Setting up a new home in Southern Rhodesia.

March 15 (Sunday) Total Land Mileage from England 7736 

After a very lazy start to the morning, we went out to check the Land Rover and go for a walk. We found ourselves walking over a bridge by the railway station; great excitement, there was our caravan on a goods wagon, right below us! We had been told that it would take at least two months to arrive, so this was completely unexpected. We later discovered that each and every person who had handled the caravan during its trip was worried about damage and it was hurried through every port with no delays. Our life was really now about to begin in our new country, as our home had arrived!

Later in the day, my father went outside to check on the Land Rover again and there he found a gentleman walking round and round the vehicle and showing a great deal of interest. He saw my Dad and said “Hey have a look at this, I am sure that this vehicle must have driven overland from England looking at the condition of it and the tell-tale number plates”! For a lark, Dad just replied  “Do you really think so?” and a long conversation carried on from there, with Dad never letting on he was the driver!  He came back into the hotel laughing and related the entire story to us. 

Also later that day, the press arrived at the hotel, and many photos and stories later, we appeared as headline news in the Rhodesian Herald newspaper. We often wondered if the guy who had been talking to my Dad earlier saw the paper the following day and put two and two together!  As a result of the article, my Dad received a call from a local garage and was offered a job, starting as soon as he was able!

Sorry I had a problem scanning this article, because it is glued into the photo  album! I did think, though, that it was worth reproducing it here.
The centre words read : Mr Donald Beak and family accomplished this amazing journey over the trackless Sahara without a puncture.  Their car was fitted with Michelin tyres supplied by.....

LIFE IN RHODESIA

Our first priority was to clear the caravan through Customs and find somewhere to park it. We found a camping park on the outskirts of Salisbury and, with no problems, rented a site and by the end of the week we were ‘at home’ in the caravan with all mod cons laid on!  David at 16 had left school in England with ideas of finding a job on arrival in Rhodesia. Both Mum and Dad were surprised when he said that he wanted to become a mechanic, as prior to the trip and in helping Dad on our journey, he had shown no interest in anything mechanical. As it happened, he managed to sign up as an apprentice very soon after our arrival and as each year passed, he was never anywhere other than top of the class!  At nine of course, I had to go back to school and although both Mum and Dad did everything possible to try to get me into a private school, I ended up at the local government school for the remainder of 1953. We only discovered later that the camp-site had a very bad name and this mention of our address put a halt  to any possibility of a private school accepting me! 

Our 'new' home

The other very important factor at this stage, was to find a doctor for me to have a complete check up and make sure that I could continue with all sports at school and live a normal life once more. This was duly done and I was given a completely clean bill of health!

It is interesting to note that the year of our arrival was the centenary year of the birth of Cecil John Rhodes.  Some of the one shilling stamps were reproduced on postcards as collector's items, two of which are shown below.

On the back of the cards I found the following information:

(Southern Rhodesia 1/- 1953) GREAT ZIMBABWE. The ruins of Great Zimbabwe are the most extensive, yet most mysterious in sub-Saharan Africa.  The settlement is believed to have been started about 800 A.D. and then deserted about 1600 A.D. owing to the lack of firewood and grazing in the surrounding area. It may have been a compound for holding slaves prior to their shipment across the Indian Ocean at Sofala. (Beira, Mozambique)

(Northern Rhodesia 1/- 1953) NORTHERN RHODESIA/VICTORIA FALLS. Issued to commemerate the centenary of the birth of Cecil John Rhodes, 1853 - 1953, this stamp depicits an aerial view of the Victoria Falls and the bridge taken from the N. Rhodesian side.  It was Rhodes who instructed that the bridge be built within spray-distance of the falls, although he never saw it himself.

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 

The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1

Plans, Plans and more Plans - May 1952

By now it was May 1952, and the Cotswolds house had already sold.    We then needed to decide where we would live until the business was  sold too, and all further arrangements made.   There were a few more family discussions, which generated the idea of living in a caravan, until the time came for us to take to the road southwards.   We all thought that this was a great idea, as the caravan could be then be sent on to Rhodesia by rail/sea when we left, and the problem of a temporary home on arrival would be solved! Many hours were spent looking at all the caravans available. Even in the fifties, there were many shapes and sizes available, at every price imaginable! We really had to find the right one, if we planned on living in it in U.K. for the next ten to twelve months and who knew for how long we would be living in it on arrival in Rhodesia?   We travelled many miles in search of our 'new home', then Mum found just what we were looking for! Not at all the cheapest on the market, it was a real Rolls Royce of caravans at the time! It had all facilities, including a shower and a toilet and we snapped it up very smartly, before someone could beat us to it.   What a beautiful home on wheels we became the proud owners of!

A shot of the caravan, parked outside my Dad's Fiveways garage.  A double bed folded down from the inside wall for my parents, and the seats, either side of the dining table which folded away, converted into single beds for David and I.

The caravan was towed to our house, where we decided just what was going to move with us to Rhodesia.  After packing it out with the necessary items, the removal van arrived and took all remaining possessions off to the sale room.    I was given a bottom cupboard in the caravan and was told it was exclusively mine for any toys I wanted to take.  Amazing what I managed to fit in; very few toys went off to the sale room!    We owned the meadow across the road from the garage, so the caravan was parked there, in a lovely spot by the river Avon, and meanwhile we waited for a buyer to pop up and take over the business.    We thought that eager buyers would flock in by the hundred, but of course these things never happen in real life!   In this hiatus, we were being anything but idle - not a chance!   Many hours were spent lying on the floor, poring over maps, which were spread in all directions!  David and I were involved in all these discussions, as it was definitely a family trip.   Where should we go and what route should we take?  Decisions, decisions! We did in fact complete the trip many times and on many routes, long before we ever left the wet and cold shores of England!    

A note book was purchased, (a great idea), for us to list everything we all thought that we might need for a couple of months on the road in unknown terrain, where shops could well be non-existent.   This list became so long we would have needed a trailer to carry everything. This was obviously out of the question, so the list then was reviewed, cutting out the less necessary items.  Dad was getting more and more enthusiastic by this time and he spent many hours working on the Land Rover, making it more suitable for the very long trip ahead of it.  Strong metal roof carriers were put in place to carry our camping equipment, together with a large water tank.   The tank was placed right at the front of the carrier, directly over the seats, as this was thought to be the best position to keep us cooler - or so we hoped!  The tank held thirty five gallons of water; we were determined that we would not die of thirst, whatever else might happen to us in the wilds of Africa!   A large canvas sheet was made to fasten over the top of the tank, camping equipment and cases, which would hopefully protect the tank and keep the remainder of the roof-packed items dry.    Dad then extended the back of the vehicle with canvas to fold up and down like a pram hood.   This brainwave extra extension was so that at night, it could be folded down to provide a five foot by six foot bed.  Mum then covered the whole of the inside with netting which could be tucked in to give us protection against flies, bugs and mosquitoes.  During the war, Dad had already experienced malaria, caused by a parasite introduced into the blood by the Anopheles mosquito.   No repeats were wanted of this, as we could not afford to have a sick 'chauffeur'.   Two rubber mattresses were bought to fit snugly into the available space and these could be rolled up during travel.

You can easily see the pram back extension here, let down so that my parents had room inside to sleep.  The water tank can be seen at the front of the roof carrier, and already the important spade for digging us out of sand in the Sahara Desert!
I was lucky enough to have the front seats to sleep on, while David camped under the back of the Land Rover.

An extra 55 gallon petrol tank was then fitted inside the vehicle; this would be needed to travel the long distances between petrol stations.   Extra leaves were added to the springs to take the abnormal weight that it would be necessary to carry.   New heavy duty Michelin tyres were fitted, together with everything else Dad thought was necessary for the now much-modified Land Rover.   A list of spares was composed and purchased, then packed into every nook and cranny, along with a mini work shop of tools. 

To be continued : -)

The following weeks of the next part of my life story I have put on Kindle and you can obtain it at www.Amazon.com orwww.Amazon.co.uk I will however continue writing it here as well so that the blog is not interrupted.   It can also be downloaded to computers, smart-phones or tablets see Here