Strake, at least you got it done in the end. It was funny though, reading your account of your flight. I was surprised though, that the examiner was so unsympathetic when you thought you may be lost, I have always tended to assume (maybe wrongly) that the instructor / examiner would take some responsibilty for situational awareness when you're concentrating on manouvering, etc; as opposed to normal navigation. Its not as if we would go off flying, willingly, without knowing where we are.
Rich