HOW FAR WILL £l00 GO?

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22367, 2 April 1938, Page 19

HOW FAR WILL £loo GO?

A Woman

IF you had '£loo and very little else, what would you do with it? Bank it? Invest it in a small business? Or spend it?

I decided to spend it, and found that I had invested it in something that not only gives me present pleasure but ensures me future happiness in a wealth of memories, and, combined with certain qualities I am lucky to possess, a possibility of ending up in a profession that has always attracte'd me, that of travellers’ guide, comforter, and friend. Last September I bought for less than £ 100 a ticket that is taking me right round the world, from London to Australia, through America and back to London. I have taken quite a leisurely course, earning while I tarried and knowing more enjoyment in these last six months than in any other six years of my life. There has been no luxury about any of it, no first-class cabins or expensive hotels, and the tram and railway have seen me oftener than motor-cars, but although travelling alone I have. never been lonely, or bored, or at a loss what to do and what to see. “Life is so. full of a number of things.? One of the prettiest children I have ever seen stopped smiling at ( me in Aden. She was in native costume and I wanted to take her photo, but she demanded “baksheesh” before she would pose for my camera, and when I paused to focus she threw up her scarf scornfully at me and ran off to waylay another passenger .. . the little gold-digger! A very wonderful week was the one spent on a coral island on the Great Barrier Reef. This is the real Lotus Land. Fishing, swimming, looking for shells and coral, falling dcftvn the muttomheaded mutton-

Sees the World Alone

(specially -WRITTEN por the press.)

[By EDITH WATSONJ

birds’ nests. These birds will let you almost tread on them before they move out of your path, while the concert they give you at night . . . ! The colours of the coral and of the fishes that swim in and out of its crevices cannot be described, they must be seen to be believed.

It was while reefing one afternoon at low tide that we saw the shark. Captain Polseh assured us that we were all right, as the shark was well outside the reef. In spite of this I paid more attentiofi to that black fin than to the coral at my feet. Soon I said, “Are you sure that shark is all right?” The captain was quite confident, bending ro show us more lovely coral formations. “Well, what’s that?” I asked, and “that” was the shark cruising between us and the shore!

Captain Polsen was after him, throwing his heavy iron staff at him, which sent him careering madly only 10 feet from where we were standing. As he swam across us I saw clearly his rough brown skin and sharp nose. I had two cameras, a still and a “movie,” with me, and could have got an excellent shot, but alas, cameras were far from my mind. I did not breathe till that shape was a good way off and then I smiled gratefully at the young man who was with me. “Jolly good

of you to stay there with me” I said to him. He assured me that it was only because I was clutching him so tightly that he could not move, otherwise he’d have streaked for shore quicker than the shark! I lived for three years in South" Africa. Men came to my door one night armed with rifles and told me to stay indoors. This looked and sounded alarming, but it was only because two lions had come down from the-mountains and were wandering round our gardens. They killed one that night, but his mate was wiser and got away. Next day an astonished train crew, arriving at a small wayside station, was met by a brand-new stationmaster. This was the lioness, who had scared away the station staff and taken possession of the platform, where she paced back and forth in great style. The train crew did not insist on the proper exchange of “tally sticks.” They left quickly. Away from Chromium-Plated Hotels Adventures are not so easily encountered in these days, and much of the colour and variety is going out of the towns, for from Charing Cross to Timbuctoo a line of soda fountains and petrol pumps is making its horrid appearance. And all high-class hotels look the same, with their chromium plate and their glass and coloured leather. But the people in their homes, their workshops, and their markets, have life and colour and movement still, and it is all this you can find if you travel without pomp and fuss, taking things as you find them and delighting to find the/n so different from your ordinary routine. One of the first things necessary for care-free travel is to discard most of the luggage you think necessary. The remainder will still be more than you really want and will be well cursed more than once before your return. Next, "do not buy large and cumbersome souvenirs: they not only add to your burdens, but frequently land you into trouble with the customs officers. I have seen women buying curtains, tablecloths, and linen baskets, all in the most gaudy colours, and then finding they look perfectly horrible when they are away from the hypnotic wiles of the native salesman, Arab or Moor,' they bought them, from.

After seeing Europe, and experiencing the feeling of the people there, I can assure you that you in New Zealand are the most fortunate of people to be so far away from the centre of disturbance. You can read your daily paper without being urged to attend classes in the use of gas masks, or the effects of aerial warfare. I want to get away from all that and come hack for good to this happy land- .