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[Page 39]
Suez Canal (or thereabouts)
28th January 1916.
Dear Dad,
I had a long letter written to you, full of particulars of our doings lately, but it has just been handed back to me and I was told to cut out all the "news", so am afraid this will turn out rather uninteresting. Well as you can see by the top, which is the nearest address I can give you, we have again shifted, and sorry to say can't say the change is for the better.
Before we left our previous Camp we had a great opportunity one day, whilst on a visit to the Rifle Range, of seeing the wonderful Irrigation System of the Nile, or rather in this case some of its tributaries. In the middle of the Desert we saw growing Rice, Cotton, Sorghum, Lucerne, and a lot of other cereals we couldn't place. Another thing we struck here was the inevitable smell of the East, which we had missed for so long. It's marvellous how the natives follow the Australians wherever they go, and shops of all sorts spring up in no time; though I don't suppose they will ever get to us here.
We left the Camp on Sunday night, or rather early Monday morning, had another ride for a couple of hours in the inevitable Cattle trucks (only for a change this time they were open), and then set out on a March over about 8 miles of desert, for the greater part of which the sand was over our ankles. It was a bit of a staggerer, as we had a big weight on our backs and practically nothing inside, so most of us were pretty well beat when we got here.
You must remember however that we have had no training for over 6 months and trench warfare and active service tucker are not conducive to March ing in heavy sand.
The weather conditions here are remarkable – Fine and clear one minute, and a torrential downpour the next. This happens about 6 or 8 times a day and this is the heaviest rainfall in these parts for over 50 years.
Ismailia, a city we passed through on our March , is, as far as we could see in the early morning, a beautifully laid out city, with fine buildings, and wide streets, and I suppose for about 3 miles we walked through fine avenues, with trees (mostly dates) on either side and tarred roads. This avenue was double, one side I presume for up traffic, and the other down. The old Egyptians could teach our people something in the