Random reminder

Press, 3 September 1980, Page 27

Random reminder

OVER THERE A Christchurch woman had long been a victim of wander-lust. In particular, she was desirous of inspecting at first hand the greener fields and pastures new across the Tasman. One by one her daughters had departed, lured by the El Dorado of the Pacific. When one daughter wrote to say she was getting married and settling down in Brisbane, mother leapt at the opportunity to make her dreams reality. She would fly over with her husband for the Wedding, lend her daughter moral support in her moment of need, and spend an extra week . seeing a bit of this fabulous country — Australia. When she returned she was quiet and restrained?

Friends, anxious for reports of the trip begged for information and finally the dam burst:

“It went wrong,” said she “right from the beginning, when the straps of my paclt got caught up in the conveyor belt at customs, and got mangled out of all recognition — took half ah hour to get them free. Then it

started to rain — not like our rain at all — it bucketed down for seven nights and seven days — the heaviest rain they’d had since 1866! The only creatures that liked it were the treetoads”.

“Tree-toads?” queried a friend. “Yes, tree-toads — huge things with eyes on stalks — you had to kill them or else they’d poison the water » . . Ugh! , “And then there. were the cockroaches — they nearly scared me to death when I went into the kitchen my first night to get a drink of water. And the mosquitoes —■; they ate my husband alive.

“But surely the flora was beautiful, even if you didn’t take to the fauna?” “Don’t talk to me about flora,” she snapped, “it was covered with huge rainbow-coloured caterpillars, as big as your finger . . Greener pastures? They’ve got to be kidding — they ate everything green in sight.” Friends, while controlling, looked slightly smug — after all she should have known that only N.Z. was God’s Own ...