N.Z. GIRLS’ TOUR OF AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 5

N.Z. GIRLS’ TOUR OF AUSTRALIA

EXPERIENCES AS HITCHHIKERS

13-MILE TRIP ON RAIL JIGGER

Hitch-hiking on a railway jigger (fortunately motorised) is one way of travelling at minimum cost. Two members of the New Zealand women’s softball team which toured Australia last summer discovered this when they elected to remain in the Commonwealth after their tour and see more of the country. The two travellers, Miss Win Dodd, captain of the team, and Miss Edna Nash, player-coach, both of Christchurch, arrived at Harewood yesterday by Tasman Airways airliner. The jigger ride covered 13 miles, to Iron Knob, during the girls’ hitchhike progression from Adelaide to Perth. They “thumbed” ’ rides on trucks, vans, and cars, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Accommodation was difficult to find in Whyalla when the two arrived there, said Miss Nash, so they asked for and were given a cell each in the police station. To collect a little money before they began their sight-seeing, both worked in Sydney for about six weeks. After that they had “one glorious holiday.*’ They visited every State capital in Australia except Hobart. Now they have returned home, they intend to repair their injured bank balances and continue their work for women’s softball in New Zealand. “It is possible that an international softball tournament will be arranged in Melbourne to coincide with the 1956 Olympic Games,” said Miss Nash. “Canadian and American teams will probably be invited and, if domestic troubles can be cleared up, New Zealand may send a team.”