https://sites.google.com/site/prayersofreconciliation/,https://sites.google.com/site/godintheuniverse/,
https://sites.google.com/site/menfrancoreconciliation/, www.catholic.org/,www.catholic.org.au/, www.catholic.org/bible/, www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html,
http://diybrickwork.com, http://manneedsgod.co.uk, http://frankmenchise.com
This blog can be found at this link, Going to Australia.
Welcome to our article,
Now, this is the story of my life; in this article, we are telling you how I felt and what I did on the ship during my voyage to Australia. Anyhow, while I was on this ship called the Sydney, in my heart I was already saying: Hello Australia, here I come with my dreams in my heart of finding a better life for myself and perhaps for the future generation of my family, if and when I can have a family of my own.
Anyhow, I was thinking about myself saying, I
know that I am dreaming these dreams that may not happen the way I want, but I
am young and there is no harm in dreaming to find a better life.
So, as I have said in our last article, we
left Port Said to go straight to Australia and while we were on the ship
crossing the Indian Ocean we the passenger that were migrating to Australia
started to think about what we had left behind in Italy, and at the same time
we were eager to see what Australia was like, on the ship we made some
acquaintances and everyone had some story to tell, most of us were talking
about the reasons why we were migrating to Australia and what we wanted to
achieve in Australia. We were also talking about, if we had anybody that we
knew in Australia and other things, but really, we didn't know a thing about
what we could do in Australia even if we knew somebody there, most of us did
not have any job qualification, so, we were hoping to do whatever job came our
way, if there was enough money to earn a living, so, we hoped for the best. One
could say that we were taking our chances and we were.
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On the way to Australia.
Happenings on the way to Australia
During the fortnight that the ship took to
cross the Indian Ocean, every one of us was wondering in his own way about the
future in Australia and what we knew about Australia; in my own case at some
stage of this crossing I started wondering how hard it would be to live in the
driest continent on earth, as I had learned at school that Australia is dry
compared to other continents. So, what would the water supply be like in
Australia, and what about the westerly wind, I remember that my teacher had
said that these winds last up to three months, so, I was asking myself, is it
going to be just as bad and as cold as the winter times winds of Italy, who
knows? You see, to cross this stretch of water of the Indian Ocean was taking
too long and therefore, it was becoming even boring to go out on deck just to
see the sea water and the sky above. So, no wonder we were thinking many
strange things.
There is something else that I found out on
the Indian Ocean, which was not good news for me; but to understand this issue,
let us start from the beginning. You see, in those times when you went overseas
from these small towns like Genzano my native town, anyone that had relatives wanted
to send a present or something to their relatives, or at least their greetings
or something like that, and if you went to a relative house to stay when you
arrived in Australia, you could not go there without bringing presents, from
your family and their families, so, you can imagine how loaded you were with
your own presents and friends presents when you boarded the ship, and I tell
you I was loaded too with all this stuff.
Now forgive me, if all of a
sudden I start talking about border security, instead of talking about my
journey to Australia, but you see, I was coming from a country town and most
presents were not bought at the shop, they could be food or something that
could not be allowed to go through customs in Australia; anyhow, on the ship I
had plenty of time to work it out, as I was talking to people that had been in
Australia before, so, I was able to avoid the worse.
Among other things on the ship I had two
demijohns of local wine, which I was sure that would be appreciated
from the people that I was going to stay with in Australia, for people that
don’t know what a demijohn is I will explain, A demijohn is a large round glass
container dressed with something like woven straw, in my case I had two of them
one was ten litres, and the other seven litres, in addition to that and strange
as it may seem I had some (lampagioni) small wild onions, which could never go
past customs, so, when I was sure that they would not be allowed to enter
Australia, I dumped them in the Indian Ocean. I had also some local homemade
large beautiful biscuits and other stuff. Anyhow, let me talk about the two
demijohn of local wine now, because for a long time anyone that were sailing
with me on this ship would remind me of this event; these two demijohns were in
my cabin and there wasn’t any way to restrain them properly, so, when the sea
was rough they were sliding across the cabin floor until one of them broke that
is why my passenger friends remind me about the good lost wine.
These are some of the happenings during my journey to Australia. Anyhow, after a fortnight we reached the continent of Australia and docked at Port Fremantle in Western Australia. Hurrah, we have made it to Australia.
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Australia positive first
impressions.
The first impression that I had of Australia
was positive, from what we saw near Port Fremantle. It was
not much what I saw, but it was enough to make a good impression on me. Strange
as it may seem the very first time that I set foot in Australia I saw an emu, I
don’t know why or how but somebody took us to this place where there was this
emu and another animal that I don’t recall what it was. Anyhow because we
stopped in Fremantle for a while I was able to go down twice, and the second
time guess what I saw, I saw that here in Australia they build single houses on
a block of land, and they grow a nice green lawn around the houses by watering
the lawn with the town water, in fact these little houses look so pretty that
they seem like dolls houses. No bad for a country that is supposed to be the
driest continent on earth. And seeing
that they water the lawns with town water my fear of water restriction
disappeared.
But anyhow, Fremantle was only the first port
in Australia, but I had to disembark in Brisbane, so there were a couple more
ports to go past and another week on this ship before the end of my journey.
Anyhow, we left Port Fremantle to cross the Great Australian Bight, which took
us a few days to navigate, during this crossing I was thinking, how vast is
Australia compared to the European countries, since it takes days to navigate
from one port to the next? I suppose these thoughts came, because I was tired
of this long journey, and we the passengers all longed to reach our final
destination; anyhow, next stop was Melbourne, in port Melbourne there wasn’t
much to see or say as I had already seen Port Fremantle, and Melbourne was very
much the same, the only thing was that by now most of the people that I had
become friendly with, were disembarking in Melbourne. Anyhow, we left Melbourne
and next stop was Sydney, where I was going to meet people that I was bringing
presents from their families, so, I knew already that Sydney was a very
important city of Australia, therefore, I was eager to see what it was like.
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My next stop is Sydney.
I believe that Sydney is the only town in the
world that make people feel welcomed at once, because this has also happened to
me.
Anyhow, we docked in Sydney a short walking
distance from the harbor bridge, and soon we were aware that people were there
on the dock waiting for us, so, I looked to see if my family friends were there
to greet me and collect their presents; and sure enough they were there on the
dock waving at me and I knew that I could take their present to them. But what
should I do to take them, because in Australia everything that comes in has got
to go through the custom to be checked out? This procedure was something new to
me, although I had heard people talk about it on the ship. Anyhow, I got their
large parcel and took it down the ship under the direction of some people that
directed all people carrying anything to a large building on the dock, and here
I learned for the first time that the custom can look at everything you bring
in Australia and if they find anything forbidden you can get in trouble. Anyhow,
there was nothing forbidden to enter Australia, as the people that had made the
parcel knew what would be allowed in. After that I delivered the parcel to my
waiting friends.
In Sydney I had good time with my family
friends and exchanged all the news that we had, besides going to a restaurant
to eat and then went to see Sydney Harbor Bridge together, as it worked out,
they had to leave early because they came to meet me from another town, so, I
was left on my own in Sydney looking at the tall building around the harbor and
walking around, where I saw the site of the future Sydney Opera House, at that
time construction had stopped and there was plenty of still bars stacked on the
site, so, I guessed that this was going to be some large and important
building, I also visited a garden nearby, and by the time we left, I knew that
those sights of Sydney harbor and everything else around could even last a
lifetime, they are very impressive to anyone that is lucky enough to see them.
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My long journey ends at Brisbane.
My journey to Australia ends at Brisbane
We left Sydney and next stop was Brisbane my
port of destination; I was looking forward for this journey to end, because to
stay on a ship for a month is a long time for anybody that has never been to
sea or gone on a boat before. And to tell you the truth I wanted to see my
relatives and see how they were doing, so that I could have a better idea, if
my coming to Australia was a good thing for me. You see, one can never be sure
what it is going to be like and whether your decision was the right decision
until you are there and see it for yourself. Of course, what I had seen already
in Australia seemed very well, but that does not mean much until one finds out
what sort of living an unqualified manual worker can earn and other things. Of
course, I knew that whatever job I had to do I was going to work hard, because
that is the only way to earn your living for yourself and whoever was going to
give you a job. These were the thoughts that most times came to my mind during
the journey and more so towards the end of it. On reflection I have to say now
that to migrate to a country that you have never been is a hard thing to do,
so, lucky are those people that during their lives do not need to migrate.
Anyhow, I will come back to these discussions later, because now I want to tell
you about the end of my journey at Brisbane.
We reached Brisbane early in the morning and
our ship was slowly navigating at the entrance of Brisbane River, when some
sailors told us to look in the river for a rare sight, because this event was
too rare to miss, as it happens rarely so far south of the equator, we looked
and we saw hundreds and hundreds of jelly fish that early morning, for us that
had never seen them before we thought that the jelly fish are strange creatures
they look like a large mushroom or a very small umbrella, they have tentacles
attached at the edges and swim slowly by pulsating their entire body, what a
sight it was that early morning in March, at the mouth of Brisbane River.
Finally, we docked at Brisbane at this merchants’
dock to disembark, thanks God I had reached Brisbane my destination and was
eager to see my brother and other relative and friends.
We disembarked and I went through customs
with all my belongings and presents that I was bringing to my relative and
friends. And here is when I got caught and learned something that all travelers should know; anyone of us that goes to a different country should
make sure that what they take into that country is allowed; anyhow, I was
caught because I had bought a small toy at Port Said that toy could contain
forbidden substance and it had to be treated to enter Australia, so, it cost me
a fair amount of money. The demijohn of wine and all other stuff that I had
with me was all right; after all I had dumped my wild anions in the Indian
Ocean, when I found that they were not allowed. After going through customs, I
was free to go with my brother and friends. The friends of course were there
not only to welcome me to Australia, but to collect their presents that their
families had sent them and to hear news of their families and their native
town. I believe that I have said enough in this article. So, see you soon in my
next article where I am going to talk about my first impressions, and welcome to
Brisbane Australia.
To see more click on this link, Going to Australia.
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