G‘day from Austria!

[toot]

I slept a night in the Black forest Germany once Ide been looking for a ship in the major ports of Europe then without success was hitching from Olso to Genoa via the Gottahardt? tunnel all grey wet & cold but once through into Italy' Whoopee !' like summer time again . But no ship. (The working passage caper is very unlikley but was worth a try .Hence Ime in Milano with 16 pounds. What to do next? .I go to Venice then on a road heading East I toss a coin two out three .three out of five ect (always indecisive) My Hertz Renta car map showed a road that went to Austria the fashion then in 1966 was to work in Germany ...So I let fate decide the next lift if he went north Ide do that if he went to Triest Ide run the overland .Well he goes to Titos Yugoslavia at Reika I camp in some field that had big furrows & at dawn I wrote two letters home & a Cousin & effectively pawned my collection for 85 pounds to be sent to National & Grindleys bank Bombay.

. (Today youde spend that going out for dinner but in 66 it seemed like serious money ) Well I get a ride to Zargreb post the airograms hitch to Belgrade , very repressed State under Tito .Then by much welcomed good luck an Austrian Stamp dealer was going to Istanbul so I got to Instanbul (Incidently he last went that route in a Panzer tank !) Passport so full of West Africa stamps I had to get a new one in Istanbul .Turkey was hellish poor lifts. but Persia under the Shar had cheap busses if lousy roads . and so the link was made . One lift of possible interest was one in Italy with a muzzleloading gun maker might be Petersoli. Ile look at my diary might mention it fuller .had my Italian been better who knows what could happen ? (.Old Kit Ravenshear worked in Spain for some Basque gunmakers ) Anyway this explanation is a bit tenuous in the gun department other wise But Ime sure Toot will like it ..
Regards Rambling Rudyards reminisces

Rudyard, that is a given. I hang on every word. you make it just like I am right there with you. you could write a book on your travels. as stated I can't get enough of them. keep them comming. all the best. toot.

 

[LSLibelo]

Willkommen aus Kalifornien.

 

[Rudyard]

Rudyard, that is a given. I hang on every word. you make it just like I am right there with you. you could write a book on your travels. as stated I can't get enough of them. keep them comming. all the best. toot.

Dear Toot .I do seem to have coverered a lot of ground much of it on scant funds I am writting a book or the first draft to date regarding my travels in Marrocco ,Algeria ,Mali ,Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana ,Togoland ,Dahomey ,Nigeria, East & West Cameroon's Fernando Po( then Spanish ) . Greatly changed today but in 1965 it was more rustic but safer despite the regular 'Palava" over spying & petty officials & Malaria. But Belgium Congo was wildly unsafe (Still is !) & I was broke so that put the lid on my push for the Cape If years later I did get to the Cape & most of East Africa .I did get to see tribal guns . the Bedowin still used Snaphances & other MLs for hunting and celebrations and all though there where Dane guns or old superanuated Savage Stevens and such like . I was going through the customes of Sierra Leone when Ide split my trousers by the bounceing of the truck on awfull roads when there there was a great Hollobalue as the Staff where shooting monkeys off the tin roofs ."Good for chop" they explained .(any thing that moves was useually considered " Good for Chop " from huge snails to' Sausage fly soup' these insects would flutter round the paraffin lamps burn their wings scouped up and deemed excellent fare .When you find earth worms1/2" accross & huge Ants youde think where some wire till you got close you can guage your in a wild region .My diary records " My bites where a mass of Arm." you can guess stinging insects where a problem . I did meet US Peace Corps along with VSO & Cuso the UK & Canadien equivelants and I became a sort of postman relaying events as the mails where pretty poor .However Ime rambling on I did one night wait to shoot an amourous cat with a localy made Dane gun most being cap locks but the odd flint gun still in use & made. And Lagos markets offered flints .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Coinneach]

Austria I miss read for Australia ! Well pobodys Nerfect welcome anyway.. I did cross Austria once in a fluke lift from the Iran /Afganistan border but was night time saw nothing . about a dozen of us overlanders got a lift on a Returning empty coach they like us had to stop in Persia to be tested for Cholera at the Border three days .But we got tents & food so pleasant break the Coach had to stop So we conned a ride . the Drivers said" The only sights we want to see are the White cliffs of Dover "so they just drove in turns stopping only for fuel primeally , So we went through Teheran , Istanbul,& Vienna each at night to arrive early morning in Dover .The Customs man comes inside says "Anything to declare " ? We where a little capsule of hippy sorts. I had a big Sitar others likley had all sorts of exsotic smokeing mixtures . No body spoke he says " Carry on" & that was that . Going out three years earlier It took me about 7 weeks Milan to Karachi. I hadn't the 10$ to get an Afghani visa so went the Southern route via Kerman, Isfahan , Zaidan, & Nokundi into Baluchistan . their was a state of war twix India & Pakistan so took a Pilgrim ship' SS Sardonha' to Bombay from Karachi my last 42 Rupees deck passage. But I had sent out 85 pounds to Bombay that got me to Columbo then 6 weeks living of 4 Rupees a day( 32R/- to the pound black market ). but I just had the fare P&O' Canberra' to Freemantle and landed with a whole 3 pounds to my name.
All off topic Reminiscing .Rudyard

So you didnt accept the offer to be an extra in "The Sound of Music" Ruddy ?

 

[aussie pete]

Hello to all black powder aficionados in this forum I just joined!
Whenever my job, family and hunting passion is allowing me, I enjoy a good shooting competition with rifles, hand guns or muzzleloaders. I hope to learn more here from other keen shooters.
Below a pic of my two most loved black powder tools, an original and it’s replica sibling from the Black Forest, where I‘m coming from.

A Vowel and a Consonant, and we could be from the same country! Welcome from Australia!

Cheers, Pete

 

[Colonial Boy]

Rudyard,
Youse was game, mate.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

Welcome from Arkansas! We have good enduro riding here too. I'm surprised you're not riding a Kronreif and Trunkenpolz . Welcome!

 

[Panama Red]

Hoping your thread title was a reference to this… I can’t hear “Austria” without it popping in my head.

Welcome from Florida!

 

[toot]

Rudyard, I am so glad that you are putting your words about your travels in print. as I was thinking about them in your posts. you have lived such an exceptional life in your fascinating travels. and sharing a snippet of them with us! and yes I am in them with you. as to eating all of that GURREY / VICCERA, INCETCTS, ETC. you are one HELLEVA of a guy, sorta like ANDREW ZIMMER, know about him? he had a TV show and goes to many foreign countries and eats every GROSS thing that they eat, at least to us. when your book comes to fruition, please put me down for one of them. at my age at 80's door step, I hope it is not going to be to many years? always a pleasure conversing with you, all the best to you, toot.

 

[oldwood]

Always welcome to the Forum.

 

[Hermann252]

Welcome from Arkansas! We have good enduro riding here too. I'm surprised you're not riding a Kronreif and Trunkenpolz . Welcome!

Well, my Husaberg was produced at K(ronreif)&T(runkenpoz) in Mattighofen . The Enduro riding opportunities in the US are awesome indeed, I had the pleasure for a epic ride in Colorado and racing a GNCC in Pennsylvania, both fantastic experiences.

 

[Tradbow]

Welcome to the forum from the Deep South

 

[lt508th]

Welcome from Maryland!

 

[sheriff john]

Glad to make your acquaintance, Hermann. Missouri has pockets of German communities. My father's family is German. Wife's family, too. My bucket list still includes a trip to the fatherland, but wife is headed to Hawaii. Please stick around here. By the way, we have Hermann, Missouri - little town on the river.

 

[Hermann252]

My pleasure Sheriff John!
Indeed, and with the immigrants went the skilled gun smith’s and now we have to purchase a proper Jaeger Rifle in the US .
Germany‘s for sure well worth a journey, but I somehow understand we can“t compete with Hawaii‘s climate and beaches
Greetings to Missouri!

 

[Rudyard]

So you didnt accept the offer to be an extra in "The Sound of Music" Ruddy ?

Didn't know they wanted any . I could have been an extra on' All rivers Run 'out of Echuca but wasn't to be nearest I got to stardom was repairing a broken fake gas lamp in the street scene in the dark of the Red gum works, But my mate was the real Engineer on the paddle steamers what the film showed was a School teacher from Bendigo who hadnt a clue & all I recall him saying was " "Shes got plenty of guts !." Heres a pic of me & my old Mate Goeff Corry behind us the The' PS Adelaide 'by the wharfe I fired her some times. Happy days on the Murray .Cheers Rudyard

 

[Rudyard]

Rudyard, I am so glad that you are putting your words about your travels in print. as I was thinking about them in your posts. you have lived such an exceptional life in your fascinating travels. and sharing a snippet of them with us! and yes I am in them with you. as to eating all of that GURREY / VICCERA, INCETCTS, ETC. you are one HELLEVA of a guy, sorta like ANDREW ZIMMER, know about him? he had a TV show and goes to many foreign countries and eats every GROSS thing that they eat, at least to us. when your book comes to fruition, please put me down for one of them. at my age at 80's door step, I hope it is not going to be to many years? always a pleasure conversing with you, all the best to you, toot.

Dear Toot . The locals might have eaten the sausage fly soupe & such like & I did like the big snails' cooked .I've no idea about Andrew Zimmer . Monkeys & Diaker Bush Deer most things edible where fair game for the locals Dane guns or Foo Foo guns so not too surprising .Mostly I et lots of Bananas' & baked bread And out of the blue a local might give you a pineapple . I met people who spoke wonderfully Pickwickian Victorian speech & one English man had been troppo so long he spoke only in pidgin. This bizzaar daily' culture shock' was the norm .along with horrendous guts acke . Though spoken of Nepaul , Kiplings " .The wildest dreams of Que ,Are the facts of Kathmandu" . I three years later I spent two months in Kathmandu not by design just blackwater fever partly recouping at the USAID house at Swayanboonath by the Monkey Temple it over looked the paddy fields that the Gurgas used as a rifle range . Jai Nepal ! viz , 'praise Nepal.' Thank you for your encouragement Toot .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Coinneach]

Didn't know they wanted any . I could have been an extra on' All rivers Run 'out of Echuca but wasn't to be nearest I got to stardom was repairing a broken fake gas lamp in the street scene in the dark of the Red gum works, But my mate was the real Engineer on the paddle steamers what the film showed was a School teacher from Bendigo who hadnt a clue & all I recall him saying was " "Shes got plenty of guts !." Heres a pic of me & my old Mate Goeff Corry behind us the The' PS Adelaide 'by the wharfe I fired her some times. Happy days on the Murray .Cheers Rudyard View attachment 219324

Good for you mate, I took my 2 kids to Echuca for a few days it was a great experience, I've always loved Steam Engines, and the Paddle Steamers were right up there.

As you know here we are still relying on Steam, Coal fired Power Stations, Nuclear power etc, it all comes back to Steam (excluding "renewables").

 

[Rudyard]

Good for you mate, I took my 2 kids to Echuca for a few days it was a great experience, I've always loved Steam Engines, and the Paddle Steamers were right up there.

As you know here we are still relying on Steam, Coal fired Power Stations, Nuclear power etc, it all comes back to Steam (excluding "renewables").

Dear Coinreach Yes Steam & black powder are related elliments both need coaxing a jollying to get the best out of then cant flick a switch & demand power . Or as one Charector in Dickens put it ." Guns & coaches needed to be loaded with care before they goes off " Sam Weller I think it was . The Passage as Fireman on the SY 'Akuna "Brisbane River to Singapore was a 7 week oddesy that taught me much about steam ships (She was Ex' HMAS 'Gladstone' Corvette) I learned all about Weir - d Pumps moods & how a wop with a sledge could ' adjust' their habit of sticking in the valve when the jiggle tool failed while the water was dropping down the glass & she was gobbling 190 PSI .inside the Great Barrier Reef . One Watch had bother & we bobbed about like cork when she lost way enough to steer, but I was in my cot never knew till next day .But we where all just steam tramps only the Engineer ,Triction & out of retirement Captain had any tickets ."We done need need no estinking tickets !''..Though we did have a 303 & a pea rifle thats the only link to guns So I better desist.
Regards Rudyard

 

[Coinneach]

Dear Coinreach Yes Steam & black powder are related elliments both need coaxing a jollying to get the best out of then cant flick a switch & demand power . Or as one Charector in Dickens put it ." Guns & coaches needed to be loaded with care before they goes off " Sam Weller I think it was . The Passage as Fireman on the SY 'Akuna "Brisbane River to Singapore was a 7 week oddesy that taught me much about steam ships (She was Ex' HMAS 'Gladstone' Corvette) I learned all about Weir - d Pumps moods & how a wop with a sledge could ' adjust' their habit of sticking in the valve when the jiggle tool failed while the water was dropping down the glass & she was gobbling 190 PSI .inside the Great Barrier Reef . One Watch had bother & we bobbed about like cork when she lost way enough to steer, but I was in my cot never knew till next day .But we where all just steam tramps only the Engineer ,Triction & out of retirement Captain had any tickets ."We done need need no estinking tickets !''..Though we did have a 303 & a pea rifle thats the only link to guns So I better desist.
Regards Rudyard

Seriously mate, its time to write a book, I'd buy one.