HoQL: Olwen

 

BY Jack Mainella

During our first long weekend, I took a quick trip to Wellington, NZ, and on the return flight to Brisbane, had the pleasure of sitting next to a woman named Olwen. Olwen is 85 years old, a New Zealand native, who has been living in Brisbane for 20 years. Born and raised in Taupo, New Zealand’s North Island, I quickly learned about her adventurous life, and her passion for travel. From this, I focused my questions towards this topic of global travel.

JACK: When was the first time you traveled out of New Zealand?

OLWEN: 1960, I traveled to Fiji, with 3 kiddies (*side note Olwen has 3 children, 8 grandchildren, and 18 great grandchildren). The youngest was 2, the oldest was 5 and my husband was on transfer for the Civil Aviation. We lived there for 5 years, it was lovely. I was a ground hostess for Quantas.

JACK: Where was your favorite place you’ve been?

OWLEN: I lived in Vanuatu for 3 years it the very top Island called Santo. The Queen came up there in the Britannia, and because we were big fish in a little puddle we got to ride on board the Britannia. It was really something, we met the Queen and Prince Phillip, Princess Anne, her husband. I can’t remember who else now. But I also lived under Waterloo Bridge (London) in a camper van and that was the most interesting, and every now and then we would take off, my husband and I, to around England, or around Europe, or to wherever we fancied.

JACK: What is something significant you’ve learned from your experiences traveling?

Olwen: What did I learn? I enjoyed it of course, as you do, and to not like what other people say. I doubted a lot of things that were different early on. But I lived off and on in Australia.

JACK: When did you first go to Australia?

OLWEN: I went there first of all in 1952, I was 19, the four of us girls went over there. We went to Sydney first, we went by boat because you didn’t go by plane in those days. I still remember it costs 19 pounds retail round trip. We hitchhiked from Sydney to Melbourne…well you could in those day. We hitchhiked back and we were picked up by the same two fellas, it was quite odd. They were so kind to the four of us!

JACK: What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who is looking to travel?

OLWEN: Try and take as little as possible. Baggage, take as little baggage. So many people are allowed a big baggage in stowage and they stuff it with every they can. Waste of time. What I used to do when I went to London, I would take very little and I would go straight to the Op Shop and buy second hand things and get whatever I wanted. Saved a lot of money. And when we left we would leave all of the clothes we didn’t need hanging up around the place so all the old people who were homeless could pick them up.