I am writing of an experience that resonates with me, through my flying training.

This concerns the clothing and accessories that we wore whilst flying aircraft during flight training.

Commencing in the early phase of initial training on the Harvard warbird aircraft, we were given flying suits, flying boots, oxygen masks, soft helmet which included headphones and microphone, hard helmet and fireproof gloves. When we strapped into the aircraft, we also sat on the seat which was a parachute so that, in the case of an emergency, we could bale out. We also strapped into the aircraft, so had a lot of safety and secure equipment to prevent injury in case of an emergency during flight and take-off and landing. Most of the clothing and the accessories were deemed fire resistant and safety for the pilots was paramount at all times.

We were also provided with an attachment to our thigh to enable us to place a map of our navigation exercise as the cockpit did not have modern google maps or any digital technology.

Moving on to the next phase of training in a StrikeMaster training jet aircraft, there were new requirements for safety on top of the normal flying suit, boots and leather gloves.

This time we were in an aircraft that could fly at a maximum speed of 450 knots and climb to 42,000 feet. Hence the requirement for more safety equipment in the form of full helmet including visors and headphones and microphone all in one piece. The helmet had a clip-on attachment for an oxygen mask to automatically produce oxygen as soon as you passed 10,000 feet. The other very important accoutrement was the “G” suit. This was worn on the lower half of your body up to the waist and extended to both legs. This addition was important for flying a jet aircraft in that the “G” forces were significantly higher than the Harvard due to speed and high-speed manoeuvres. This stopped the blood from draining to your legs and always kept you conscious, so your safety was secure at all times when flying, including all aerobatics which built up a “G” force of up to 7.5 G. Fun times!

At the end of the course, we were offered our new postings and mine was to a medium range transport squadron. The flying uniform for this was vastly different in that we had our normal flying suit, leather gloves as per original allocation. However, the flying boots became less important, and we used headset and microphone only. This was due to the aircraft being multi engine and considered very safe as it could easily land using one engine.
​
These memories are unique for me in that I have never needed such uniform accoutrements in any other career.  It was an experience that I will forever remember.
Merry Xmas and Happy new year to all.
 
James Davey
November 16, 2025

Life challenges incorporate many things, events or experiences.

As a young boy growing up on a farm, I experienced many challenges including dealing with animals, learning to use farm equipment such as tractors, balers, mowers and tilling equipment. As well as that I learned to handle a firearm and go shooting rabbits and other pests in the afternoons. I also rode my bicycle 10 miles to the river, fished for trout all day, crossing rivers and coming home on my single speed bike up and down hills!!

Later after establishing a military flying career, I gave this up to travel overseas with my new partner in life, Karin, eventually moving to Australia where the real challenges began. Karin was part Aussie on her mother’s side, and I was 100% Kiwi, landing in Australia to establish our new life here. Trying to find work I had the qualifications for and experience in was very difficult. Nobody would acknowledge that I had any experience in Agricultural Research and Military Aviation. I was told that I should go back to New Zealand, as they didn’t want kiwi dole bludgers here!!

After a while I landed a job in the oil industry as an oil engineer for Mobil Oil. This lasted for 18 months, and I was moved on!

Eventually one of our neighbours suggested that I apply for a job in IT (Information Technology) as a salesperson selling systems and software to small businesses in Victoria.

I found my niche doing a job that no Aussies really wanted to do at the time and had the skill and tenacity to cold call new clients and sell them the systems they need to operate their business.

Another sales role for me in a second job, because when I commenced a job as a salesperson, I was paid base plus commission paid after I reached a 70% of my target. To keep the family housed and fed (Karin was a full time Mum) I had to get a second job. This job involved selling home loans for companies like Wizard and later RAMS home loans. I really enjoyed the Home Loans sales role, as people respected an older person in the job, compared with IT, where they moved workers on when they turned 60!!

On to the next Challenge…. dealing with a partner who had Dementia who denied this and spending my time chasing her all over the countryside to pick her up and bring her home. This eventually led to Karin being admitted to a Nursing Home for clients with Dementia to keep her safe.

To deal with this trauma and the need to fill in time, I found golf again and also cycling.  Developing communities involving these groups allowed me to deal with the trauma of being a carer and to search and find the right help to allow me to he accepted as a carer for a partner with Dementia.

So, life’s challenges are small and large.  Everyone experiences life’s challenges many times in their lives. 

Life is a challenge.   We all face it, dealing with it in our own ways and with the assistance of others; forging ahead and trying to enjoy the life we have….

 
James Davey,
October 2025

As a young person growing up on a farm in New Zealand I had a wide-open space to explore, climb trees in the bush, no TV, no mobile phones, and we were always told to get outside and play. That was unless you were helping Dad on the farm with milking, feeding animals and many other tasks.

I don’t think I became aware of my “rushing behaviour” as there were no mentors or minders to remind you that you would do irrational “rushed” activities.

The awareness came slowly and usually when I was handling machinery such as tractors and farm implements where I had a responsibility to complete a job without incident.

After I left home to attend university, I was also rash in behaviours such as drinking too much, smoking, and again no person to reprimand such behaviours.

When I was training to be a military pilot some of my decisions when flying almost resulted in failing the course.

Then I met the woman of my dreams who became my wife of many years. Karin later became a registered Psychologist and before that she was aware of my “Spectrum” behaviours. One example was when building our furniture, a Welsh Dresser, I was rushing to finish the job and hung the doors badly, as they were not square! Karin told me to slow down and finish the job, Slowly!!!

After completing her psychology training and becoming a practitioner Karin provided me with some well needed advice.

“Stop, Think, Do”

Stop what you are doing, think about the outcome and then do the task. This still rings in my ears every day when doing any activity such as golfing and any work around the house and property. The results are very satisfying in that I can appreciate a job well done.

This is only a short passage, and I enjoy the reflection and the outcomes achieved through my life journey through – Stop, Think, Do


James Davey
​August 2025

​My other life is based around “Golf”.

I discovered golf when it was offered to the form 5A students. The school was trying to encourage the boys in my class (apparently the academic ones who didn’t play sport) to participate in some form of sport. As a country boy who worked on the farm, drove tractors, shore sheep etc exercise wasn’t foreign to me.

Anyway, we were offered lessons every month to show us the skills to enable us to play golf. I enjoyed being involved in a new sport, away from rugby which was the cornerstone of sport as well as cricket. Given that I lived 40 miles from school and my parents only had one car it was difficult for them to allow us to play serious sport because of the distance after school practice.

I purchased an old set of second-hand clubs for 4.19.6 (4 pounds 19 shillings and sixpence, there is no pounds symbol on my keyboard!!!) - it was a half set with a wooden 3 wood and 3,5,7 irons and a putter.

After school and in weekends I used to take my clubs and a few balls out on the farm and hit the ball off the cow pats, up and down the long hills on the farm.

After I left school, I didn’t play much as I was based away from the nearest city/town and did not have a car until my third year.

When I joined the Airforce and was stationed in Whenuapai, Auckland, the base had a golf course, and I used to play a few rounds with other squadron members.

Then after leaving the military, travelling overseas and migrating to the sunburnt country, I did not play at all until I joined corporate life, and we used to be invited to play in corporate golf days sponsored by our suppliers. By this stage I had purchased a new set of cheaper clubs and enjoyed the day out as it didn’t interfere with family life (which was apparent among my peers in that they could only play golf regularly on Saturdays and were away all day.) Not for me…

I did however play early on Sunday mornings while the kids were very young.  I would play at 0600 to 0800 on a Sunday morning and be home when the kids woke up!!

Corporate golf was an excellent way for me to enjoy the game with my clients and also to play on all the top-level courses in Melbourne. I used to invite my clients out for a day of golf and lunch, which made it a very enjoyable experience.

I purchased a new set of clubs 20 years ago and still have these.

Karin and I moved after retirement to northern Victoria, and through her journey with Dementia no golf was played. However, when Karin was in the nursing home, I used to stop at the Benalla golf club on the way home and walk off my frustrations with the dementia experience, plus exercise and try to hone my skills. 

I joined the Benalla Golf Club, so I didn’t have to pay green fees and saved a lot of money. I also joined St James Golf Club, Mansfield Golf Club and South Pines Golf Club in Gippsland.

Through all the years golf has enabled me to:

• Relieve tensions by walking a course and hitting the little white ball as hard as I wanted!!
• Exercise, sometimes walking 7-10 km per day
• Find company and companionship with other like minded community members
• Travel and experience other courses and regions and Australia
• Fill in my days in retirement

Golf is often seen as a very selfish activity, but in the right context it is the passion which has been an anchor for my dealing with the ups and downs of life.


James Davey
​June 2025
.

Let me take you back 70 plus years and describe “this uncomplicated life”.

Growing up on a farm post WW2 was totally uncomplicated, in that for the first 4 years you were looked after, fed and bathed and clothed, no stress, especially as the oldest child!

When I was 4 years old, I was given the opportunity to drive our little Fergie 28 while my father was spraying the thistles and ragwort, so we had a clean pasture for the cows to eat and produce milk.

At the same age I learnt to put the cups on the cows, and we had our favourite cows such s Nugget and Beech. We went to school at 5 years in a small farming community school (Upper Atiamuri PS).  There were 100 pupils initially, reduced to 60 when the local maori kids were sent to the Atiamuri school.

Life at school was uncomplicated, reading writing and Arithmetic (maths, times tables) plus lots of outdoor activities such as marbles, long ball (played on a football paddock with baseball bat and tennis ball). We played rugby against the local rural schools nearby and cricket too. Girls played netball and I think softball.

We were disciplined severely and received a strap if we had an incorrect spelling and any other “bad” behaviour. This discipline did not impact us into the future in any way, but we learned appropriate behaviour for any interaction in the society at the time.

At home similar expectations in that we had jobs to do on the farm, milking cows, calving, feeding calves, lambing, feeding orphaned lambs, especially before I was 10.

At 12 years I used to take the cream cans to the farm gate for the truck to pick up, I learned to use farm equipment on the tractor, including hay rake, mower and baler. We also picked up hay and stacked into the barn, crutched sheep, learned to shear sheep, pack wool and helped to load this to the truck (by hand!!)

In those days until I was 18 and left home there was NO internet or digital technology. We actually read books, played outside, collected birds’ eggs from our bush, went trout fishing on local rivers by myself, shooting rabbits by myself and other pests and game.

We first had TV when I was 12 years old. We were only allowed to watch one program at night, and this was “Bonanza” a popular cowboy program of the time. Wow, life was uncomplicated!

Many years later I was a salesperson in the IT industry, selling the early IBM PCs to businesses the onto early networks and then complicated wide area networks and management of complicated IT infrastructure for the Melbourne corporate and Government companies and departments.

We were early users of mobile phones (not land lines) and although this was complicating life we learned as we went! Today kids are born into a very complicated , intricate digital world and their brains must absorb all this very early, not a simple one learning experience at a time…

Give me the uncomplicated life in my retirement….. It’s all mine!!!


James Davey
​February 2025

My steep learning curve was pre-empted by my upcoming 24th birthday, the cut-off for joining the Airforce as a pilot, something that I had always aspired to be, having really enjoyed everything about flying from a very young age. Some of those experiences included, watching the top-dressing aircraft take off and spread fertilizer from our farm airstrip to being at an airshow in Rotorua aerodrome when a Vampire Jet flew over at a very low level with a huge roar. Also, much of my early reading was all about the RAF pilots' stories from WW2, including Douglas Bader (WW2 legless fighter pilot) and Leonard Cheshire VC (Dam Buster Pilot).

However, my life at the time was my first job after graduating from an Agricultural University and working as an Ag Chemical researcher, testing chemicals on all sorts of crops from Maize to pastures, potatoes and vegetables and weeds such as Blackberry, Thistles and Ragwort.

Moving to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force was a complete change away from my “chosen career” and was not favoured by my parents!

What I had not understood was how demanding the training would be in order to graduate as a pilot and the biggest confrontation was the failures in the course. Initially 1000 young men applied to join to learn to fly and become professional pilots in the military. So here are the numbers:

1000 applied to join every 6 months

80 achieved the call to go to final selection

40 people were selected to train

8 of those originally selected graduated.
 
The training was intense, and the first six months involved typical military training, fitness, marching, intense discipline and “yes sir no sir” responses. In other words, follow orders!
We achieved the first six months and were promoted from Officer cadets to Acting Pilot Officers.

Then the flying training began which was really intense including all the ground school subjects such as Meteorology, Aerodynamics, Navigation, Emergencies, Radio Telephony, Aviation rules, Instrument flying. All of this in between one to two training flights per day.

This new career was a huge learning curve and also a make it or break-it in something so different from my more relaxed and less stressful ag research career option.

Given the huge failure rate of people in the course this meant that you had to be on your toes every inch of the way. My situation was challenged several times by my impulsiveness, in that I would do stupid things during a flight test (very important for achieving your wings!) On one occasion I was being assessed for my final navigation flight test, and part of my flight route was very closed to my parent’s place on the low level leg. I chose to divert to their place and execute a low level noisy fly past in the training jet (a BAC 167 Strikemaster). Once I completed this diversion, the instructor said “What are you going to do to get back on track and achieve the target in time?

I responded saying that I would increase speed on the next two sections of the navigation and reach the target on time. Lucky for me I did achieve the target on time and passed with a low score!  Very lucky.

At the end of the day, the course was 18 months intense training (way different from the relaxed laid back university training), which I accomplished, and I graduated as a military pilot.

And yes, my parents came to the graduation despite decrying my choice.


James Davey
21 October 2024
​

The relationship I will describe today is my relationship with my wife of 46 years.
 
It began back in 1977 when I was undertaking pilot training in the RNZAF at the Ohakea air base near Palmerston North, New Zealand.
 
Our 176-aircrew group was invited to a party where another squadron pilot and his fiancée were celebrating their engagement, plus it was also the 21st birthday of his fiancée and her identical twin sister Karin.
 
I had asked another girl out on a date that night, so we turned up at this small flat in Palmerston North to celebrate the engagement and the birthdays of the twin girls.
 
I was sitting on the floor directly opposite this gorgeous young woman who was the happiest person, in that she had just been halfway around Australia with some backpacking friends she had met in NZ and Australia. She had this radiance about her which was hard to ignore. She also had a date who was a local farmer (she was also a country girl) and he had to go home. I met her at the door and started to chat and chat and talk and talk!  Eventually I asked one of my course mates to escort my date home and talked to Karin for a long time, agreeing that we would go on a date.
 
Karin and her twin were inseparable and, as the twin was getting married, they would soon be taking their own paths in life.  Karin and I became very close, met each other’s families and, on the night I graduated from my wings course, I asked her to marry me and go on our life’s journey together.
 
However, Karin did say that if we were going to be married, she wasn’t going to stay in the air force (mainly because her parents were both WW2 veterans, Dad a pilot and Mum in the control centres in Britain). So, I negotiated to stay at least three years to enable me to achieve hours in the air and have some experience as a pilot to enable me to join an airline in the future.
 
Karin wanted to travel, specifically to Israel (given that she was Jewish by birth), so I agreed.
​
After some time in the Airforce, going away all the time, the opportunity came for me to resign and leave. We packed our belongings and set off for a 24 x 7 x 365 holiday of a lifetime to USA, UK and Europe. In the midst of our holiday, we flew to Israel and worked on a Moshav for 6 months, travelling all over Israel (not a good place now!!)
 
We returned to NZ and, after finishing a shearing season, decided to migrate to Australia and start all over again….
 
We have been here for 44 years and have raised two kids, enjoyed our working lives, made friends and travelled to NZ, back to the family farm where Karin was happy and comfortable.
 
Best relationship I have ever had!
​
 
James Davey
September 2024

My sense of place was rediscovered when Karin and I moved to Yundool in Northern Victoria. A quiet rural community with three neighbours and very few cars going by each day!

When we were setting up our property, a 2-acre block with services available and no dwelling, it had a shed full of car parts left by the previous owners!

Our journey involved acquiring permits for the placement of a dwelling on the property, involving a new septic system; being CFA compliant on our sole water tank (concrete to withstand bushfire); getting a building permit and using the services of a building surveyor (at a cost!).

Anyway, during the development and getting the site ready, cleaning it up, removing 3 tons of metal objects and planting many small trees we had deliveries of waste bins, one of which the driver was firmly stuck in muddy ground (oh dear!)

Having met all our neighbours, we went to the one we had communicated with more often to ask if he could bring his tractor to pull the truck driver out of his muddy predicament.

Straight away he brought his smaller tractor over and commenced trying to extract the firmly stuck truck out of the muddy ground.  This tractor wasn’t strong enough to pull the truck out, so he went to the other neighbour across the road who brought his larger tractor over.  The two of them pulled the large truck out, and while they were at it, also moved the skip bin to a better place. This was a community working together. 

Another time the neighbour with the big tractor was driving through our property to deliver a round bale of hay to the neighbour on the other side, when he buried his tractor.  Again, both neighbours with tractors managed to extract the tractor, making a huge mess of our paddock in the process. Later, after all the works were completed and the ground was dry, the neighbour came back, smoothed the paddock mess and mowed the paddock.

Although we were both country-born and bred (in New Zealand!!!, Bl…dy kiwis), we also had experience in shearing and wool handling in Australia, New Zealand, Wales and England as part of our university holiday earnings and to fund our international travel. These skills gave us credibility in our small rural community because they involve hard work and have respect as roles in rural communities. They helped us to fit into Yandool community without judgement as to us being “Melbournian, city people” trying to cut the mustard in the bush.

It has been a journey and a challenge integrating into the quiet, rural community of Yundool – however it has been achieved, and we are comfortable in our space.

I should mention that another community acceptance for me has been the involvement in this writing group and the non-judgmental support in sharing our stories about our journeys in life in the country and life!
 
Thank you.

James Davey
​August 2024

​My gap year was our ‘OE’ (or Overseas Experience) back in 1979…
 
My new wife (of less than 6 months) was wanting to travel extensively overseas, having spent the last university holiday in Australia travelling all the way up the east coast to Cairns with a group of backpackers. When I met her, she was the happiest person I had ever seen. She told me that although I was a newly graduated military pilot, she didn’t want anything to do with life in the Military, as her parents were WW2 veterans (Dad a Pathfinder Pilot, highly decorated and Mum was in the fighter control centres for No 11 group in the RAF) also her brothers were in the Military in New Zealand.
 
So, when the time came, I resigned, as I was always away from home in New Zealand and across the Pacific.
 
I have never regretted this move as I wanted to be there as a partner for my wife and our future family.
 
So, we packed up, with two packs and departed for the USA, Los Angeles California. There we were, staying with my wife’s mothers’ friends (also a Canadian bomber pilot WW2). He took us to all the theme parks such as Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios etc. We had Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner out every day for 30 days.
 
We departed USA for London and landed in Stanstead as we were flying with Laker Airways. We were met by another family contact, my father-in-law’s Navigator during WW2. They were a great contact.  We prepared for out next move, exploring London and buying a vehicle to head off to Wales (Caersws).
 
Our experience in Wales was shearing and wool handling. Most of this was done in paddocks with small flocks and off the mobile shearing platform. I commenced shearing as a weighty 15 stone, as I had given up smoking the year before and was eating lots and not much exercise!!
The shearing was very hard work.  I lost 4 stone (25 Kg) in 2 weeks and was eventually able to achieve more than 200 sheep per day, including the Welsh Jacob sheep which were known to have up to 6 horns!
 
The most memorable experience for us was in the local pub. While we were in Caersws we drank at the pub every Friday night. When the bar closed at 10.00pm the locals started to sing (as Welsh folk do), the magic end to the night. However, when we had our last night before departure, they closed the bar, made us the centre of attention and sang for us, a beautiful experience and memory.
 
We went on to travel around UK and Scotland going to northern Scotland near Lochness (no Nessie!!), as my father-in-law had trained at the RAF based in Lossiemouth.
 
We went back to London and scored a pub job at the Crown at Westerham in Surrey (the owner was a Mosquito pilot in WW2. I must admit that my having been a military pilot and my wife’s parents having contacts in UK meant that we experienced great hospitality at all times.
 
In October 1979, we booked our airfares to Israel, my wife’s dream, as her mother’s family was Jewish from Australia. This was a wonderful experience.  We milked cows, milked sheep, the locals took us on trips all over Israel (always had people with guns with us!) We also travelled across the Negev desert to Eilat down past the Dead Sea.
 
After 6 months our Israeli experience was over, and we went back to the UK.
 
Over the next 6 months we worked and travelled all around Europe with a Eurail pass on $10 per day (Arthur Frommer). We both arrived back in UK very skinny and, as the English weather was “normal”, we booked back to the USA and on home to NZ as our siblings were producing babies. as you do!
 
We spent the next 6 months shearing all over NZ and then booked our one-way trip to Australia in 1981.
 
That was our Gap Year, a wonderful challenging experience (not enough words….)
 
James Davey
15 July 2024

How did I get to my “brilliant career”?

It was a long journey, coming from a farming family and achieving well at school, well enough to qualify for entrance to university and many other options, including Military aviation.

There was quite a significant divide at schools and society in New Zealand at the time, as progress and options were all based on academic achievement. For example, at that time only 1% of high school students went on to undertake a tertiary education! And it was free!! The other “elite” career option was to join the Military as a pilot trainee. Approximately 1000 applicants applied every six months to undergo selection as a military pilot. Of those applicants, 80 were invited to final selection, and 35 were offered places. In the end only 8 graduated from the original 1000 applicants!! Another 1% club.

However, despite my wanting to be a military pilot and make this my career, it wasn’t to be. The “career” was very non-family and led me to the decision that this wasn’t going to be my “brilliant career”.

As I have written about before, in my piece on discrimination, migration to Australia led me to a career in Sales and Information Technology, also in Finance. I had never considered Sales as I equated that to being a “Bon Brush” salesperson, very much considered to be the bottom of the barrel in careers and positions in society!!

However, this was my only option and I found that I was good at cold calling, meeting new people and creating business relationships. I initially sold business systems for small businesses and then moved on to hardware sales, selling one of the first IBM AT computers.

Eventually this became my career. I changed jobs (companies) every 3 years approximately, in doing so never rising to management in any company. However, my salary continued to rise and provided our one-income family with a comfortable living.

Another addition to my sales career became necessary.  Each time I changed jobs I was paid the base salary only and, until I reached 70% of my target NO commission. An opportunity arose to become a home loan writer.  This became our top up salary whilst I was achieving my targets, which I eventually achieved.

The amazing aspect of my Sales and IT career was that, as it was client focussed and I won some large accounts (BHP, ICI, GMH), it offered the opportunity to have some people-based fun, such as coffees with clients, lunches with clients and best of all, golf. One company I worked for was a member of Moonah Links on the Mornington Peninsula. I eventually became the annual golf day organiser where we gathered up to 100 clients for golf and lunch.

Eventually my Sales and IT career came to an end.  I was managed out of the role as I had just turned 60 (Ageism). So, I took up a role for some friends selling to small business again. This did not work at all. I was also doing home loans for my employer of many years part time to help him out and put a little cash in my pocket. Eventually with no other job prospect, I walked into his office, announced that I was now working there permanently, and stayed full time until my retirement!!

The sales role provided me with many opportunities, for a migrant who was discriminated against and told to go away and get the dole in New Zealand, to live comfortably in Melbourne, raise a family and for my wife to eventually achieve her dream of becoming a registered Psychologist. We were financially secure and retired….. another career story!!


James Davey
​June 2024

​I also collected coins from wherever I went, more for the differences from our local coins. There was one coin that was given to me as a toddler, (also by my Grandmother), it was the New Zealand Crown, which was issued for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the Second.  

I still have lots of these mementos. Who knows what will happen to them as my kids have no interest, or don’t know about them?? 

Now I collect wine every week for pleasure…… Has to be a Red, mainly Shiraz!!!! 


James Davey
May 2024

Discrimination is an interesting topic! Most people (I may be wrong, often am!), tend to think of discrimination as being racial, in the early days, migrant discrimination or religious?

In my early days, living in a multiracial country (New Zealand), there was obvious discrimination in that the Maori population were not invested in all the activities the Pakeha Kiwis were invested in such as, staying in school to achieve a higher qualification in order to get a job. The Maori kids rarely came to school, which necessitated the emergence of a truancy bus so they would attend school. Thankfully, this has changed enormously, and New Zealand is now a multi-racial and multicultural country immersed in Maori culture. This was really evident during the World Rugby Cup in 2011.

Moving on, I recently had a conversation with the manager of the nursing home in which my wife Karin is a resident, and, as an Indian Migrant he was telling me about racial discrimination by white Australians against the Indian migrant population.

This caused me to reflect on my journey as a Kiwi migrant arriving in Australia 43 years ago.

We arrived in Sydney and weren’t impressed by the energy and size, so caught a bus to Brisbane for a week.  Not enjoying that we hired a car one way to Melbourne.

Once in Melbourne we organised accommodation in the city and I went about applying for jobs which my qualifications matched. My qualifications were quite significant in New Zealand, being…..

• Masters Degree in Agricultural Science
• Military pilot with more than 1000 hours experience in piston, Jet and twin-engine turbo prop
• Shearer, farm work experience

Although my wife walked into a health food shop and scored a job quickly, it took me 6 weeks to find a job at Mobil Oil with my degree - as an engineer (not my qualification!).

Other jobs I had applied for were: Military (told to go to the army as the RAAF wasn’t interested!!); Ansett Airlines, told that 200 young Australians were looking for these jobs and to go back to NZ on the Dole!!; Agricultural research, found the jobs were already allotted to Australian graduates.

I was told, "we don’t want you here on our dole" (many kiwis did come over and go on the dole in Australia and then go back to NZ on the Australian dole!!!)

Anyway, persistence being my second name, I applied for jobs where there was RISK and no one was applying, such as Sales Person in the newly developing IT Industry.  This led to my selling Computers, Networks and Network Management contracts for over 37 years. Other roles taken to earn more money as a second job were in the home loan industry, where I worked part time doing home loans for applicants for 12 years and full time for 8 years. This kept my family fed, educated, and mortgage paid.

I was discriminated against, and I was a white anglo Kiwi!!! What do you have to do in this country to get ahead? I figured it out…..

Do what all migrants do… work your butt off doing jobs that Aussies don’t want to do. Send your kids to a good private school as the whole Melbourne scene was around “which school do your kids go to?”

Anyhow, I am now a citizen of 38 years and 100% an Aussie, speak the language and talk the talk.

“Whacko blue you bloody beaut!”…
 
James Davey
April 2024

My life changing moment happened when I was 8 years old, a long time ago and one which I would never conceive could happen…

However, as a young child I was part of the generation that had the obvious tonsils out before 5 years of age and unfortunately had my adenoids removed three years later. Probably caused by living with smoking parents and poor diet!!

One of the final treatments to enable my hearing to be optimal was to be referred to a large Auckland Hospital 4 hours away by road to undergo a series of X-Ray radiation treatments of an hour a time to help clear the eustachian tubes and enable me to achieve perfect hearing!

The treatment was quite daunting in that I was placed in a very large (10 metre ceilings) room with a HUGE radiation machine. I was placed on a movable bed and slid into the machine so that the area between my ears was a focal treatment area. The treatment was for one hour at a time and very scary for an 8-year-old youngster!!

Luckily, I achieved exceptional hearing which allowed me to pass the Military pilots medical and undertake pilot training in the RNZAF.

Moving on to age 37, the doctor noted a small tumour below my left ear. He tried to remove in the surgery however was unable to complete so was referred to the oral surgeon to remove. This was at the time that my wife had just given birth to our second child, so I went into the hospital for a day surgery under local anaesthetic, as I had to drive home after.

This was benign!

Moving on to 2016, I went to the dentist, and she discovered a lump in the roof of my mouth, which hadn’t really been bothering me. She referred me to a pathologist, and he also was nervous about taking a biopsy so referred me to an oral surgeon same day…
This was before Christmas 2016.

After the new year I received a call from the oral surgeon advising that I had a “Low grade Muco-epidermoid carcinoma”. He was unable to do the operation (because he was skiing in Japan!!) so he referred me to the Royal Melbourne Hospital Oral Maxillo Facial team for the operation. There were multiple appointments and scans before the operation Mid-February.

Prior to this we had been looking at buying an apartment in South Yarra and we were going to an auction the weekend before the operation. I said to my wife “do you want me to take the cheque book, given that I am in hospital next week for 14 days?” She responded, “take the chequebook!”

Anyway, we purchased the property, and I had the operation to remove the tumour (just like Johnny Farnham!!) Luckily, after being told the cancer had gone to a grade 4 cancer and required radiation and chemotherapy!! Wow more impacting treatment! Luckily the chief surgeon met us on the stairs and said that they had just had a meeting about my case and reckoned that they had enough margin, and no further treatment, phew, thank goodness for that.

We moved to South Yarra near the Botanic Gardens and enjoyed the experience. Then another tumour had grown behind my ear, so had that removed (benign!!)

Wow, that’s enough cancers. In the meantime, have had two more (prostate and a skin cancer on my lip).

Still alive and enjoying every moment I can breathe.

Thanks for listening……..


James Davey
​February 2024

​The trigger happened as I was driving home from Melbourne earlier in the year.

As I drove over the Bonnie Doon Bridge, I noticed that Lake Eildon was FULL as was the Goulburn River as it flowed to the Murray River.  This triggered a memory of growing up in the Central North Island of New Zealand on a hilly dairy and sheep mixed farm.

Near us was the mighty Waikato River which starts in Lake Taupo and flows to the Tasman Sea. In my early years the government was building dams on the river to create large bodies of water which would create a safe and secure hydroelectric power for New Zealand. In the end they built, I think, seven dams.

The upside of all this was the opportunity to swim, go water skiing and also trout fishing. As a young person I engaged in all pursuits as my father had a ski boat and a tinnie with a 4.5 HP Seagull outboard motor.

Of course, running into all the lakes were many healthy rivers. As a 12-year-old I used to ride my single speed push bike 5 miles to the river with my fishing rod, then walk 10 miles up and down the river, eventually catching a couple of rainbow trout to take home for the family meals.
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Once I achieved my driver’s licence, I could drive our Series 1 Land Rover, with the tinnie on the back, down to the Hydro Lakes (we had three within 20 miles of the farm).  With a couple of mates, we would trawl for trout all day and always came home with trout.

So, the trigger ignited all the memories of lakes and rivers close to home that I could experience at my whim.

Further to this, another activity.  As a senior Boy Scout I used my river experience to achieve my survival badge. We had to create a bivouac and catch our own food (eels and trout) for a weekend. It was a lot of fun, especially watching the eels attacking our bait on the lines in the water.  We caught three large eels and we eventually threw one on the fire and ate the flesh. Badge achieved!!

The next experience of rivers came in the early days of my RNZAF wings course when we were sent on a weekend survival course in the high country of the South Island in New Zealand. After hiking for 6 hours, we set up natural bivouacs and then set about thinking about FOOD. We were issued 1 x 24-hour ration pack for 4 people for the 2 days. That meant that we had to seriously search for food (animal or plant).

Luckily, we were beside two small lakes which had a small stream running between them. (Paradise for me!!) I immediately went looking along the stream for trout that were in the spawning mode in rivers and streams. I used my experience and slowly felt along the edge of the stream coming into contact with a trout on the edge. This I tickled and scooped out of the water, repeating this until we had a feed.

That night we built a large campfire and cooked the trout.  Some of the guys started to light flares for light, causing a lot of eels to come searching for the light. We caught a few, throwing them on the fire. This created an offensive smell, permeating our survival clothes which stank and had to be thrown out when we returned to camp.

So, my trigger moment created a lot of connected memories to lakes, rivers, fishing and survival.

Happy days!!
 
James Davey
November 2023

​This topic really ignited memories of our journey for the past 7 years.

We were comfortably living in our family home of 18 years in Mt Waverley, when in late 2016, in December, I went to the dentist for the annual checkup.

Whilst doing the normal oral check the dentist discovered a lump in the roof of my mouth and asked “What is this?” I responded and said that it was probably a result of eating something really hot and having burnt the roof of my mouth! She said that she wasn’t happy with the lump and referred me to an Oral Pathologist to do a biopsy and check.

Three weeks later, in early January (4th to be exact, my father’s birthday!!), I received a call from the Oral Surgeon who had done the biopsy, advising that the results were “low grade Muco Epidermoid Carcinoma”. He apologised and said unfortunately he couldn’t do the operation to remove the tumour as he was going to Japan Skiing in January!

He referred me to Royal Melbourne Hospital Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) team.

This was the start of my cancer journey…

However, prior to going for the operation on the 16th February 2017, we were going to attend an Auction for a 2-bedroom apartment, in South Yarra.  

I said to my partner, “Given that I am having a major operation to remove a cancer and don’t know whether I will require further treatment such as Chemotherapy or Radiation therapy as a follow up, do I take the checkbook?”

My partner said, “Take the checkbook!!”

So, we purchased our apartment.  I had the operation, and then had to focus on preparing our home for sale, clearing out 40 years of our ‘stuff’ and putting it into storage. All this happened, we sold our larger home and settled into and renovated our new home…. Busy, busy..
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We lived in this 65 SqM apartment for 5-years, in the meantime purchasing a 2-acre block of land in Northern Victoria to tidy up and use as a weekender away from the central city environment.

So, we moved from our apartment, selling this. 

We eventually placed a small cabin on the block, cleared the block up of 20 years of rubbish, and moved there.

So--we moved from 24 squares to 9 squares and now 4 squares (a one BR relocatable dwelling on 2 acres).

This was our ‘Downsizing’ life! 

Another journey was on the way, but this is for another time….

 
James Davey
October 2023

​My retirement was driven by a disruptive medical issue, Cancer of my mouth in 2017. My partner also had her work disrupted due to urging to take leave to support her partner with Cancer.

In this time, we purchased our South Yarra apartment and sold our family home in Mount Waverley, including renovations and moving.

My partner’s work was impacted and wasn’t the same after she returned to work, so six months later she resigned (retired). I continued working from home for another six months and then pulled the pin on all work.

During the following months we looked at purchasing a country property and undertaking some travel with our caravan. This was after we completed 4 weeks working for Blazeaid as volunteers, very enjoyable. However my partner, who had completed many years volunteering, declared, "I am not volunteering any more".

So we looked around for a country property to suit our budget and give us something meaningful to do, such as clean up a property, place a house on it and use as a country retreat. The property we found was 3 hours north of Melbourne which was a bit of a challenge.  Covid was upon us, however as owner builders we were allowed to visit our site to meet contractors and do work (2021). The property was a 2-acre block where the house had burnt down (deliberately lit apparently to collect insurance!)

We began our search for a suitable portable home which was cheap and could be moved to the site complete. The council advised that as it was a portable, relocatable dwelling, we didn’t need a building permit!  This has since been revised and we had to go through the whole process of stumps, power, septic and getting sign off.

The whole process took about 9 months to complete, and we moved the cabin on at the end of 2021.  We then decided to sell the apartment and moved permanently to Yundool, 35 km north of Benalla. Our retirement activities included many long walks and bike rides, exploring the local area (pubs, towns and finding all the best pie shops).

The project included adding large decks and verandahs, front and back.  We finally received our certificate of occupancy. One of the gotchas was our BAL 29 fire rating which required steel mesh screens.  The final item to be ticked off was a compliance certificate for the glass shower screen (ridiculous!). We now had our permanent place of residence and could live there.

Job done. It was an interesting journey dealing with council, building surveyors and our cabin supplier, who stopped taking our calls as soon as the 12-month warranty expired.

The neighbours were very helpful at all steps of the journey, including pulling trucks out of the mud and mowing the grass so we weren’t at risk of grass fires. We learnt so much and enjoyed being back in a country location where people are helpful, welcoming and we only have 40 years to go to becoming a local!

During the project we encountered another issue that is now my retirement activity…..  (for another time…..)


James Davey
August 2023

My best kept secret has finally come to light in conversations with friends and family…

In 1993 I was in serious debt, having taken out loans that weren’t good and not managing money well due to easy credit from the banks and bad money management from my side.
Early days with money...

I earned enough money every year to keep me covered for each year at university. Some years I had to earn extra to cover my “extravagant lifestyle of drinking and smoking”.

If I ever borrowed money to buy a car it was paid out quite quickly and owned.

However, in later years around the late 80s and early 90s I discovered the magic Credit Card which the banks gave me with no application. So, I quickly used this wonderful device and extended the credit, buying cheap cars (mainly Citroens) and putting them on the road for our use.

I was working in the IT industry and some clients used credit and bank loans to purchase computer systems that I had sold them. One client suggested to me that I could finance my own system by borrowing excess money (more than the value of the system) to finance our new Apple Computer System for home use. I borrowed $40,000 for a $10,000 value system and could use the balance to pay off credit cards and only have one debt.

The only problem with this was that the repayments were quite large and a significant part of my monthly wage including commission.

So, moving forward, the repayments were quite an impact on our money as well as paying 19% on our home loan!!!

When I was late in payments, I received quite aggressive calls from the bank (Name withheld) every few days, very stressful.
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One day after many weeks of stress I heard on the radio that there was an option to solve loan stress, please call this number…

So, I called the number and they said that I could become a Part X bankrupt which was the lesser of the bankruptcy evils. I decided that the stress would go away, and they would handle the aggressive lender!!

We went down the Part X track and agreed to pay back 10% of our debt.

Moving forward we sold our home in Seville, moved into a rental in Mount Waverley for our kid’s education and paid off all our debts!!

During that time, I had also purchased an investment unit for rental and to maintain our place in the housing market. Eventually had to sell this too and unfortunately had an outstanding debt to the lender. I agreed to repay this and did. However, during this time, the lender posted a bad credit notation on my credit record. Had to negotiate the removal of that as well, learning slowly here!!!!

Eventually, seven years later we started to look at buying a house again when we were out of the bankruptcy, and this was no longer on our credit record. Our neighbour, who we had helped after her husband had died unexpectedly, by having her over to dinner every Friday night and providing ongoing support, asked my wife why we didn’t have a home of our own. My wife said that we didn’t have a deposit. So, our neighbour said, “I will lend you the money”.

Many years later, after funding home loans and becoming a financial planner, I finally understood “MONEY”.

Bankruptcy was my best kept secret for many years and now I am comfortable talking about it.  It’s very embarrassing, and put my family at great risk financially….

James Davey
July 2023

​I grew up in a family where both parents were smokers. My father started smoking when he was 12 years old as I understand it, and my mother started smoking the day she left home to go to University in Christchurch, Canterbury NZ. This was her “growing up moment”, she could make her own decision and buy her own cigarettes.

As a child we lived in a cigarette smoke household and as younger children, my sister and I used to steal some tobacco from our father’s packet to go for a walk around the farm to smoke our contraband!!!

When I achieved my driver’s licence at 16, I was allowed to take the family car to go for a night out in Rotorua for a movie. I also took the opportunity to buy some cigarettes (Capstan 10’s).  Also, when we went to Church sometimes in a neighbouring area we walked to the local shop and purchased the clandestine cigarettes!!

The day I left home at 18, with my cousin, we drove to Christchurch 2 days away and a 10 hour drive!

The first thing I did was to purchase a packet of cigarettes and commenced full time smoking….

I then smoked up to 20 cigarettes per day - usually Rothmans, a packet of 20 cigarettes.
All through university and even when I applied for the Air Force as a pilot and struggled with the fitness required, I kept on with the smoking…

I passed my Wings course and was posted to a medium range transport squadron flying a Hawker Siddeley Andover.

Every year I had to complete a Pilots medical to allow me to be a “fit and compliant “pilot.
Having been recently married, my wife was a non-smoker, so I gave up smoking in bed!!! Also smoking at our dinner table after our dinner!!

In 1978 I underwent the normal annual pilots medical examination and the Chief Medical Officer sat me down and said “you have to give up smoking otherwise I will cancel your medical and ground you”.

This was an “Oh Shit” moment!

So the new programme to give up smoking began…..

I gave up immediately, however within three weeks I was back on the cigarettes!!

Tried again a month later and this time lasted a little longer… This was due to enjoyment of cigarettes during social occasions!

On the third time I came home from three days away on a freight shuttle flight and when sitting with my wife in front of the fire I finished the cigarette packet and threw it in the fire.

The next morning, I woke up and went out for a run. Hurt like hell, but I returned and from then on every morning I got up and ran. I also ate a lot of food that the Loadmasters gave to me with a coffee with two sugars!! I gained 4 stone in weight over the next 12 months!!!
 
Finally I had quit smoking.

I left the air force and, when overseas in the UK, I went for a run one morning and could easily run 5 miles without stress from breathing. I also lost all my excess weight through hard physical exercise/work in shearing 200 sheep per day in Wales and England.

I’ve never wanted to smoke again.  I have been off the fags for 44 years now and have felt really healthy. My wife really appreciated the quitting of cigarettes as she also was having sinus problems due to my smoking. A win all around, and I love the healthy life I have!!!!


James Davey
​June 2023

​I remember as a quite young boy getting up early in the morning in Spring and Summer when the topdressing aircraft arrived and we were topdressing the hill farm with fertilizer.

I was in awe at the way the pilot of the Fletcher aircraft would take off on our hill airstrip with a full load of fertilizer and then at a low level, perhaps about 200 feet above the ground and follow the hills and valleys until the job was done.

A few years later when I was 8 years old we went to the Rotorua aerodrome for the airshow.  Early in the afternoon an RNZAF Vampire jet came in at a very low level pass (about 50 feet above the ground) and I said to myself, that’s what I want to do when I grow up.

I read many books abut WW2 and the expoits/autobiographies of WW2 fighter pilots and Bomber pilots including names such as Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader (no legs) and Wing Commander Stanford Tuck. Also the leader of the Dambuster raid Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC. He also was instrumental as a Pathfinder Pilot on Lancaster Bombers.

My mother gave me an Oxford English Dictionary for my 12th Christmas and she wrote in it “Reach For the Sky”.

I wanted to join the Air Force as soon as I left School, but was persuaded to wait and go to University to get a degree, I chose Agriculture (farming upbringing and work)

However when I completed my degrees and was 23 years of age I decided that this was the time as the limit for pilots was 24 years.

I joined in January 1976 in 176 aircrew course.

Basic training included, drills , marching , physical fitness (I was also a smoker so physical fitness was very hard). We completed 6 months of classroom training in all subjects aligned to flying, maths, physics, meteorology, airframes , aerodynamics and Officer Training. We also had the chance to complete a few hours flying to keep us interested!

Real flying began on the North American AT6 Harvard, with a powerful 560 HP radial engine, Max speed of 205 Nautical miles per hour (Knots), ceiling of up to 10,000 feet.

I went solo in 12 hours and was soon completing aerobatic routines daily, such as loops, slow rolls, wing overs, barrel rolls, roll of the top of a loop, stalling, spinning.  It was such a joy. In fact my instructor, F/L Nigel (Wheatie)O’Neill, commented on my commentary when doing the first loop, which was “over we go Trev”, a common comment by Fred Dagg (John Clarke, Comedian) in his TV shows.

We completed 150 hours on Harvards (Piston Engine) before graduating and going to the Jet Phase on the BAC 167 Strikemaster, a British Jet Trainer.

Now we could fly at speeds of 420 Knots with a maximum ceiling reached of 42,000 feet. Of course we were on full oxygen and could descend very quickly.

I graduated and achieved my dream, with many stories to tell, then began flying the Hawker Siddely Andover and medium range twin engine transport aircraft, in which we completed many flights, as passenger transport and freight runs, all over the Pacific and to Australia.

I gave it all up to ensure that my recent marriage to my partner Karin was secure. Karin's father was a Pathfinder on Mosquitoes during WW2 and was a highly decorated pilot (DFC, DFM).

That’s enough for now …..


James Davey
​May 2023