I was on board, and it wasn't 6 weeks, well at least not from Auckland to Southampton. Must've been waterside workers in OZ on strike. I'm fairly sure it was just 4 weeks. Great ship and great times!!
Thanks so much for the video. I was 13 years old on that same 52nd voyage but mine began at Sydney. I only have some photos. I remember the day we crossed the equator and everybody around the pool was covered in soap suds for a kind of sea christening. My family had a cabin on deck C. There was only a bloody toilet near the entrance to the dining room. Always occupied hahhahhaaaa. So many beautiful places where it docked!
Glad you enjoyed it, I was 21 so we moved in different circles . I was in an 8 birth on D deck below water line, one morning waking up to 2 ft of sea water in our cabin. Had lots of fun and was a real adventure going to those exotic ports.
Great bit of film. I love seeing such rare footage & photos :) Hope you dont mind if I link it to my Facebook group of 3000+ members :) Check it out if you like :) "It is, The largest archive of Chandris Lines ships, photos & memories on the planet" that include stories from ex crew, passengers & 12000+ photos (Y) facebook.com/groups/ssaustralisphotosnstories/
Great bit of film. I love seeing such rare footage & photos :) Hope you dont mind if I link it to my Facebook group of 3000+ members :) Check it out if you like :) "It is, The largest archive of Chandris Lines ships, photos & memories on the planet" that include stories from ex crew, passengers & 12000+ photos (Y) facebook.com/groups/ssaustralisphotosnstories/
I was on the May 1977 voyage from Las Palmas to Fremantle as a kid. I had the most amazing time. Thank you for sharing your footage. It brought back beautiful memories.
At the time this was the way you went "overseas" $1000 return ticket , a can of beer was 12c duty free. By today's standards it was pretty basic but we were young and we had a ball, made a lot of friends. It gave me a sense of how big the planet is crossing the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and a sense of adventure which you do not get by flying.
This was very close to her last voyage. Looking worse for ware but she still made sure every passenger arrived safely to their destination. She did that since 1964 with Chandris Lines and before that when she was the SS American from 1939, and through the war as the West Point. She now lies beneath the sea, a few specks of metal can still be seen on the sea bed (2020) on the coast of Feurtaventura Spain, where she sank on her way to the wreckers yard. Thank god she didn’t make it, she belonged where she lies, not being pulled apart and sold into pieces, although the locals made a pretty decent job of selling many momento’s, from chairs, tables, down to ash trays etc. RIP my beautiful Australian Lady [ Australis].
Mirrors are better than most, dingy designs and well proven. Any dingy will turn turtle if mistakes are made but mirrors are capable sailing dingies in the right hands. Have a look at "msf60khz" on you tube and "seawing12". Because of the design a mirror is a 12.5 ft boat 10' 10" lg with a lot of bouncy in the bow, if you do get knocked down they come up dry because of the side bouncy tanks. Over 70,000 have been built you should be able to find a used one out there.
