A military promotion and move to Sale, Australia, with details about transporting a boat and family by car.
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EAST SALE
I got promoted; I remember the Warrant Officer walking toward me, all smiles on his face. He came to advise me of the promotion and very happy to inform me he had managed to get me out of the move to East Sale. But, what he didn't know was that I wanted to go to Sale as my brother was getting married there and I came from there! So I said, (with great delight) 'I'll accept the promotion and go to Sale!'
I was building a boat at the time, a 20 foot'er and I bought the boat and spare timber down all the way to Sale. Oh dear, that was a drive and a half! Off we went with the three children and boat in tow. The trailer had been built for the boat, only just. I went down the hill at Wollongong and managed to burn the brakes out, but it would run freely. Eventually got the job done and made it to Sale but it was a funny trip. It was a struggle to get petrol along the road. We came across to the coast at Wollongong and straight down the Prince's Hwy. I knew the road because I had been on it before. I got through pretty well, except I bounced the trailer and the boat bounced off the rollers. It was riding correctly but I didn't know until I got to Sale.
We couldn't get accommodation in Sale so I managed to get a house in Stratford. We took that place and funnily enough the people I got the house from had known me from Walpa! Stratford is a pretty little place.
People: Derek, Warrant Officer
Places: East Sale, Sale, Wollongong, Prince's Highway, Stratford, Walpa
Interesting facts
East Sale. The RAAF's Gippsland base, home to navigation and flying training since the war. A posting there put a family two hundred miles from Melbourne in a town of a few thousand.