In December 1944 just before the end of the war, Grandma Steeds died. During the war Dad had had several years as an inspector of canteens in the NAAFI round Britain, first Dover, then Stranraer, then Dingwall, then for a short while he was a 'Special' constable in the Police. Then as conscription must have caught up with him, he was in the army, -the Pay Corps. After the war ended he worked in the office of Stones, builders merchants back in Thornton Heath but did not feel settled in England.
We would have had to wait two years for a ship to New Zealand. Why New Zealand? I don't know, except that the only contact we had 'Down Under' was a sister of Harold Booker a friend of Dad. Joan had married Ian Kelt a New Zealander, a bomber pilot and he had returned to N. Z. with her. Dad had found there was room on a ship sailing from San Francisco. He said he could be earning and settling down there and as there was some money from Grandma's estate we planned to fly from London.
In 1947 it was a great adventure for us all of course. I remember that, to obtain a visa, we all had to swear with a hand raised I think, -to the U.S. Consul in London, to be good while we were crossing America! We sold our house in Croydon to an older couple retiring from the civil service in India. Nineteen years later this ex 16 year old took his wife Mollie and two daughters Kate and Jane, 10 and 6 years old, back to see them and we had tea off some of the plates, and amongst the furniture of my childhood that we had left with the Andersons when we sold 103 Gonville Rd.
So, it was, leaving about seven cabin trunks which were sent by sea, that on the 4th May 1947 the four of us boarded a Pan American Lockheed Constellation at the new Heathrow Airport. It had been opened to the public on the 1st January 1946, taken over by Civil Aviation from the RAF Heston wartime airfield, and enlarged by bulldozing the little village of Heath Row. Pan Am started trans-Atlantic flights that January too. But even the four motor Constellation's range was limited and our first stop was Shannon in Ireland where I had my first, but rather tough I recall, steak. The 'Connie' then managed the Atlantic crossing to Gander in Newfoundland. There were just wooden huts there and a bit of snow I think. Finally, after about 13 hours for that day, we flew south to La Guardia Field, New York. There had been an outbreak of smallpox and we all had to be vaccinated before we could leave the airport. By the way, our arrival, individually, was on a website that I found recently.
We had two nights in New York, downtown, and mostly we just walked around locally. Mum bought a dress at Saks Fifth Avenue for niece Susan who was about two. One time, on my own, I wanted directions to somewhere. I walked up to a policeman on traffic duty. I was about 5 metres away and he put his hand on his holster and said 'don't move, what da ya want' ...A bit of an eye-opener for me!
Our last 'Connie' flight was Trans World Airways to Los Angeles. This overnight flight stopped at Kansas City then again at Chicago. We got to L.A. early morning and by breakfast time we were heading north by DC3 'Dakota' with wings flapping it seemed, to San Francisco. Again we had two nights in S.F. before the S.S. Marine Phoenix was due to sail for Auckland. The day we were to sail I took 10 year-old Martin by tram to Seal Rocks where we had our first 'Coke'. But it was not chilled and I was not impressed. When we got back to the hotel Mum and Dad were relieved. The ship was due to sail in a couple of hours!
The Marine Phoenix had been a troop ship, from the Kaiser shipyard and fully welded, which was unusual at that time. It was leased to the Matson Line, -who charged full passenger fare. Mum was in the fore peak with 22 other ladies. Martin and I were together in a six berth cabin. Dad too was in a male only, six berther. But the food was marvellous. Buckwheat cakes with maple syrup was my favourite for breakfast. We all sat at long tables, and when the weather got a bit rough they used to wet the tablecloths to stop things sliding. I remember the loos were a bit smelly and messy sometimes when it was rough. I spent a lot of the time leaning over the bow with my camera. I've got snaps of flying fish scudding in front of us. Dad seemed to spend much of the time below, playing bridge. Nurse Adelaide Sheridan -strange names these Americans have, was a dear. We met her again a couple of months later when the ship berthed again at Auckland. Our ship called first at Pago Pago where I spent time in the crystal water looking at the tropical fish. Then on to Suva where we took a taxi and toured mainly sugar cane plots. This is all boring nowadays but was new to us of course. The main export seen and smelled on the wharves seemed to be coconuts, or was it just the copra.
26th May 1947 is the date I always note, -in fact we had a party in 2007 before we left Hawkswood, on the Saturday when I'd been in New Zealand for 60 years... So, we berthed at Auckland. It was Whitmonday but Kiwis don't celebrate it and we noted all the shops were open. We knew no-one of course but had been told of the Peoples Palace in Queen Street as being reasonable accommodation. It was a Salvation Army hotel. It was dry of course and even packs of cards, and the ball game 'Bobs' available in the lounge, were removed on Sundays. We often ate at a, -typical for the time, Kiwi café. The first thing they brought to your table was a plate of bread and butter and a pot of tea. But, there was often a power cut between 5pm. and 6pm. There was pressure on power generation in New Zealand in those days. Hydro power stations were it seems, in their infancy.
Within a week or so of being at the Peoples Palace a cabin mate of Mum from the ship looked us up. Pauline Barnes had been married to a GI name of Schaeffer, but, in a nutshell, back in America she had not been accepted by the Germanic family so back she came to Kiwiland. Pauline's mother Sally Barnes owned the store at Surfdale on Waiheke Island. Pauline said we'd be spending all our money in hotels and there was a bach behind her Mum's store that we could use while we were deciding where in New Zealand to live. So we did. Pauline's brother Ken ran the store with his mother and he used to take me in his Jeep to deliver orders. Had my first driving lesson in that Jeep. On the 25th July Martin had his 11th birthday in the bach and a little party including, I remember, a couple of Maori boys, -another first association for us.
We stayed a month in Surfdale before bussing down to Hastings where Joan and Ian Kelt lived. Ian's dad John owned Kelt Motors in Hastings. We stayed in Hastings for a week at the Pacific hotel then the three of us went back to Waiheke for another month, while Dad stayed on and got a job and a house for us. We then joined him and moved into 309 Lumsden Road Hastings while Dad, having bought a 1939 Vauxhall 10 from Kelt Motors, commuted daily to Tomoana Freezing Works in their office while I went to Hastings High School for the next year and a term. We had been taken under the wing of the Kelt family who lent us bedding and stuff until our trunks arrived. We were happily settling in to be Kiwis.
We had won out financially. Moving the proceeds of the Gonville Road house to New Zealand, the exchange rate was £NZ1.25 for £1 sterling and house prices were controlled. Within a year the exchange rate became £1 for £NZ1 and with the removal of the Land Sales Court house prices escalated. Incidentally in February 1948 there was an Immigration Act passed by which newbies had to be officially approved and sworn in as Kiwis. I just applied for, and got, my Kiwi passport when I wanted it in 1965.
...And also, just by the way, I remember hearing Dad paid £750 in 1936 for 103 Gonville Rd. I think it sold for about £2000 in 1947. And I think it was £NZ1750 that he paid for 309 Lumsden Rd Hastings. . . .
