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I arrived in Marseille with all my baggage and boarded the Caledonien without a hitch. I think I must have been in a state of euphoria because now I don't remember exactly how it happened. Suddenly I was on the boat and we were heading for Gibralter (see the itinerary of this voyage). The first Port of Call was Madeira and this I do remember as it was a wonderfully picturesque place that seemed like something from a by gone era, a beautiful place. While I was searching for photos of the Caledonien on the internet, I came across those of Richard Francis who has put up a web page with a great collection of his own photos taken during his voyage on the Caledonien from Sydney to Marseilles in April-May 1970. Richard was kind enough to allow me reproduce some of them in this narrative. The first (shown below) is a great shot of Madeira, and this is exactly the way I remember seeing it. The photo I think must have been taken not far from where the Caledonien docked. |
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I suppose that a great many readers will have seen the film "Titanic", and although the Caledonian was not as big nor as luxurious, it did, for me have a lot in common with this film. I would like to say something first about travel in the days of the Caledonien. Some people might ask; what's the big deal with travel, why is it so important?. If you want to experience freedom, freedom from a boring life, freedom from being what everyone expects you to be instead of the person you really are. If you want to live and experience the real potential of who you can be. There is no better means than travel. When you step onto that plane and leave everything behind you, your past, your imagined problems, an impossible romance gone wrong, whatever it is that has been dampening your spirits, suddenly as you enter that plane or boat or bus, you are free. Free to be whatever person you like, free to be a completely new person, a nicer person, a happy person, a person that is now on a great new adventure. If you want to do this today, it is unfortunately not so easy. The world has changed and is changing fast and somewhat recklessly I'd say. Today there is terrorism, kidnapping, aids and a tight economy that means travel around the world can no longer be what it once was. Imagine that in the 60's and early 70's Australia was actually looking for immigrants. If you got to Australia by boat or plane you didn't need a visa, you were welcomed and immediately given resident status, even if you didn't have a dime to your name! This meant that you could travel around the world on a shoestring as long as you were headed for Australia. And this is in fact what many of the people traveling on the Caledonien were doing, immigrating to Australia, some even had their passage paid by the Australian Government who were offering an Assisted Passage Scheme. In 1985, I wanted to go back to Australia for a visit, it seemed then like it might be easier to get into Russia, Australian Immigration insisted on my having a visa before I arrived, with proof that I had more than sufficient funds for my stay, they wanted to know where and with whom I was going to stay. They wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be looking for a job while I was there and that I had a return ticket to get myself out of the country when my limited time was up. All this for someone who was once a resident! But this is now standard procedure in many countries, so traveling on a shoestring no longer exists. But to return to this idea of the Titanic, and the roll played by Leonardo DiCaprio in this story, a shoestring traveler and artist, in third class, this was very reminiscent of my trips on the Caledonien. DiCaprio gave an admirable portrayal of this artist and free wheeling spirit, and his story, that seemed to be in many ways like a page out of my own diary. Fortunately though in this story, the Caledonien doesn't sink and after nearly a month at sea and stops at Madeira, Martinique and Panama we were finally in sight of Nuku Hiva. |
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While I was in London and preparing for this trip, I went to the large Library in Richmond to see if they had any books on Nuku Hiva. There was surprisingly few, in fact the only important work that I could find that mainly concerned Nuku Hiva, was Herman Melville's book Typee. This book was written in 1846 but that made it even better. I was never a reader of books, but I immediately loved this one, not just because it was an adventure set in the jungle of Nuku Hiva. But what impressed me more was the style Melville's writing, his turn of phrase and wonderful vocabulary that seemed to strike a cord in me, almost as though I had previously lived in some other era and understood perfectly what was being said. It seemed to me as though this was the way books were meant to be written. I was absolutely absorbed by the story and read the book cover to cover non stop. Now standing on the deck of the Caledonien with Nuku Hiva in sight my mind drifted back to Melville's story. Someone beside me at the rail said "are you really going to stay on that Island it looks kind of scary". I said, "if you think that's scary wait till I tell you about the rumor that there may still be some cannibals in the remoter parts of the island". Of course I wasn't being serious, but this rumor still persists today. Even though I had been there once before for a few hours 2 years previously, I had not seen this view of the island from a distance, and it wasn't at all like what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but what you see from a few miles off shore, is rather foreboding, appearing on the horizon as a dark fortress of gigantic proportions. Formed of steep mountainous cliffs that rise abruptly out of the sea to such great heights, that they disappear into the clouds. It was like I was going to the strangest place on earth, and in many ways the island is exactly that, a labyrinth of gigantic volcanic cliffs and fantastic spires. |
