The Kiwi 'oldpackers' who travelled the world on a shoestring

When Gary and Philippa Lawn set out on their first big overseas trip together, they referred to themselves as ‘oldpackers’.

In their fifties, the Kāpiti Coast couple were two to three decades older than most Kiwis are when they set off on their Big OEs, but they were just as determined to keep costs down.

Both in IT, they had spent two years saving for a three-month trip through Southeast Asia which would see them succumb to such a severe strain of the travel bug that they would stay away for a year, also spending time in Australia and Europe.

“We were both in second marriages and had not had an overseas travel experience together when we were younger,” Philippa, 58, said. “We decided that as we both loved travelling, we wanted a change of pace, to get away and experience something different together.

“We decided on Southeast Asia as we had always wanted to go there and knew that the costs would be cheaper than other places. And there would be a variety of experiences in that region.”

Dusting off an old whiteboard from the garage, they drew up a two-year timeline outlining everything they would need to organise before setting off, such as putting their possessions into storage, and getting their house ready for new tenants.

They also created a budget online and used it to work towards their financial goal, which included travel, accommodation, visa and insurance costs, spending money, New Zealand expenses, and a small emergency fund.

Setting off in 2017 with carry-on luggage only, they initially planned to take advantage of the huge discounts available to relocate campervans, and drive from Melbourne to Sydney. Once in Australia, however, they were so eager to start their Southeast Asian adventure that they headed straight to Bali.

They spent a few weeks in Kuta, the Indonesian island’s hedonistic surf mecca, to acclimatise, and then headed north to Sukawati in the Gianyar Regency, a patchwork of rice paddies and rainforest bordered by the black-sand beaches of the southeast coast, and also home to the island’s cultural and spiritual capital of Ubud.

A standout experience there was riding bikes to Tegenungan, a popular waterfall set amid palm-filled rainforest. They were peacefully cycling past rice paddies when a monkey darted out in front of Gary, sending him flying over the handlebars to land face first on the pavement. Philippa was blissfully unaware until a passing motorcyclist tipped her off, and she cycled back up the hill to find Gary walking down it with blood dripping from his face.

“To cut a long story short, a family on a moped stopped and helped clean Gary up as I had almost passed out with the heat and the shock,” Philippa said. “We managed to get hold of our homestay host who came and picked us up and took us to a clinic, who stitched Gary’s wound, and supplied antibiotics and extra bandages. Incidentally the service was excellent and the clinic clean and low cost.”

Keen to see as much of the island as possible, the couple took a week to travel to Gilimanuk in West Bali to catch the ferry to Java, often referred to as the heart of Indonesia.

“We crossed the strait to Banyuwangi on an amazing evening through which the call to worship from the many mosques in the town was drifting through the air,” Gary, 61, said.

Over the next few weeks, they visited the cultured university city and arts mecca of Yogyakarta, Surabaya with its historic Arab Quarter, Malang with its leafy, colonial-era boulevards, and the megalopolis that is Jakarta.

Highlights included the volcanoes of East Java, which include the smouldering Mount Bromo, an Indonesian icon set amid a black-sand desert which the horse-riding Tenggerese people make live offerings to each year during the centuries-old Yadnya Kasada festival.

They were pleasantly surprised by The Queen of the South resort by the beach at Parangtritis, named after a goddess often depicted as a mermaid who is said to rule an underwater empire off the southern coast of Java, and enjoy the company of handsome young fishermen.

“It was deserted and a bit run down, but the views from the infinity pool and accommodation was amazing,” Gary said.

The couple also enjoyed the Unesco-listed Borobudur temple complex, considered one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world, and the street wedding procession they joined while waiting for a train.

“The mother of the bride encouraged us to dance along with them in the street, which we did accompanied by music, sun umbrellas and laughter,” Philippa said.

The Lawns then joined Philippa’s sisters on a trip to Krabi, where dramatic karst limestone formations overlook white-sand beaches dotted with colourful longtail boats, before heading to Cambodia and Vietnam.

Standout experiences in Cambodia included eating pho on footpaths and watching water puppet theatre in Hanoi, and visiting the iconic temple of Angkor Wat, an earthly representation of Mount Meru, the golden home of ancient Hindu gods.

“Angkor Thom was our favourite as it was less busy, relatively untouched, and in amongst jungle,” Gary said.

They found Phnom Penh equally compelling, if for very different reasons. Their time there included visits to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum located in a high school taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces in 1975 and turned into Cambodia’s largest centre of detention and torture; and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, an orchard which became the final resting place for thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The couple kept costs down by eating street food, taking public transport, engaging in mostly free activities such as walking around and talking to locals, and staying at basic – but still clean and comfortable – accommodation.

“While there were extremely cheap options – $5 a night as opposed to $20 – we still wanted comfort, so it wasn’t a case of trying to get the cheapest accommodation, which you might do if you were younger,” Gary said. “Also, we tried to go to places where breakfast was included in the cost.”

Given the warm weather, they found it fairly easy to get by with carry-on luggage only, bringing along just one pair of long pants, a hoodie, and a long-sleeved shirt each.

“We packed lightweight clothes that were easy to wash and dry,” Gary said. “Half the space was taken up by travel adaptors, a first aid kit, toiletries, small refillable water bottles, and we took only sandals and trainers. Trainers were worn on flights to maximise space. It was a great way to travel as you didn’t need to wait for baggage after a flight, and it was easily stored on trains and buses.”

Realising they weren’t ready to return to New Zealand after three months away, the couple headed to Brisbane, where Gary had previously lived and wanted to spend more time. They were also keen to visit Europe, so took on temporary contract roles in the city and set to saving again. A series of house-sitting gigs enabled them to experience life in different suburbs while keeping costs down, and they made friends through work who they are still in regular contact with.

While they enjoyed the novelty of establishing new routines in new suburbs, life wasn’t always easy.

“Finding our first jobs took a little while so our funds were stretched and we sometimes asked ourselves if this was the right thing to do,” Philippa said. “But once work started being regularly available, there were no problems.”

After 10 months in Brisbane, they used a family wedding in Tuscany as an “excuse” to head to Europe, describing it as an “amazing experience”. Another highlight of their two-month trip was driving up to Scotland, where bagpipes began to play as they stepped inside Dunkeld Cathedral. They also visited the Greek island of Syros, a calmer alternative to the likes of Santorini and Mykonos with quiet coves and cobblestone lanes lined with pastel-coloured neoclassical buildings and bright pink bougainvillaea.

“We walked to a Bronze Age ruin – Kastri – on a cliff overlooking the Aegean,” Gary said. “We also discovered an old Roman settlement in another area on the island. It was overgrown but we found terracotta pot fragments sticking out of the ground.”

Since returning to New Zealand, the couple have had many more overseas adventures, visiting China and other parts of Europe, and driving across the US.

They feel there was a distinct advantage to doing an OE later in life, saying they had the life experience to plan their trips well, were able to get well-paid work that helped them sustain their travels, and appreciated things more than they might have when they were younger. They do think older travellers get tired more easily, but for that there’s an easy fix.

“Pace yourself, and probably don’t do as much of the nightlife,” Philippa said. “Maybe spend half a day sightseeing and relax the rest of the time. Chill out, read a book and plan the next bit.”