Wagging school was something I never done often, maybe 6 times in one year, only one year,
Grade 9?
Me and a friend would venture up into the hills surrounding Queenstown and simply enjoy not being at school.
We would seek out Tiger Snakes and catch them by the tail.(The Idiocy of youth)
Echidnas were plentiful and we would play with them for a while, until one of us got spiked. We had a home made raft hidden and we would go out on the lake of the town water supply dam.
Echidna(Spiny Anteater)
My Grandmother raised me after my Mother left.
She would often send me to the Butchers to get a Shillings worth(10 cents) of Mince. This was several years after Australia changed currency from the English Pound to our own Australian Monetary system.
The Butchers always laughed when I asked for a Shillings worth.
The Shilling would buy about half a kilo, 1 Pound of Mince.
Hanging up in the Butchers was a variety of meat cuts, So different from todays Butchers where everything is in the cool room.
School days were not so bad.
I only ever won 1 race at the school sports carnival, 100 meters Skipping Race. Everyone else fell over.
Steve Bradbury? Bretrick done it first 
I was in the School Orchestra and was a marvel at the Triangle and the Xylophone. 
Home Economics was a compulsory class back in the 60’s, and 70’s.
Predominately about learning to cook. Seems obvious that this is where I obtained my love of cooking.
Vividly remember the first thing we learnt to cook was Scones.
All school children were given a Small bottle of milk, not chilled. Was not very nice really, warm milk.
This stopped in 1975 when I was 13.
In the 70’s I was a Cub Scout and then a Boy Scout and my Group were called the Devils.
We had a great time camping out in the Tassie bush, learning all sorts of campcraft.
Learning to tie a multitude of knots, going Kayaking, Orienteering.
Bob a Job week where we would go visit people and do odd jobs for a bob.(10 cents)
Though most people paid us much more than that. As Much as $2 
Bottle Week was another fund raising activity. Going from home to home collecting peoples empty bottles. We would collect many thousands of Bottles over that week.
He never spoke to me about his part in the war, so I’ve no idea what he got up to other than from my Nan & Grandad. All he ever said to me was he served in Palestine after the Nazi surrender and by my 5th birthday he had already died.