Growing Up

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For inspiration with writing this first column, I turned to GrownUps' other columnists. That really freaked me out; and I almost threw in the towel at that point. But for Leigh Bramwell, I may well have given up. The thing I love about Leigh's writing is that she writes with absolutely no pretention. She's natural and fun. (Some might say naturally funny). She doesn't stand on ceremony and she writes about the ordinary things that matter to all of us in a way that's anything but ordinary. I love that.

Flicking through Leigh's columns whiled away a pleasant half hour. But I still had no idea what to write about to get things started, so I took my inspiration from The Sound of Music – specifically from the song Do Re Mi which – prophetically as it happens – begins with the line: Let's start at the very beginning – a very good place to start.

Here goes, then. For those of you who wondered – and the majority who probably didn't: a potted history leading as fast as possible to how I ended up in the dream job editing NZ Motorhomes, Caravans & Destinations magazine. Growing up in Hobart, Tasmania, I had little appreciation of the natural beauty of that island state (until quite recently, actually) so I hightailed it out of there at the earliest opportunity to live in far North Queensland where I variously worked as a chamber-maid, barmaid and waitress in and around Cairns and The Atherton Tablelands. It was the early 70s and jobs of all kinds were abundant. It scarcely mattered that my parents – who, by their sacrifices ensured I had a good education – might have expected from me a little more than living in the rainforest and making beds at the local motel. In truth, five years of French lessons (I had to repeat a year) and a scant matriculation pass with an English Lit major, was no great shakes in the educational stakes.

Anyway, the career choices for young women in those days who had not been permitted to learn typing (remember those wasted French lessons?) were mostly limited to nursing and teaching. I almost opted for early childhood teaching after receiving a sort-of-afterthought scholarship. But – typically and ungraciously – attended college for three days before deferring my scholarship in favour of working as a night waitress at the Wrest Point Casino's Grill Room.

Desperate to get back to languid North Queensland, I moved out of home into a scrubby bedsit and furiously banked my wages while living off tips. The charms of tropical Queensland eventually diminished and I returned 'home' to work as a gardener for the Hobart City Council, later as a landscape gardener, and eventually as a trainee librarian, before settling for the better part of a decade into a waitressing role at the, then, internationally famous seafood restaurant, Mures.

When the owners decided to build a faster fishing boat, I went to work for them as a boat-builder, mostly to glean as much knowledge as I could to assist our personal project – the building of a 42' Wharram Catamaran. Becoming boat owners was the main reason for our relocation to New Zealand in 1985. We had come to crave the kind of excellent sailing grounds the Hauraki Gulf later offered us when we moved to a water-access only bay on Great Barrier Island, where I worked as a teacher, librarian and later caterer.

It's funny how the experiences of each year of our lives prepare us for the next. Perhaps it is the sheer weight of all the years stacked one upon the other that eventually gives us a firm foundation for our very existence.

To this day, my favourite interview is the one with EB 'Scotch' Patterson, then in his 92nd year. Scotch was an engineer. He invented New Zealand's first refrigerated shop window and our country's first milk processing plant. A pacifist, he became a decorated soldier when eventually forced to go to war. As he drifted into a reverie at the end of the interview, I asked him "So, a good life, Scotch?" "Oh yes!" he replied. "And it's just beginning to make sense."

Throughout my restless life, there has always been a constant – a passionate love of creative writing. In typical fashion I have variously tried writing poetry, short stories, plays and novels before deciding in my early 40s to retrain as a journalist. It is a decision I have never regretted. I love what I do and I try to reflect that passion in the magazine. After all, what's not to love about working in an industry devoted to making our good times better? Peta