From Benoni to… Fort Lauderdale
Graeme Strickland (71) has travelled to 121 countries, but he is not done exploring.
The former Benonian has called Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home for 39 years.
BCT: Tell us about your time in South Africa?
GS: I was born in Benoni in 1946 and spent the first five years at 123 Mowbray Avenue.
We then moved to 53 Whitehouse Avenue, in Farrarmere in 1951.
I attended Tom Newby and Benoni High schools (matriculating in 1964).
In 1965, I spent a year at the Naval Gymnasium in Saldanha Bay, Simonstown and Durban, spending several months aboard the survey frigate, SS Natal.
I worked at Standard Brass for half a year in 1966 and then moved to Durban, where I worked at Wire Industries.
BCT: You wanted to travel before settling down in South Africa. What happened next?
GS: With my experience in the SA Navy, I got a job on a Norwegian freighter and worked my passage to Europe in 1967.
I planned to stay abroad for one year, but it was five years before I returned to South Africa for a visit, having spent two years in Europe (England, Holland and Greece), a year in the USA and two years in Japan.
I had an American wife in tow, whom I’d met in Athens and had married in Japan; we both taught English in Tokyo.
BCT: What memories do you have of Benoni?
GS: I spotted a rinkhals, returned home and made a make-shift weapon to pin its head to the ground, as I wanted to capture the animal.
When I returned to the spot where I had seen it, I was just fast enough to stab it in the tail with my knife.
When the snake emerged from its hole, I unfortunately bashed its head in with a rock.
I kept it in a jar of spirits on my bookshelf and proudly showed it to friends and relatives over the next few years when they visited.
BCT: What keeps you busy?
GS: Ever since we settled in the USA in mid-1978, I’ve worked as a multilingual tour guide for overseas visitors to the country, turning my hobbies of travel and foreign languages into my profession.
Over the years I’ve conducted tours in Japanese, Swedish, German, French and Dutch, as well as in English.
Once I even had a group from South Africa and I could use my Afrikaans!
In the 1980s, I escorted American tour groups to China, Egypt, India, West Africa (including a visit to Timbuktu in Mali) and a few other destinations.
Nowadays, I work as a freelance tour guide, taking groups mostly from Germany, Holland and Belgium.
Do you know a former Benonian now living overseas?
If so, we’d like to interview them.
Email details to benonicitytimes@caxton.co.za
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