No one saw me off when I boarded the Italian passenger ship "FLAVIA" in Bremerhaven on the 30th of June 1965. No one took a photograph of the momentous occasion. There were no streamers, no band was playing, no tears were shed.
People stood quietly on the rain-moist deck as the last visitors were ordered ashore. Then the slow, sonorous, terrible blast on the ship's siren; suddenly a gap had opened between ship and land: we were on our way; there was no going back!
Almost six weeks later, on the 6th of August, I arrived in Australia. They checked me for infectious illnesses but could find nothing more than an addiction to hard work. Let me know if you spotted me in the video!
