to throw up again just seeing it.

According to the staff later this was one bad typhoon.
Nobody washed overboard.
Amazingly enough as soon as we were out of the perimeter of the storm the sun shone,waves were still wild but the ocean did not look as angry.
Chalk up an other experience.
Most of my cabinmates said they wished they could have died!

We were on our way to NEW ZEALAND where some war brides and their babies were getting off.

We got a fantastic reception!
Also the Maori's treated us to their music and showed us all kind of dances in their colorfull outfits.

I loved the city of Welligton:clean streets, friendly people , beautifull shops.

When we went on board again for our last stretch to Australia we wondered what would await us?
How long would we stay in Brisbane our destination before leaving for the Dutch East Indies?
How long before we would go there and what kind of patients would we have to take care of??

I will let you know!

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