Perhaps Elizabeth Dowler should have been a travel agent or guide.
The walls of her house are proudly adorned with photo books she has produced from her world travels.
Adventure seems to be her middle name.
Since answering an advertisement at 25-years-of age in 1973, in the London Times for a companion to embark on an overland journey by car from England to Australia, Elizabeth has not stopped exploring.
“I have an adventurous spirit. I have always been wandering the world,” she said smiling.
Her mother had died when she was just 17 and after finishing a postgraduate in education and working as a teacher, she decided it was time to leave England.
“Sometimes I think my life would have been totally different if Mum hadn’t died. Out of adversity you become stronger and more resilient,” she said.
Together with two male companions, whom she is still in touch with, Elizabeth travelled down to the bottom of Europe, through Turkey and across Asia.
“It wasn’t without its problems,” she recalled.
“We were robbed and ended up in jail in Afghanistan. When you go through those sorts of things and survive you get quite tough and think, well if I can get through that I can get through anything else.”
It was January 1974 when she flew into Brisbane from Malaysia and instead of arriving to the peace of Australia, she was flung into Cyclone Wanda.
“As an English girl in my mid-twenties, I’d never experienced a cyclone before and I was mildly terrified because my initial accommodation was in a caravan in Redcliffe,” Elizabeth revealed.
“I thought it was going to tip over the wind was so strong. Once the storm abated, I travelled to Brisbane city to see parts of houses, cars, trees and dead cows floating down a very swollen river.
“That was some introduction to Australia.”
Elizabeth took up a teaching position at a special school in Redcliffe and then became a guidance officer, later joining TAFE – a role that saw her going into prisons weekly to train the inmates in IT.
“I’d be locked in a room with eight guys, hard core crims in their brown uniforms, and I’d have an alarm on my waist I could press if I felt threatened,” she revealed.
Not long after arriving in Australia Elizabeth met her husband at the Adventurer’s Club in Brisbane and they married in 1975. They had two sons, Graeme, who lives in the United Kingdom and Mark, who is in Queensland.
It was another partner who later introduced her to what would become a new passion in her 60s – motorsports.
Elizabeth regularly burnt up the racetracks at Mt Cotton, Lakeside and Queensland Raceway driving her Honda Integra R Type racer, which she only just sold this year.
“It was a hot little car,” she beamed.
“It was a fun time in my life. It was a real vibe. The whole meet is fun. It’s full-on adrenaline – the noise and activity,” she shared.
“At some of the meets there would be 97 men and only three women. You felt special being a woman and being able to do it.”
It was only recently she decided to part with her Honda: “I thought it was time to get a proper car,” she laughed, revealing she is now having to learn to drive an automatic.
However, since embarking on that adventurous overland expedition to Australia it has been travel that has been a constant in her life.
“The adventurous side and the challenges it brings,” she said is what thrills her.
“It’s the unknown. Trying to make sure I get through these things and survive at the end of it. Not the ordinary sort of travel people do.
“I’m not one for cruises. Every holiday I’d be going somewhere.”
“I’m running out of places a bit now,” she laughed. In August she is off to the Balkans, which she said is civilised compared to some of the other places she has been to, like Colombia.
“I think I’ll go somewhere so I look into it and if there are no wars or conflict I’ll go.
“People ask what my favourite place is and it’s difficult because they’re all so different; I’ve been to both poles. Continent wise South America and Africa for the animal encounters.
“I’ve been to Africa four times and want to go back again.
“I’m a budget traveller. Basic accommodation and trying to keep costs down as much as I can. I don’t spend masses of money on these cruises.
“I’m a wildlife nut and very much into history and archaeology, culture the lot. I try to absorb everything a place has to offer.
“I get a lot out of my travels and thoroughly enjoy every aspect of it.”
Joining Tamborine Mountain U3A has given Elizabeth a wonderful opportunity to share her travels and inspire others.
“I’m getting a bit of a following,” she smiled.
“I don’t make it all glossy. I give them the facts and people can make their own decision whether they want to go or not.”
Elizabeth has also written two books under the name of Liz Friis Dowler.
‘Unassisted Passage’ documents her journey to Australia and ‘In My Lifetime’, is an in depth look at the last 70 years and the changes that have occurred from a socio-political perspective.
Elizabeth moved to Tamborine Mountain in 2012 and again set herself another challenge – to buy a block of land and manage the building of her own home.
“Overseeing a bunch of fellas for ten months was a daunting task” she said.
“It was only going to succeed if I became ‘one of the boys’ so I got grubby, bought a wheelbarrow and started carting stuff around for them. It seemed to work!”
“I like the sense of community,” she said of living here.
“Whether it’s the Scarecrow Festival or Springtime on the Mountain, they are community driven and it’s a sense of belonging. I think that’s why it’s a favourite for English people.”
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