Round The World At Seventy-six

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31680, 16 May 1968, Page 2

Round The World At Seventy-six

Being 76 years old is no deterrent to travelling the world alone for Mrs E. M. Holmes, of Berwick-on-Tweed. This is her second trip to New Zealand in five years.

On Saturday she celebrated her seventy-sixth birthday in Christchurch with her New Zealand “family,” Mrs C. M. Oakley and her daughter, Mrs Mary Bridgman, whom she met in England in 1944. “I don’t feel my age, and I like to see new places and meet people,” said Mrs Holmes who prefers the freedom of travelling alone. Her open airline ticket allows her to stop longer in a place that interests her; her solo state enables her to come and go as she pleases. “If you go with any one else they are usually limited for time and money. And if you make arrangements to go on tour at 9 a.m., at 9.30 a.m. they are still in bed,” she said.

grated to New Zealand they still kept in touch. Before coming to New Zealand Mrs Holmes went on safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa (in 1963 she did a similar trip in Kenya), and travelled through Australia. Her god-daughter, who has emigrated to Tasmania, had urged her to stay with her, and she spent two months on the island. From New Zealand she will go round the Pacific Islands, fly to Canada, and journey through the Rocky Mountains to the United States, returning home in November, a year after her departure.

The absence of tipping is one of the aspects of New Zealand life she likes. "At home restaurants add 15 per cent to the bill to cover tipping. Also, a meal that costs about $3 a head here would cost $l4 or $l5 in London,” she said.

Mrs Bridgman brought her mother and Mrs Holmes together. She was studying ballet at St Ives and was stricken with a sudden illness, which Mrs Holmes, who was in St Ives with her husband on business, recognised as appendicitis. She summoned a doctor, Mary was rushed to hospital, and Mrs Holmes notified Mrs Oakley. Next morning they met at the railway station and have been firm friends since. When the Oakleys emi-

In her travels Mrs Holmes h*3 never had difficulty with language or currency. She has always found someone who speaks English, and she can make herself understood in French. The weather does not bother her either. “If it’s a we‘ day there's just nothing you can do about it I blew in with the hurricane here just before Easter, but that didn’t worry me a bit”