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Explore. Dream. Discover: An Over60 Reader's epic journey

Many people travel to all corners of the earth, seeking new and exciting experiences, especially when we retire and are able to do so. Sometimes we can be pushed beyond the boundaries of our comfort zone but usually the experience is positive and often transformational. One popular destination for travellers who enjoy adventure is Sedona in Arizona, a town that nestles in a desert on the edge of red rock canyons. Nearby is Hopiland, home to the Hopi Indians. One of my most treasured memories occurred in this part of the world in 1990, on top of a desert mountain known as a mesa. The mesa rose thousands of feet above ground level and I climbed up there with a group of friends from Australia. As we reached the top, we began to hear the sound of drums and chanting coming from an underground cave. Our travel guide informed us that inside the cave, Hopi women and children huddled together on the dirt floor to watch their menfolk perform legendary rituals honouring their ancient ancestors. Since the ceremony was forbidden to tourists, we were given an hour to explore the top of the mesa. Moving a short distance away from the rest of the group, I sat down on a rock to fully absorb the nearby pulse of drums and chanting. A few minutes later, three young Hopi boys appeared and attempted to converse with me. Initially, I found it difficult to understand what they were saying until I realised they were actually inviting me to accompany them underground to join their tribal family. Throwing caution to the wind, I followed them down a rickety wooden ladder poking out of a hole in the ground. The atmosphere inside the cave was thick with burning sage combined with swirling dust from the pounding feet of men dancing, their heads hidden inside huge masks. Barefooted women and children squatted on the dirt floor and I felt very much an intruder as I squeezed myself amongst them. But, reassured by friendly smiles and head-nodding, I began to relax, absorbing the magical rituals of times past. Eventually the ancient ceremony ended, and I climbed the ladder back into the twentieth century, overcome by a newfound sense of humility and realisation of just how unimportant the wealth and material greed of Western society is. One can often rely on the unexpected to occur when travelling. During a visit to Egypt one year, our group emerged from the Temple of Isis to settle down and meditate on the bank of a nearby river when a military policeman appeared out of the bushes, clutching a large submachine gun. His other hand appeared to conceal something behind his back and as he drew closer, we noticed he had a second gun tucked into his belt. Terrified, we leapt to our feet. Then, his face breaking into a smile, he held out the hand from behind his back. Lying in its brown sinewy palm were eleven pink oleander blossoms, one for each of us. A moment of sheer terror switched instantly to one of absolute delight. Another example of ‘the unexpected’ occurred a few days later for a member of our group who had just turned eighty. All her life she had suffered with claustrophobia and its related anxiety and panic attacks. Consequently, when we visited the Great Pyramid to ascend the steep tunnel inside which would take us up to the King’s Chamber, we arranged for her to remain outside with our tour guide. But at the last minute she changed her mind, not wanting to miss out on such a special experience. By slowly crawling through the tunnel all the way up inside the Great Pyramid, she managed to achieve something she had never in her life believed possible. We celebrated her victory that night with champagne, lots of laughs and some hilarious attempts at belly dancing. A travel memory that always makes my grandchildren laugh is when I was visiting my friend Palden Jenkins, an historian who lives in Glastonbury. One day we set off for Snowdonia, North Wales, for a holiday. As we pulled up outside the 500-year-old stone cottage a farmer approached, urging us to be sure to leave a pot of tea outside every night for the Booka, the name given to Welsh brownies or elves. If we did this, he said, we would be assured of a hassle-free holiday. The Booka would not trouble us if we kept the cottage clean, left out the tea and didn’t have long noses. Words cannot describe the fun we two ‘grown-ups’ had in brewing tea every evening over an open fire to cater to the whims of Snowdonia’s faerie folk. Travelling the world can create change in our lives that we will never regret, opening our hearts, broadening our minds, and sometimes transforming our lives forever. To quote Mark Twain, ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the ones you did. So, sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. Discover.’ This wonderful story, including the images, was sent in by Over60 Reader Jo Buchanan. Thank you, Jo, for sharing your adventure with us! If you have a Reader Story you would like to contribute to Over60, please send it to the editor via <a href="mailto:greg@oversixty.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greg@oversixty.com.au</a>.

International Travel

What she thought was RSI turned out to be a fatal disease

A terminally ill woman has shared the heartbreaking moment she was told she had a motor neurone disease at 29 - after assuming the symptoms were originally just a repetitive strain injury. Jo Knowlton, 30, says she was told the devastating news in late 2019 after going to the doctors when she struggled to use her hands properly. The once-was fitness lover had been test-driving a car when she found she wasn’t able to turn on the ignition. A month later she found her problem had only worsened as she was now struggling to button shirts and use zips. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.3504823151126px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7836584/daily-6.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/c1dbaf8d3c3343908a1330e2e8fbd31b" /> “By March, I noticed that I couldn’t close my fingers together and was starting to struggle with the handbrake on my car, as well as buttons and zips, so I decided to visit my GP, I felt like a bit of a hypochondriac to be honest,” she said. “After showing her my hands she thought it might be repetitive strain injury or a trapped nerve.” In August 2019, she began to receive tests and was admitted to hospital where possible causes were ruled out time and time again - unfortunately her optimism and hope that she was healthy was short lived. “I had no idea it was terminal, without available treatment or a cure,” she admitted. “I was waiting in the hospital for my result, the doctors were doing their morning rounds but no one would come near me. “The neurologist eventually came and walked me to a side room. He sat me down and said ‘it’s not good news I’m afraid, you have motor neurone disease’. “My initial reaction was ‘so what now, what treatment do I start, what do we need to do next?’ “I had no idea it was terminal, without available treatment or a cure. “I was devastated. I felt fine and I didn’t understand how this could be the conclusion. “I thought I had my whole life ahead of me but now I was faced with being told I had a terminal illness aged 29.” Jo is the youngest person in her region to have been diagnosed with the disease. Her daily habits and routine has changed completely. Jo says she used to start her day at 5 am to go for a run with her dog, and then walk to the gym before work. Now she struggles to walk down the steps of her flat. “I really miss just walking for miles and miles with my dog. Some weeks I would have done 100,000 steps. I now struggle to walk to my car,” she said. Jo added: “No one knows what causes it. “It can be genetic but it can also be sporadic. That’s what mine is, incredibly bad luck.” There is no treatment for MND, but Jo had been scheduled to take part in drug trials that have since been postponed due to coronavirus.

Body

Ted Kennedy car crash scandal that killed Mary Jo Kopechne: Letter exposes new claims

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> After 50 years, the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident has remained one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Kennedy family. The car crash on the US island ended the life of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne and derailed Ted Kennedy’s presidential chances. On the evening of July 18, 1969, the then US senator Kennedy hosted a party on the small island for the Boiler Room Girls, a group of six women who had worked on his brother Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign the year before. One of the women was 28-year-old Kopechne. Despite extensive reports on the incident, details of the events of the night have remained shrouded. Kennedy reportedly left the party with Kopechne, even though she did not bring her purse or hotel room key with her. The two drove off in his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. Kennedy said the car went over the bridge into Poucha Pond after he made a wrong turn. While he managed to escape the sinking vehicle, Kopechne remained trapped and was later found dead in the morning. <img style="width: 500px; height: 368.449px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7828778/kennedy-embed.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/6ea10144582044f594787fdf71a993a4" /><img style="width: 301.887px; height: 500px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7828803/kennedy-2-embed.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/0d363094141545378a703127593d6400" /> But a letter to Kopechne’s surviving family has challenged this story. The letter, recently revealed by <a href="https://people.com/politics/ted-kennedy-chappaquiddick-car-accident-50-years-later/">PEOPLE</a>’s Cover-Up podcast, came from a man who claimed to have met a woman who had attended the party the night Kopechne died. The woman, referred to as “Betty”, said Kopechne had had too much to drink at the event. Betty then brought Kopechne to Kennedy’s car to rest, and then went back to the cottage. The letter claimed that Kennedy and another female guest went for a drive in the car. When the sedan plunged into the water, Kennedy and the passenger survived and returned to the party, unaware that Kopechne had been in the vehicle all along. Betty shared the story, and the letter said that was when “…the Kennedy damage control machine kicked in and informed the shocked senator.” After receiving the letter in 2018, Kopechne’s cousin Georgetta Potoski said the full story might not yet be revealed. “I’m not convinced the mystery has been solved,” she told PEOPLE. “I know there are things that we do not know about what happened that night. The truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear, at least has some dignity around it. “I don’t think there will ever be justice for the loss of her life. [But] I think the truth would make our hearts rest easier.” A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident and was given a two-month suspended sentence. Later on the same day, he gave a national broadcast statement in which he said, “I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately.” Kennedy, who was preparing for his presidential run, delayed his campaign until 1980. His run for the country’s top office was unsuccessful, but he continued to be re-elected as senator seven more times until his death in 2009. In his posthumously published memoir True Compass, Kennedy described the incident as “a horrible tragedy that haunts me every day of my life”. </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Books

"Failure is the greatest lesson": Johanna Griggs on career, romance and family

Johanna Griggs has opened up about how she got through all the setbacks in her career and love life, from the hiccups in her swimming days to her 18-month long IVF battle. In a new interview with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/celeb-news/johanna-griggs-kids-55261" target="_blank">The Australian Women's Weekly</a>, the former competitive swimmer revealed the challenges she faced throughout her career as an athlete and a TV presenter. A year after winning the bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, Griggs was hit by chronic fatigue syndrome, which forced her to cut her career short. She returned to the pool at the age of 19 to break the world record in the 50-metre backstroke at the 1993 Australian Swimming Championships. However, the very next day, she announced her retirement. Following the announcement, she was surprised by the emerging offers from multiple television networks for her to become on-air talent. “It was so heady and exciting,” she said. “And again, I think how lucky I was.” However, Griggs’ journey as a broadcaster was not always smooth-sailing, as armchair critics panned her presenting style. In 1996, the Seven Network fired her via fax just two weeks before she was due to return as a sports newsreader from maternity leave. Back then, she was caring for three-month-old son Jesse and pregnant with Joe. “Failure is the greatest lesson in the world,” she said. “The greatest opportunities in my life, the greatest lessons I’ve learnt and the greatest pivot points where you totally change direction have come from my failures. And that’s not a bad thing.” Griggs also saw the bright side from her short-lived marriage with Australian actor Gary Sweet, whom she wed in 1995 and split from two years later. “When a marriage ends, you feel you’re such a failure in that aspect, but at the same time it really uncomplicated our lives,” she said. “I loved my years as a single mum. There are situations where people go between parents – we really didn't have to do that. So you’re the decision maker, they’re your little buddies. And I had a lot of support around me.” Years later, Griggs was introduced to her younger brother’s friend, Todd Huggins, whom she became quickly close to. She said Huggins would make visits to her sons Jesse and Joe, even when she was out of town for work. “He would turn up every day and either kick a footie, do their homework with them or hang with them and watch TV,” admits Griggs. “That was such a monumental thing to do. He’s never tried to be the boys’ dad because they have a dad but he is 100 per cent a person who influences them, who they still go to.” Griggs and Huggins finally tied the knot in 2006. The couple then began trying for children through IVF, but after two rounds of unsuccessful attempts they received the devastating news – they are part of a small percentage of people that the procedure would not be able to help. Griggs recalled her husband telling her, “I think it’s the universe telling us just to stop. It’s not going to happen for us.” However, the 45-year-old received another chance at expanding her family unit when her son Joe welcomed his first child Jax with his then-partner Katie Buttel in 2018. “That baby is the happiest, most chilled, extraordinary little boy,” said Griggs. “Joe and Katie are doing a fabulous job of co-parenting. Both families, right from the go, said, ‘He’s going to be loved in any direction he looks in’ – and he really is.”

Home & Garden

Jo Griggs hits back at Tracey Holmes over Commonwealth Games criticism

Channel Seven commentator and former athlete Johanna Griggs has hit back at critics that claimed Seven had a “minute by minute” rundown of the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. ABC journalist Tracey Holmes wrote a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-16/commonwealth-games-closing-ceremony-footage-channel-seven/9663266">piece</a> yesterday stating the network was briefed on the closing ceremony and the fact athletes would be “largely snubbed from the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony despite claiming to have been as shocked by the decision as the millions who watched.” Holmes wrote: “Prior to the Gold Coast closing ceremony all rights holders, including Channel Seven, were given a minute-by-minute briefing on Saturday morning detailing how the closing ceremony would unfold — complete with a 34-page media guide. “The guide makes no mention of athletes marching in as part of the ceremony. Organisers confirmed Channel Seven had a number of representatives at that briefing.” In a lengthy statement released on Twitter, Griggs hit back saying she wanted to “clarify and correct” several claims made by Holmes. “I still have the guide,” Griggs said. “At no point in the guide does it mention that there wouldn’t be one single shot shown of athletes watching the performances. We assumed, like every other Closing Ceremony ever shown, that the host’s vision would feature athletes non-stop, celebrating, letting their hair down… like we all expect at the Closing Ceremony. “If we’d left that briefing room with any indication given to us that no athletes would feature, then of course we would have made other arrangements to capture those moments. But instead we thought we were going to broadcast an innovative and exciting show. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Firstly, thank u to everyone for your overwhelming support around this issue. I’m still sad that a wonderful Commonwealth Games has been tarnished with such a sad ending. But when someone has a crack at your integrity, u have to respond. I hope this answers some of your questions <a href="https://t.co/BHY1mTvsSO">pic.twitter.com/BHY1mTvsSO</a> — Johanna Griggs (@JohGriggs7) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohGriggs7/status/985821438052454403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2018</a></blockquote> Griggs went onto say that those who were in the meeting knew the organisers were “going to try something different” by having athletes in the stadium already when it began at 8.30pm. “There was no TV rehearsal of the Closing Ceremony as there is for the Opening Ceremony. That isn’t necessarily unique, but clearly a rehearsal would have rung alarm bells,” she wrote. “As rights holders, we were allowed one camera in the stadium, a news camera, on the condition we wouldn’t show the vision for 24 hours. We made the decision to show it anyway at the back of the ceremony when we realised what a farce the Closing Ceremony was turning out to be. “I stand by the fact that we could only show the vision supplied to us on the night, and that whoever made the decision to not cut away to the athletes made a bad call. And the athletes left because they didn’t feel at all included in the show, which is such a shame as they were the real stars who should have been celebrated.” The conditions applied to Channel Seven for the Commonwealth Games, Griggs said, were “very different to anything we’ve experienced before”. <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2018/04/furious-jo-griggs-blasts-commonwealth-games-closing-ceremony/">Griggs made headlines</a> when she told viewers live on air she was “furious” with the closing ceremony organisers for “wrecking a tradition” by choosing not to show pictures of athletes or the flagbearer, Kurt Fearnley.

News

“So wrong”: Furious Jo Griggs blasts Commonwealth Games closing ceremony

Channel Seven hosts Johanna Griggs and Basil Zempilas have slammed Commonwealth Games organisers live on television during the closing ceremony. After Sunday night’s broadcast of the lacklustre ceremony, the camera crossed to an outraged Griggs and Zempilas. “Look, we understand many people have been disappointed by tonight’s Closing Ceremony,” Zempilas told viewers. “To be perfectly honest Jo, so have we. It hasn’t really lived up to expectations. I’ve got to say it’s about the only thing they got wrong. They did get it wrong tonight.” Griggs was furious over the decision not to let athletes enter the stadium during the festivities. “I’m sorry, you’re being way too polite,” Griggs told her co-host. “People are thinking that Channel Seven has chosen not to show pictures of athletes or not to show the flag bearer, Kurt Fearnley ... We can only show the pictures that are provided by the actual host broadcasters. They made the decision not to have athletes enter the stadium. I’m furious. Actually wrecking a tradition that is so important ... You want to see the athletes come in. You want to see them jumping in front of camera. You want to see them celebrating 11 days of great sport. We missed out on all of that.” She added: “There's no athletes in here. I've never seen the stadium so empty ... It's so wrong, Baz.” Zempilas agreed, and even criticised the formalities of the evening, which included a long presentation promoting 2022 host city Birmingham, as “self-indulgent”. “We’ve never seen a stadium as empty as this. So soon after the conclusion of a Closing Ceremony,” he said. “To be brutally honest, most of the athletes left during the ceremony. The speeches — look, we understand the dignitaries need to get their messages out there, including the Birmingham presentation. [But] They were way too long tonight. Way too long. Dare I say, a little self-indulgent.” Fans had taken to social media during the two-and-a-half hour broadcast to vent their anger, slamming the ceremony as “Australian Idol reunion” and an “epic fail”. They also blasted Channel Seven for showing reality cooking program My Kitchen Rules instead of the start of the massive finale of the 11-day event. Commentator Mel McLaughlin also backed up her colleagues' comments. “One thing I love [about the hosts' comments] is that you're not always able to be as honest as you like on TV,” she said. “Those two did not miss, and rightfully so ... it's what the punters are thinking at home ... it's a huge celebration. “The athletes want to relax, they want to party, they want to be on show ... Jo was filthy and she had every right to be.”

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Explore. Dream. Discover: An Over60 Reader's epic journey

What she thought was RSI turned out to be a fatal disease

Ted Kennedy car crash scandal that killed Mary Jo Kopechne: Letter exposes new claims

"Failure is the greatest lesson": Johanna Griggs on career, romance and family

Jo Griggs hits back at Tracey Holmes over Commonwealth Games criticism

“So wrong”: Furious Jo Griggs blasts Commonwealth Games closing ceremony

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