On the 27th of November Angela Beaumont travelled from Driffield to talk to the Forum about travelling around Australia and New Zealand by Thumb.

The talk described a visit around the two Southern Hemisphere countries she and a friend enjoyed in 1980 illustrated by a stunning selection of photographs. In the main they travelled around by hitch-hiking although other methods were employed when necessary. They landed in Australia in Perth in Western Australia where they took part-time jobs whilst hitch-hiking around the state.

They then caught the Indian Pacific Railway which took three days to take them to Sydney. There they found work to finance the rest of their tour, Angela working as a secretary for the telephone company STC. After viewing the many attractions of the area they hitch-hiked to northern Queensland where they joined a bus tour into the Outback.

This tour lasted many weeks taking in the Northern Territory and travelling through the centre of the country to South Australia. They then moved back to Sydney (having spent a year in Australia) from where they took a flight to New Zealand.

From the warmth of Australia they were surprised by how cold New Zealand felt. They toured the North Island before catching a ferry to the South Island. Whilst there they took a flight in a light aircraft over the snow-covered mountains before spending a month working on a remote farm.

They then returned to the North Island before moving on to Fiji which is the subject of another talk.

Chairman Mike Earle proposed a vote of thanks to Angela Beaumont for a fascinating talk which was enthusiastically supported by the members.