When I needed a dentist, Shandau suggested that I should go and see Dr. Raubicek, who was a Viennese dentist who had been practising dentistry in Vienna for forty years, but unfortunately was unlicensed for practice in Australia. I made friends with his receptionist, Gertie, who was also from Vienna, and one day she suggested I should come to a coffee lounge called ‘Packys’ where you could sit over a cup of coffee virtually all evening and listen to Latin dance music. There one night, I met one of our boys from camp, Johnny Schaeffer, who lived in a bachelor flat near Darlinghurst Road and was looking for someone to share the flat with. I promptly took up his offer and moved within a few days. On my next visit to the dentist, Gertie said that there would be a weekend camp held by a Jewish organisation called Habonim, at Taylor’s Point, across from Church Point. Johnny, my flat mate, was also going so I agreed. And on Saturday morning, we set off by bus to Church Point where we boarded a ferry to take us to Taylor’s Point..

On the way across on the boat, there was a girl sitting in front of me who turned around and asked ‘Am I blocking your view?’ Of course she wasn’t, but I thought it was rather thoughtful of her. I later found out that her name was Ilona. During this weekend, I also made friends with another girl called Eva and we saw each other a few times afterwards and went to the movie etc. And then one day she mentioned that Ilona had to go to hospital to have her tonsils out. So I decided to go and visit her and made a date for later. And that’s how it all started.