GIRL GIRDLES GLOBE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 December 1929, Page 3

GIRL GIRDLES GLOBE

SEVEN YEARS OF ADVENTURE. The first girl to have travelled round the world by motor car has just arrived in England, after passing through 43 countries,, including New Zealand, and crossing four continents, in sexen yea: s of thrilling adventure and amazing hardship. She is Mrs. Aloha Wanderwell, who, with her husband, Captain Walter Wanderwcll, organised this expedition, as propaganda for an international police foice which, they suggest, should be composed of representatives of all nations, and should uphold international law. Aloha Wanderwell commenced the trip when she was 16 years of age, in 19’22, and since then she and her husband have driven GO,OOO miles, including territory never before traversed by white men. _ “In Morocco wo got mixed up in the Riff war," said Mrs. Wanderwell, in an interview in London, “and in the Carpathian mountains our cars got snowed in for several days. Our worst experiences were; in the heart of Portuguese East Africa, where we were among natives who had never before seen white people, far less a car. They proved quite friendly, however, our real enemies being hunger and thirst. At one time we were fifty kilometres from water and if our cars had broken down or pur tyres punctured on the rough veldt, we should have starved to death; but our Dunlops gave no trouble and we eked out our precious petrol supply till we arrived at comparative civilisation. “One of the most intensely fascinating

and awe inspiring weeks I have ever lived through was spent on Lake Victoria Nyanza during a funeral ceremony of the Kavirondo tribe. A wailing chorus of 200'0 inebriated mourners echoed their weird chants across the swamps, while warriors, decked in gorgeous finery, staged stupendous attacks against invisible ‘Evil Spirits.’" Captain and Mrs. Wanderwell crossed Soviet Russia and the Government was so impressed by Aloha Wanderwell’s feat of driving from Gibraltar right across to Vladivostock that they made her an honorary colonel in the Red Army. _