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Backpacking
for the not so young by Liz Sasse How can I tell you about my six month backpacking trip in a short article?...very briefly, if I can. Backpackers, in the main, are 18-35. I was approaching 50. Now I know backpacking is not everybody's cup of tea. Most of my peers enjoy a bit of luxury, many are committed to a partner, mortgage, job, children or simply would not like the idea of travelling alone in a foreign country. Well, I hate dressing for dinner, I had just left a 30 year marriage. I didn't fancy the mortgage, my job allowed me a six month career break, my kids are grown up and flew the nest long ago, I quite liked the idea of travelling alone with no compromising...and finally I chose English speaking countries that weren't too foreign. With a loan from the bank, I started planning the trip about 3 months before departure. I decided to spend 2 weeks in Fiji, 2 months in New Zealand and 3 months in Australia. I got a lot of information through the Internet, especially from newly acquired e-mail penpals, who happened to live in those countries. I also talked to young friends who had recently done the trip themselves. "Did you meet many backpackers of my age, fast approaching 50?" I asked. They lied...they said lots...not true, but it wasn't a problem. You see we all had a common link - we enjoy travel. Prior to travel the only reservation I made was for my first hostel in Fiji. It was the worst, but did make me wonder what I had let myself in for. Were the rest going to be similar? Giant cockroaches...faulty gas heater in the shower and dirty sheets...luckily, no, but it did make me appreciate the subsequent hostels. After 3 days of getting over the jet lag I treated myself to a 4 day trip on a tallship, which was excellent value, seeing many islands, visiting native villages and nights of Fijian music. Feeling guilty about overstretching the budget I opted for a backpacker resort on the island of Tavewa. I even slept in a dorm with 8 others, half the price of a single and much more fun. Booking hostels from this point was usually done the day before travelling. This allowed me to live for the moment, to stay longer in places I wanted to or move on. I found that most backpackers travelled alone and made the effort to socialise with fellow backpackers, unlike the minority of couples who tended not to mix. New Zealand was wonderful. The backpackers hostels were amazing. I chose mostly small hostels by recommendation from opposite travelling backpackers. The larger hostels tended to be 'party hostels'...not a good idea when you're sharing dorms. The standards were very high, often they had swimming pools and spas, and for about £5 a night...unbelievable value. There were occasions when the dorms were mixed. Once, I found I was the only female sharing a very small room with 6 Japanese men...C'est la vie! Also if you had to sleep in the top bunk...oh, dear...some were very high. My economising on accommodation allowed me to splash out on many trips. I say "splash out", but these too were good value as they were mainly for the budget conscious backpacker. So I was able to swim with dolphins twice, snorkelled with seals, went whale watching, had an overnight trip on the Doubtful Sound, walked many tracks including part of the famous Milford track, sailed on the Milford Sound, helihiked on the Fox Glacier, travelled on the Transalpine railway, learned to juggle (well, almost), saw volcanoes and mudpools and swam in the hot springs of Rotorua, attended Maori concerts and hangis (dinner cooked underground) and made lots of new friends. From Auckland I flew over to Melbourne, then travelled up to Cairns by bus and train, taking three months. The east coast is a well-trodden backpacker trail, there were more English youngsters here partying at night and sleeping all day. The highlights of the Oz tour were seeing kangaroos and emus in the outback; a night at the Sydney Opera House, followed by a day tour on a Harley Davidson of Sydney down to Woollongong (love the name) courtesy of one of my newly acquired email penpals; 4 wheel driving on Fraser Island, sailing around the Whitsunday Islands for 2 weeks and staying with friends on a farm on the Atherton Tableland (they have acres of very dense rainforest with snakes and leeches). Well, I could
go on and on. Trip of a lifetime? No, just the first of many...I hope.
I'm back at work saving and planning my next trip... First published in VISA issue 35 (winter 1999). |