QuestRR

Australia these days is totally infiltrated with PVC boots. Rubber boots are imported only and if you want to get better than the cheaper Chinese type, you either get New Zealand Skellerup (Malaysian Made) rubber boots through Daviesway in Melbourne/Brisbane or maybe the Czeck Cebo brand from a few obscure surplus shops here and there. Some other rubber boots lovers from Down Under may like to tell us if there are more types and locations. Of course, like most places before the scourge of PVC, there were some very good rubber boots available through the seventies. We had a variety of Dunlops and NARMS, with nice white rubber top trim which were made in Brisbane. By then in my 20's, the NARMS were 20 out of ten on the wank scale.

The seventies were a great time for stumbling on caches of boots for me - some went no further than untouchable temptation and one was a complete wankful success. I work in the electricity distribution industry and with power cables laid undergound in many areas, rubber boots were a must for those deep, boggy trenches. One day I walked into the worker's locker room and there was an Aladdins cave of white top trimmed rubber boots - many abandoned with cobwebs hanging off- just the kind for removal and play. They were all muddy - on the floor, in corners and on top of lockers. My knees were so shaken, I could hardly get out. I could never find a way to get in and borrow any of those boots and not be caught. Years later I went back, but the whole place had been renovated and all the boots were gone. I wonder who got them - the rubbish dump no doubt. What a waste.

Around the same time, I was with another fellow picking up some railway historical items under an old railway station for preservation. The room was locked and he got permission for us to go there and remove the gear. There were a lot of old cupboards and closets etc and in one, right in the bottom I found two new pairs of NARM white top boots. The other guy, who wasn't aware of my passion was on the other side of the room. I quickly rubbed my hands over them, inside them and had a smell of that nice new rubber but then he turned around and nearly caught me. Can't imagine the look on my face - surprise from nearly being caught, flushed because of the boots and frustrated because I knew I would never get them. Can you imagine, two new pairs forgotten and locked away amongst all the old gear. That station has now also been renovated and has a new life. I wonder what ever happened to those boots too - I could never devise a plausible reason for getting permission for the keys and going back there.

Then there were the ones that didn't get away (at last). Same period again, mid seventies and they were building a new road overbridge across a railway line near my place. What I didn't realise was there was a lot of in situ concrete pumping for that bridge with obviously, lots of workers in high black, sweaty rubber boots. One afternoon, coming home in the train after the new bridge was opened I looked out and there was this great pile of rubber boots beside the line, apparently abandoned and perhaps waiting to be burnt. In addition, I had got a quick glimpse of some NARM white tops (called Kelvins) in amongst that pile. This time, get-at-able, I was not going to fail. Walked past the site later to reconnoitre and found yet another pair of white tops abandoned nearby in an old shed. This could not fail. So I returned later that night and walked along the railway line and retrieved both those pairs of well worn in, nicely dirty rubber boots. The other boots in the pile were of a brand and design that had a low wank factor for me - just as well because there was no way I was able to get them home and hide them somewhere.

Well, I took my two pairs home and rubbed them, smelt them and put them on for that wonderful first time when you feel just how they are going to cling and mould to your foot. You watch those folds of rubber and feel it caress your bare legs and feet as you push your knees forward. I took them straight out to a nice muddy area not far away, even though it was night and ploughed through it all. Needless to say, my pants were bulging and sticky and the first wank shot high and long.

I have never seen piles of boots like that since, and even if I did, they would all be hard PVC with that horrible plastic smell. Long live real rubber boots - what would we do without them. And I can't really answer why - there must be a rubber boot gene!