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Douglas Walter Heher was born on 4 June 1969 at the Marifont Hospital, Arcadia, Pretoria. Arriving just 11 months after we were married, one could see the mental gymnastics or finger counting going on when we announced he was on the way. This was the 60s. A child even conceived out of wedlock was a scandal!
Jenny's pregnancy was fraught with anxiety. Shortly after we returned from honeymoon Jenny was pregnant but also had hepatitis. At that time there was a lack of clarity on the risks of hepatitis in pregnancy. We eventually saw 6 doctors, two GPs and four specialists. Three recommended termination, and three said it was not necessary. It was a harrowing few weeks as we were against the clock.
A pivotal event was a visit to see Charles and Sally Parry in Newcastle. Jenny had become close to them during her time there. They did not tell Jenny what to do, but gave her the strength to make a decision. Jenny decided firmly to keep the baby, and, having made the decision in deep faith, she did not have a moments doubt. And Doug was born absolutely fine, a miracle of a mother's faith. Appropriately, Charles and Sally became Doug's godparents.
A side effect of Jenny's hepatitis and pregnancy was that she could hardly eat anything. So for quite a few months the first user of all the cooking books that Jenny had been given at her Kitchen Tea, was me! But I found it was actually enjoyable and I learnt some skills that lasted my whole life. (But appreciative of mothers who have to cook every day for a whole family and glad that I never had to do that.)
Doug Aug 1969 (3 months)
Jenny & Doug @ 304 Grenada, Pretoria, Sept 69
Grenada was in Church Street opposite the Union Buildings
Nov 1969 (6 months). An absolute charmer, and a belly crawler. He swept all the floors clean with his baby-grows!
At Madeline Hotel, Jan 1970, just before leaving for USA. He drove Jenny nuts refusing to eat because he was busy charming all the residents in the hotel dining room!
Tony & Doug - Kloof, Oct 1969
June 1970 - before first haircut
June 1970 - after first haircut!
Around the world:
Our original intention was to take ourselves off on a 2-3 year round the working holiday as soon as I had worked off my bursary commitment. Doug arriving meant the plans needed to be 'revisited' and then two events occured that shaped our future lives:
I was unexpectedly awarded an IDC bursary for postgraduate study and I enrolled at Tuks to do a Masters part time while working.
I did very well on this course, graduating cum laud. Based on this the CSIR offered a one year bursary to attend a university of my choice in the USA. With all travel and living expenses paid for the whole family (on top of my normal salary), + university fees, a housing allowance and a diplomatic 'away from home allowance'. It was definitely an offer too good to refuse.
My subject was control systems, so the choice of universities was MIT, Stanford or University of California, Berkeley. All three were in the top three engineering universities in the USA, with the three of them vying for top spot from one year to a next. This was the 70s with 'flower power' and strong free speech movements ,with radical Berkeley at the forefront of the hippie generation - so it became my choice! My path as a radical for the rest of my life was set.
We set off on our round-the-world trip in Feb 1970, Durban, Johannesburg, Perth was the first leg. Flying in the 'new' Boeing 707, we had 3 front row seats, with Doug in a basinet, me allowed to sleep on the floor, and Jenny stretched out across 3 seats. That's when traveling was effortless and comfortable! We spent 3 days in Perth to see a (tiny) bit of Western Australia, then on to Adelaide to stay with Gill, Dean, Andrew, Bronny and Greg for a week.
This stay was a bit of a disaster! Let's just say Gill and Jenny had rather different ideas as to how to travel with a baby and cope with an 8 hour time zone change. It was a case of an immovable object meeting an irresistible force, with me in the middle! From Adelaide, we flew to Canberra, hired a car and drove through the Blue Mountains to Sydney. We stayed in Kings Cross in Sydney which was an eye opener even then to us rather old fashioned South Africans from Pretoria!
We had a memorable departure from Sydney. We were flying from Sydney to Christchurch and left early for the airport in our beach clothes (we had been at Bondi Beach) intending to change at the airport. But as we arrived at the airport, we realised we had left the precious back pack for Doug leaning on a light pole in downtown Sydney. With time in hand, although not much, I raced back in the cab, feeding dollar notes to the Egyptian cab driver to go faster, go faster. Jenny checked in at the airport, told them I was coming and as a result I ran straight through customs, immigration, etc, up the boarding ramp and onto the aircraft, with the door closing behind me! They had waited 5 minutes for me to arrive. What a difference air travel was in those days.
The net result of this escapade was that we arrived in a chilly Christchurch at 9pm on a Sunday night in beach clothes. We got some strange looks. But the day was not over. Arriving at the hotel, we realised Doug had a temperature. Anxious, we asked at the desk if there were any medical facilities. Within 30 minutes the local GP had arrived and attended to Doug. Cost? $3! We were astounded and very impressed.
From Christchurch we drove up the West Coast staying at a hotel next to the Hermitage Hotel (The Hermitage was out of our league!) We were rather naughty one night when we left Doug alone while we had a very memorable dinner in the Hermitage (we did pop back to check on him every 20 mins or so.) Looking out of the floor to high ceiling windows onto a moonlit Mt Cook made for rather romantic date night. Mountains were in our blood...
Landing on the Tasman Glacier.
Hermitage Hotel. The main dining room windows look onto Mt Cook.
A memorable adventure at Mount Cook was a flight in a ski plane and landing on the Tasman Glacier. What now days is called the Grand Circle. It was very, very exciting and impressive. The locals were also impressed that we took our one year old with us. Doug can say he walked on the Tasman Glacier when he was one!
Travelling with Doug was not without it's challenges. Concerned that he had not had a proper meat and vegetables meal for some time (Purity meals were not around!), we stopped one day at a fairly fancy restaurant offering a carvery - at commensurately fancy prices. But Doug zipped up his mouth and refused to eat a thing. Jenny was not impressed - nor was I. It took rather a dent out of our travel budget.
From Mt Cook we continued up the West Coast to Nelson where we stayed with Martyn and Sue Wolstenholme. It was really good to be staying with old friends.
From Wellington we drove up to Rotorua .
I took many photos of our time in New Zealand but became concerned when the film counter reached 40 - the film had not engaged the sprockets, so we had no photos at all!
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