Rolf Luthi
| First name | Rolf |
|---|---|
| Last name | Luthi |
| Country of Origin | Switzerland |
| Date of Birth | 29/05/55 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1981 |
| Submitted by | Beatrice Meitanis-Schaerer |
Story
Rolf was 26 years young and wanted to experience life and work in another country. He had a choice between Brazil and Australia. He choose Australia because it sounded so far away.
It was actually 54 hours away, flying with Yugoslavian Airlines (the cheapest fair at that time at $ 4,400.00). The flight went from Zurich airport to Sydney with stopovers for refuelling the plane and picking up more passengers in Zagreb-Belgrade-Dubai-Abu Dabi-Singapore-Perth and Melbourne. Rolf flew the first time and he was happy to have arrived in one piece.
Inside the airport he could not see anything that would give an indication how Australia would be, but once he got through the wooden doors and out into the arrival hall there was a sea of people waiting for other people. It seemed the whole world was living in Australia and he likeed it straight away.
After a short stay in Sydney Rolf travelled up the coast and stoped in Hervey Bay, Qld, a sleepy little seaside town. There he stayed for 4 months to adjust to his new life in a new place. He met a lot of new people who helped him to make that adjustement easy.
After the 4 months he traveled with his newly purchased stationwagon slowly down the east coast. Yes he was the first stationwagon travelling backpacker, long before the tourist boom started in 1988.
For 5 years he worked in odd jobbs to learn the way of life of Australia and also learn to speak english.
In 1987 after seeing crocodile dundee with some non-English speaking friends (who laughed themselves silly) he decided to do something for the country, attract travellers in Europe to come here and travel individualy around this great land. He went to Switzerland to set it all up with travel agents and returned after 3 months.
Long story short, after 20 years he has brought over 8,000 travellers out here – travellers who spend in the vicinity of $ 50,000.000.00 travelling with his campervans all over the great australian adventure.
In 2002 Rolf decided to take the opportunity to see his old class mates in Switzerland on a 40 year reunion. That was when I saw Rolf again, after 34 years – we went to high school together and after that our lives went separate ways until this class reunion. I migrated to Australia in 2004 to join him in a life together.
What a country this is, what spirit in each individual you can find here like nowhere else.
Kind regards
Beatrice Meitanis-Schaerer
ps By the way I will become an Australian next year, yeah…..