Hitch-Hikers Home From Year’s Holiday Overseas

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27873, 23 January 1956, Page 2

Hitch-Hikers Home From Year’s Holiday Overseas

“My girl friend and I certainly knew we were back in New Zealand when we arrived in Wellington in the Southern Cross on Monday. We landed at 7 a.m., and it was 3 p.m. before we were through the customs., There was not one porter to take our luggage, so we put our six suitcases on a trolley and wheeled it to the wharf where the inter-island ferry was berthed,” said Miss Jean Wenmoth, of Christchurch, in an interview with “The Press.” “After the service we had received overseas I felt ashamed that our fellow passengers should receive such a greeting,” she added. Miss Wenmoth and her friend, Miss Joy Mills, of Lyttelton, have returned after a year’s hitch-hiking holiday spent in Great Britain and several European countries. On their arrival in Wellington they had 15s 7d, including two half-pennies, between them. ‘‘We saved £4OO out of our wages in five years, and after paying cur return fares set off on our journey with £lOO each,” said Miss Wenmoth. Both girls are embroidery machinists, and now plan to work and save enough money in two years to get to Canada, and then begin another hitchhiking tour. . Much Hospitality Throughout their trip the girls found people willing to offer them hospitality, especially when they discovered they were from New Zealand. They were usually identified by the pocket badge on their blazers which they had designed and embroidered. It bore the word ‘‘New Zealand.” a kiwi, and the tern leaf. In Britain they did not need to raise a thumb to get a ride. In Europe, however, it was necessary. They slept in youth hostels, open fields, and twice in police stations. They spoke only English, and often had to make themselves understood with sign language. Once in Sweden they entered a shop to buy an ice-cream and left with a bottle of milk. Occasionally they were hungry, but always managed to get some sort of food, in Germany, where they spent more time than in any other country in Europe because the people were so kind and eager to help them, they ate fruit from the trees growing on the roadsides. Miss Wenmoth said she had been greatly impressed by the parts of Germany they had visited. “The people made us welcome, and often persons who gave u s lifts went 50 miles out cf their way to take us to where we wanted to go,” she said. “They are hard-working folk, and we often saw both old and young women working in the fields or chipping bricks from

bombed buildings. You certainly notice that there is a shortage of men.” In East Berlin « On their sea journey to Britain Miss Wenmoth and Miss Mills met a young German man who was returning to his home in West Berlin to see his parents after three years in Australia. The friendship resulted in their being the guests of his- family and also a journey behind the Iron Curtain into East Berlin. “It was a memorable experience, and going from the West into the East was like passing out of a crowded room into an empty one. The people had fear in their faces and looked at us as they passed. One main street looked very prosperous with lovely shops where tourists and highclass folk shopped, but other parts of the city showed large areas of bombed buildings, and people still had to form queues and present their ration cards.” Miss Wenmoth found German manufactured goods were of a high class, especially their leather goods. She purchased a pair of very well-made benedictine shoes for 255, and a pair of grey leather shorts trimmed in green. In the 12 months Miss Wenmoth and Miss Mills worked in three different positions in England. They were embroidery machinists for a high-class Jewish firm in Hackney, where they worked from 8.30 a.m. till 7.30 p.m from Monday till Friday, and on Saturdays till 12.30 p.m. Their next position was at Lyons tea shop in Oxford street, and their third was at Butlin’s holiday camp at Clacton.

3000 People at Holiday Camps “We stayed there six weeks during the holiday season as waitresses, and averaged 77 hours a week for a sevenday week, and received £4 a week and our keep, with uniforms and shoes provided. We waited on 32 people for two sittings of breakfast, two sittings at lunchtime, and two at teatime,” Miss Wenmoth said.

‘‘The camp held about 3000 holidaymakers at a time, and there were about 2000 on the staff. It is not a suitable type of holiday for people who do not like crowds, but for those who live in rooms or in congested areas with children it is ideal. The camp is like a town and has streets, playing areas, cafes, two theatres, two dance halls, each with a 14-piece band, fun fair—m fact, every type of entertainment including a swimming pool and its own beach. All the entertainment is in-c-uded in the tariff. Chalets are provided to accommodate the holidaymakers. Each guest receives a badge every time he spends a holiday at the camp, and some of the old folk must have been coming for many years judging by the number of badges they wore with pride,” said Miss Wenmoth.