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[Page 71]
The trip across though slow was not devoid of interest. With the exception of the first two days we had fine weather from Fremantle to Durban and thence for practically the rest of the trip. The three ports-of-call Durban, Cape Town & Santa Cruz the Capital of Teneriffe provided pleasant breaks in our journey. At the first of these we had 3½ days which we spent on shore. The weather was not good but we had just begun to appreciate the towns when we were forced to leave. At Cape Town we had an afternoon only & took advantage of it to visit Rhodes Estate a most enjoyable trip. Passing through the tropics we had very little hot weather, three or four days at most. On Tuesday 19th Oct. we spent a few hours at Tenerife. It is a weird little town quite eastern in many ways; one house is painted blue.
From Tenerife we had a quick run through the "Danger Zone" to Plymouth, where some of the passengers disembarked, & then on to Tilbury whence a special train brought us up to London.
What an astonishing city London is to anyone visiting it for the first time, especially at present when at night there is hardly any light. A large percentage of the lamps are not being used at all, and the others are painted black on top and green at the bottom. The result is a dim circle of light thrown round the foot of the lamppost. Even in the daytime the number of streets, lanes & Squares is most confusing to a stranger. Its area is of course many times greater than that of Sydney, and if not particularly careful a man can get lost in a few minutes, and then even the directions of the friendly policeman have to be followed with minute care. Travelling about is certainly an experience and it would be interesting to see how long it would take a man with nothing else to do to become well