Gordon and I waited outside, while the Australian soldiers were carried onto one of the transports. They were all stretcher cases, men who had been shot or blown up by Malayan terrorists I think. When every one was taken on board, Gordon and I were told to board the other Dakota type aircraft, along with a large chest of spare parts, and two air frame fitters. Both aircraft were identical and equally sparse and noisy, described as flying pigs by the pilot of our aircraft, who was a Flight Searjeant. There were two nursing sisters on the other aircraft, looking after the injured men,  our aircraft was almost empty by comparison. We took off with the engines roar filling our ears, and turned towards Ceylon, now renamed Sri Lanka. I prefer the former name personally. That part of the flight went ok, although there was no sight of land until we touched down in Colombo.
Colombo was quite beautiful and I can't recall where we were billeted but I do recall that there were rows of wooden bungalow's set amidst cocoanut palms. There were lot's of nuts on the ground, still in their husks, but we could not break them open without some kind of tool. We were also warned to keep clear of falling nuts, which could be lethal to anyone below.  The following morning we left Ceylon and headed out across The Java Sea, looking for a small island which if memory serves was called Koepeng.  That's when things started to get a little hairy!!