Tammy Leighton

Well when we arrived in Malaysia it was a culture shock coming from Melbourne where we had most of the extended family. Suddenly it was just the four of us.

When we arrived the place seemed sooo open. The house in Robina Park (968 to be precise) was like a squash court with a couple of rooms to the side. It was divided by the furniture. It was not far from the so-called rose bowl.

My memories of Malaysia, in no particular order were:

Langkawi Island - going over there on a rickety boat with Mum panicking because she was convinced it would sink. It was only about 40cm above the waterline.

Going to Singapore with just Mum. I can trace my shopping habit to these trips. We stayed at the Y, shopped came back to sleep, shopped, rested. Yohans had just gone 24 hours.

The shrew - we had one in the house that Dad tried to catch with an ice cream bucket. He lifted the side about 5mm and it was off to the sound of squeals.

That spray that they used every night. God it stunk!

Going to the Black Sand beach - near Ipoh, I think. And finding KFC at Ipoh - this was a sign of civilisation to a 8 year old.

The Ice Cream Parlour at Hilltop (?). No one ever believed that they made corn flavoured ice cream but I loved it. Not sure I would now. And who else noticed that Malaysia had peppermint Aero bars and grape fanta at the Movies, 15 years before they arrived in Australia?

The old bread man on the bike. At 8 I could never understand how he didn't fall off with that huge metal silo thing on the back of his bike. And the peanut man... "Peanuts... Peanuts... hot, hot peanuts".

I remember big Steve and little Steve who used to bring the groceries.

I remember the smell of durian when Mr Russell in his infinite wisdom decided we all should try it after we had been on an excursion to the markets somewhere. I still hate the smell and while he was probably trying to "broaden our horizons", mine still aren't that broad.

We travelled to Thailand with our neighbours, a RAAF guy who had married a Thai lady. Can't remember their names but their daughter was Somchit (Somi). Even in 76 the borders were patrolled heavily for drug trafficking. We came through the border about 5 min before closing (6pm back then) and were searched. Every suitcase was upended on the ground. They got to my avon powder puff thing, and it "fluffed" up sending white powder onto the guard's uniform. His guess wasn't pretty smelling talc. Mum naively laughed and had a gun pointed at her - she soon quietened down. Some fast thai talkling by our neighbour got us out of that one.

When we left the tradition was to destroy that white uniform by autographing it. I still have mine but when the uniform I was wearing was shredded as well and presented to Mum by some of my friends she was less than impressed.

I remember the slumber parties that seemed to have no age limit. I had friends from 6-16 at them when I was nine and we always looked really bleary eyed the next morning.

The Dolphin Swim Club was a major haunt as Dad (Terry) was heavily involved and was the sometimes tyrant who thought those rubber bands from tyres were a good thing when practicing butterfly. I have a few trophies and record cards still. Dad was also a key player in the "Female floaties" the swimming class for women, like my Mum, who had not learnt to swim as a child. He apparently had great success but Mum is still wary but can swim to save herself.

I remember brownies - Peter Pan play when you still made hand puppets out of cigarette packets, the camps and the hike with the scouts. People like Annabelle Thorpe and Jane Elsmore.

I had a cat and three turtles. The cat nearly met a fatal end with a cobra in the backyard. A neighbour killed it (the cobra) and presented it in a cake box at the boatie to one of his mates who had been celebrating a birthday. I still love turtles and would like to get some here.

Our amahs were a varied lot. Our first was Yannanbah. She was a gorgeous person who had hair that went to below her knees. She left to look after her son who was very ill.

Then we had Mary (yes, she was quite contrary), especially when Mum found out she was nicking stuff and that I wasn't lying about the boyfriend and being sent to bed early.

Then we had Ah Kwee. She was a widow I think, with two girls around our age, Margess and Jenniby. They were all really nice and became part of our extended family. She showed us some parts of the culture we never would have seen otherwise.

I also remember the Eden. How could you forget it? The fish in the pond and food. I also remember the child beggars who asked for money but were dripping with gold. Even as a kid, I could never reconcile this.

I could write for hours but won't. If anyone knows the whereabouts of the following I would like to get in touch. I would also like to get a copy of the 1977 year book if anyone has a spare that they are willing to sell.

Friends I would like to contact:
Lauretta Mckie
Sally White
Nicola Jones
Nicole Riddell
Elise Schwartz
Tammy Hopkins
Michelle Slater

Happy Memories - you betcha! I would love to take my girls back their now but I know some of my rose coloured memories would come undone. It was a great time.