Historic Hydro Majestic Hotel is located in Medlow Bath, New South Wales, Australia. The hotel is located on a clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley on the western side of the Great Western Highway.
The Australian retailer Mark Foy began to purchase the site in 1902 for the purposes of a hydropathic sanatorium under the belief that the land contained mineral springs. By the time the hotel opened in 1904, the mineral springs (if they ever existed) had dried up. Mark Foy had mineral water imported from Germany in large steel containers. For more about the hotel history just followTHIS LINK.
Perched on the side of a cliff
Here we are, the A team. ๐
From left to right, Vera Lucic & Adrian Yates, Joan Mifsud & yours truly David Herd, Susie & Rod Hitchcock, Gina & Don Reedman.
Adrian was & still is a lawyer in Wollongong, Don went to England in 1969 from Australia on a working holiday for 12 months with a dream of making a career in the music business. He certainly achieved huge success, check out THIS LINK. Here is some of his work.
Rod ended up in California, where the girls wound up, except for Vera who married Adrian, I will never know. ๐
Here’s 3 handsome dudes
Adrian Yates, Ian Rich & Paul Webber. After all these years I still occasionally see Ian when he visits Thailand. For the last 40 years he has owned a tennis camp at Huntington Beach in Los Angeles.
Derek Pugh & Jackie Thom
Derek & I worked together at Macdougals LTD in Clarence St Sydney in the late 60s. He ended up importing high class stereo equipment & is now retired & living on the Central Coast north of Sydney. I remember being at a BBQ at Derek’s home somewhere near Queenscliff on December 17, 1967 when the news come on the radio about the prime minister Harold Holt who died while swimming at Portsea, Victoria.
Relaxing with Joan
A very sweet lady, we went out together for a few months.
Peter Clifford & Phillipa
Peter also lived most of his life in London, I have a feeling he may have owned a pub somewhere near Marble Arch, sadly he passed away a couple of years ago after a long battle with cancer, RIP old buddy.
Easter 2017 in Spain
The 3 amigos celebrate a 50 year friendship, Derek, Peter & Don.
Our lovely ladies at the Hydro
Phillipa, Joan, Susie & Gina in 1968.
Adrian Yates & I.
We were great friends in the late 60s.
December 2008
Great shot at the Oaks Hotel, not sure if the date is correct or not. Derek, Ian Rich & I at the back with old friend Paul Slaughter with his sister & girlfriend.
California 1983
Caught up with Ian Rich at his tennis camp in L.A.
Barbara & Jackie
Barbara was with Paul Webber at the Hydro & some years later married a good friend of mine Phil Parkinson. Jackie of course was married to Derek.
Historic Hydro Majestic Hotel
Historic Hydro Majestic Hotel What great memories I have of this wonderful unique hotel & the fabulous friends I was lucky enough to be with.
This shot was taken years later around 1984.
Naturally I had to visit the Hydro again, who said nostalgia was a thing of the past? ๐
My personal story from the 6os, (not a travel bog)
Passport photo April 1964
Life changing adventure
Life changing adventure 1964 really was a rite of passage for me. My best friend Glenn Beasley and I boarded the Fairsea in Sydney on May 7 1964 for a six week journey to Southampton in England. I spent the next 15 months having the time of my life in the U.K. and Europe as well as a stint as a junior engineer on a cargo ship plying its trade between Europe and America.
Ritesofpassagedefinition
Ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person’s life.
Boarding the Fairsea
It was May 7th 1964 the beginning of my first huge adventure.
The Brisbane River
Our first stop was Wellington before crossing back over the Tasman to Brisbane then on to Singapore. We met lots of friends and partied hard all the way to NZ but sadly many of these new found friends left the ship in Wellington and were replaced by lots of elderly passengers.
We were spending a lot of time with three nice girls from Melbourne, Robyn Pearson, Libby Durston & Sue Jameson. Luckily I still have my dairy to help me recall the names. ๐ That’s Libby and sue in the photo above.
We left Brisbane on May 14 and the first night the seas were very rough indeed, many of the passengers and some of the crew were seasick, luckily for us we were quite ok.
The “old shipboard romance”.
Two days out of Brisbane I met Leanne Scott from Adelaide and we started seeing each other regularly, well as regularly as she would let me. ๐
The “mad hatters” night
There were all sorts of special nights arranged by the crew to keep the passengers occupied. I will have to retrieve some more photos next time in in Oz. If this photo was in colour you would be able to see the bright red knickers I had wrapped around the ice bucket. ๐
Sadly I have no personal photos from Singapore however looking through my diary reminds me of some of the things I saw there. Singapore was a very dirty shabby city, there were hundreds perhaps thousands of people sleeping on the streets and footpaths. Follow this link for some interesting information about cleaning up the rivers in Singapore.
Singapore From Cavenagh bridge now & then.
You would never recognise the city back then.
Bugis Street
This was a famous street mainly for transgenders or LadyBoys as we call them in Thailand.
Life changing adventure at the Mount Lavinia Hotel Colombo
In 1962 the island was called Ceylon, now of course it is Sri Lanka. Anyhow we absolutely fell in love with the place and even spoke about leaving the ship and staying for a while. Impractical of course as our main luggage was in the ships hold which put a stop the that whimsical idea.
The usual tourist photo in Colombo
Sadly I have very few photos from the trip as my camera purchased in Singapore for 16 Quid turned out to be a dud.
Aden in Yemen
Next port of call was Aden, however we did not dock, instead the ship anchored in the harbour and we bought cheap trinkets etc from the “bum boats“ that came out to meet us.
From my diary; I took Leanne ashore and we spent a couple of hours walking around the city, the heat was intense, it must have been around 110 degrees. We met some friends from the ship and had a few beers in the Grande Hotel before returning to the ship.
My money was starting to get low because in this weather you rarely had a beer out of your hand.
Life changing adventure, next stop Cairo
We left the boat at the entrance to the Suez Canal and took an organised tour to Cairo and the Pyramids. As you can see I was fully equipped with my Fez and camel. ๐
My iconic photo
Glenn & I at the great pyramids of Egypt which was certainly the highlight so far in our Life changing adventure . From Cairo we travelled by bus along one of the branches of the Nile, for several hundred yards each side of the river the land was green and fertile from irrigation. Then it abruptly became dry hot barren desert, my thoughts at the time were I would like to visit again one day. So far this has not happened.
Spectacular
Researchers agree that it took anywhere between 10,000โ20,000 workers over twenty or so years to construct the three pyramids. Credit to Getty.
Naples
Our final stop was Naples where many of our friends departed for various parts of Europe. Some of them we would hook up with again in London. Glenn & I hit a few bars with our friends David Wright and Allan Bremner but were were not too impressed with the city. We were ever less impressed when a slick conman relieved us of a few quid and a few cartons on cigarettes. Oh well, it was a lesson well learnt and not too much damage was done, except to our pride. ๐
Our 6 week voyage ended in Southampton on June 6 1964, we all had a truly great trip even though during the last week we were all desperate to get our feet on dry land. Now our London adventure was about to start and the fact is the party had only just begun.
The tower of London 1962
My apologies for the poor quality of these photos.
Cobham
We were working as barmen at the White Lion hotel.
Our transport
Only 1.5 days off per week so we would head for London on the scooter.
Life changing adventure is just beginning.
Thanks for visiting my Life changing adventure photo blog.
My personal story from the 6os, (not a travel bog)
David Herd 1960s Australia
David Herd 1960s Australian teenager, who even today in 2016 can still remember the 1960s as if it was yesterday. Life was rather simple growing up in that particular era compared to what teenagers face today in 2016. The photo above is from 1960 featuring my first car, a Morris Minor convertible. I attended North Auburn public school until the age of 12 and was one of only two students to be chosen to attend the then semi exclusive Homebush Boys High. Spent 3 years there, excelled in Rugby Union, and just passed my intermediate certificate. My final reference from the deputy headmaster was a classic;
David Herd attended this school for 3 years and participated in sport.
I spent the next 5 years as an apprentice Toolmaker then in May 1964 set out with best friend Glen Beasley on the mandatory trip to the U.K. and Europe.
I can easily explain the scratchy photo above and in the header. My home in Wood St North Melbourne in 1974 was gutted by fire and a large part of my photo collection was spoiled. The ones I save got rather scratched with my attempt to clean off the soot. Follow this link to find out what caused this unfortunate fire.
My first girlfriend
What incredible memories I have of this gorgeous girl Elizabeth Wiggington, better known as Beth. She lived on the corner of Wellington Rd & Antwerp St & I would ride my bike 3.3 Km from my home at 58 Kihilla Rd. It was much easier when I got my drivers licence & bought my little Morris Minor, except for the night I was driving home from her house & collided with a horse on Cumberland Rd. ๐
When this photo was taken she was a ripe old age of 15.5. ๐
Now here is one of the reasons I love Facebook, it was 1960 when we were together for 1 to 1.5 years, then I never really saw her again. Itโs now September 2019, 59 years later & we have re-connected on Facebook, in fact Beth sent me quite a few photos, because way back then I had lost all the ones I owned. ๐
It’s now 2021 & Beth just sent me this photo
I absolutely love this shot from 1960.
My FJ Holden around 1960
Beth’s job was to wash it. ๐
Here is a song by Johnny Burnette from 1960 which tells the story.
Some old friends here.
The guy at the front is Jimmy Blakey, his brother Billy was wounded in Vietnam, both nice guys. The 2 guys on the far right were probably my best friends from primary school & up until the age of 18, Denis Culpan who has lived in Gosford for many years, & Lennie Barr who moved to Batemans Bay 30 + years ago & sadly passed away in 2018.
More from the 60s
Dezzy, Rhonda Cohen, David Grech, Roslyn Keyes and Lenny Barr at Rhondaโs wedding, 1960โs. David Grech looks like he’s been sucking lemons. ๐
Beth & team
Teddy Cooney, Roslyn Keyes, Lenny Barr and Dezzy, in the 1960โs, at the Millerโs Hotel, Fairfield.
July 1962 with Veronica Crocker
My beautiful girlfriend Veronica, we were celebrating my 19th birthday at a Kings Cross Sydney night club.
This VW was in fact my 3rd car, my 2nd vehicle was an iconic FJ Holden.
Veronica October 1962
From memory we went out together for around two years, I was very lucky because she was such a gorgeous lady.
This was also October 1962
Taken at Ebenezer which is on the Hawksbury river near Richmond. I was there fairly regularly water skiing.
Surfers Paradise 1961
A far cry from 2016.
Xmas 1962 at Coolangatta
I spent Xmas and New Year 1962 at Rainbow Bay near Coolangatta with Veronica and her parents. There were two significant events on New Years Eve that stick in my memory, first we went to a show at the Beachcomber in Surfers Paradise to see a young trio play some great music. They were known as the Brothers Gibb, you guessed it, they later became the Bee Gees.
That was them & this was me. ๐
Coolangatta beach 1962, David Herd 1960s Australian teenager.
This was the 2nd significant event, after the Brothers Gibb concert Veronica & I parked on the hill overlooking Rainbow Beach for some serious necking (as they called it in those days) when the news flashed on the radio that a couple had been found dead at Lane Cove national park. This discovery was the start of a police investigation that gripped the nation.
David Herd 1960s Australian teenager
It was January 1963 & driving back to Sydney we struck floods on the Highway around Grafton, where traffic was stopped I would pull around the outside and float my VW across the flooded part of the road. Veronica would stay in the car and I would push it across.
July 1961 at Lidcombe oval.
I’m parked on the hill after playing for Lidcombe United A grade rugby league team. We won the competition that year.
The winning team.
I’m standing 3rd from the left & Denis Culpan is next to me. On the left kneeling is Jackie Brown next to the wild man Tommy Patterson.
David Herd 1960s Australian teenager & brothers in May 1964
After 18 months of working 2 jobs, I just qualified as a toolmaker, plus I worked weekends for Don Talbert the Australian swimming coach, my friend Glenn Beasley and I prepared to leave on May 7th to sail to England on the Fairsea. Just before I left I took my young brothers the the barber and had them shorn. They loved the new haircuts but poor Mum almost fainted. ๐
Big farewell party
We combined a farewell party with an early 21st birthday. My actual birthday fell on July 7 after we had reached London. Above is one of my all time favourite photographs, on the left is Glenn Beasley beside “Pop” my grandfather Sam Tippett, my beautiful mother Iris herd, yours truly, Nan Tippett and my wonderful father Arthur Herd.
The Herd clan.
Here we all are at my farewell party.
The mandatory keg My lovely Grandmother
It would be almost 1.5 years before I would see my family again.
My lovely mother, Iris Herd.
Iris was an absolute treasure, she dedicated her life to her family and friends.
David Herd 1960s Australian teenager, family in 1964
A rare colour photo of Mum with Warren & Bryan at our home, 58 Kihilla Rd Auburn in Sydney.
Sefton Hotel January 1964
Great memories from the 60s, This is January 1964 & here I am at the Sefton Hotel with Gary McCosker & Glen Beasley, the girl on the right is Rhonda Boyland.
Our cars around 1960
The FJ Holden was mine & the Zephyr was Sam Tipett’s, my grandfather.
Home of Nana & Pop Tippett, I lived there until I was 5 years old.
Backyard at 84 Carnarvon
Beth relaxing with the chook yard in the background. ๐
My passport photo
Twenty years of age in 1964, what a clean cut innocent looking lad I was. ๐ Thanks for visiting my David Herd 1960s Australian teenager photo blog. The follow up to this will be the voyage on the Fairsea.