A first trip ‘round the world, part 62

In 1971, Philippe Coutaz arrived at Mt. Buller when the season had already begun and everyone was in place teaching and becoming acclimated to their new life. 

He had flied from Geneva to Australia by way of Los Angeles, then Tahiti to Sydney, a very long journey. Says Philippe: “A boring, uninteresting trip at will. But when I reached my final destination, my luggage had not followed me. Corollary: No skis, no boots, no nothing!”

Later on, he told me that he had discovered, thru an early ski school director’s amateur films (Maurice Jaun), that French Ski Instructors used to travel by ship rather than flying. 

“I was absolutely bewildered that they’d spend a whole month on a ship. I suppose that flying was far more expensive than sailing over…” added Philippe who wasn’t aware that this peculiar mode of travel was used to ship most ski instructors ponderous ski equipment far less expensively than as extra, registered baggage, as JP and I did. 

Luckily, Philippe’s return trip became more interesting, when he began hitchhiking from Sydney to Brisbane, spending a first rainy night standing on the highway. “Poor me!” complained Philippe, “I entered thereafter the Western Australian outback also know as the The Whirlwind Country by Toowoomba, visiting the Arboregenes in the mist of a desert filled with dead animals, riding with those very long trucks all the way to Darwin, where I spent few days living on the beach with beatniks of the time.” 

Then, Philippe flew to Bangkok, where he walked around the city for several days, staying at a YMCA. 

Philippe remembers: “Luckily, the day I was supposed to fly back to France, the plane had a technical problem, as a result of which I was taken to the Dudit Thani Five Stars Hotel for 24 hours. The beggar enjoyed its luxurious environment with pools, restaurants, casinos and the like, just before returning home!”