Got the urge to break out of your rut and see Australia on the cheap? Be inspired by a solo traveller who thought it was about time she gave backpacking a go …

Sometimes life-changing events happen over a simple Scrabble game. That's what Ellen Hall, 68, Hobart resident for the past four years, realised on reflection after striking up a friendship with a woman 10 years older at the local seniors club.

"Back in 1999, I'd just retired and was living in Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, and I would meet this lively woman for Scrabble games. I started to catch her infectious love of life, and particularly, her love of backpacking."

Backpacking? Isn't that something young people do before they settle down?

"Well, no-one told my friend that. She was proud of the fact that she was still backpacking around in her 70s. She told me the reasons why she travelled that way, and I have to say, after a while it made a whole lot of sense."

At that moment, Ellen was looking to get out of the rut she suspected she was sliding into.

"My husband had passed away and I was at a loose end, feeling unsettled, a bit restless. I felt it was time to see what other parts of Australia were out there, waiting to be discovered."

Discovery is the key to travel for adventurous souls like Ellen. Even when one's own country has been mapped out and traversed long ago by the likes of Burke and Wills, to finally make the journey yourself it feels like you're stepping into unknown territory.

Inspiration
"The hardest thing is taking that first step," Ellen says. "Many people my age say that venturing out alone, like I did, takes courage. But perhaps all any of us need is a bit of a push from people that cross our path - just like the Scrabble lady who encouraged me," she recalls.

"I thought: if she can do it - and she's older than me - I can do it!"

Ellen's story is an inspiration to other women and men who find themselves without a companion to travel with in retirement. A few years ago, she won the Tasmanian finals of the Get Up & Go Awards: the search for the most adventurous senior.

"I'd been overseas a lot with my husband, through his work. But Australia was unexplored territory for me. I was sitting back waiting for someone to travel with. But I just got tired of waiting and thought, there's no use putting it off, just go!"

Ellen first headed up the east coast to Cairns, using her rail pass. Her constant companion was the trademark of any backpacker: a pack containing all she would need for the next seven months.

"When you eliminate all that's unnecessary in your life, things become more simple. A few changes of clothes, good walking shoes, a paperback (replenished at book exchanges on her travels), a travel diary, a pack of cards and a sketchbook. With these items I made my way around Australia quite comfortably."

The network of more than 150 Youth Hostels of Australia (YHAs), plus at least as many more backpacker hostels, became Ellen's home away from home.

"And it does become like a family. I was befriended by young people who saw me as a bit of a mother figure. Several young women, especially English girls, took my photo to send their parents, as if to say: look, you could do this, too!"

The backpacker grapevine is legendary, and for Ellen it was a great source of information, advice and stimulating conversations over the communal kitchen table. "Wherever I was headed, I learned where to go and where not to go from people who'd been there first-hand.

The other delightful thing was bumping into people I'd said goodbye to a few weeks back.

"My eyes were opened up to how many people travel this way. So many different nationalities and they've all got their own reasons for travelling. I'd been told by my Scrabble friend about the friendliness of people staying in youth hostels and now I can vouch for it.

"My sketchbook was a great conversation-starter. It kept me busy and I really appreciated what I was drawing, whether landscapes or people I met."

Circling Australia
Determined to circle Australia, Ellen headed across to Darwin and the Top End, and later found herself travelling the vast distances of northern Australia down into WA. Distances between towns provide a test of endurance and the bus doesn't always arrive at a civilised hour.

"If there was a drawback, it was arriving at a place at 3am and there being no-one to meet me, when the hostel had promised to pick me up! And then catching the bus at 3am, after walking half a kilometre from the hostel with my pack. Not at Exmouth hostel though, they have a great shuttle service!"

But the high points far outnumbered the lows, as Ellen recalls the generosity of strangers.

"After spending time in Perth and Fremantle, in very nice hostels by the way, I needed to start planning my trip east across the Nullarbor. A truck driver I knew from Maroochydore had said he'd take me but that didn't work out," Ellen continues.

"Then through the hostel I got in touch with a man who was headed back to Melbourne, looking to share the petrol costs with a passenger. That happens quite a bit in hostels, and felt safe to me. I wouldn't dare try hitch-hiking.

"The driver gave up his swag, so that for five nights I could sleep stretched out on the desert floor in a sleeping bag with amazing views of the stars. I will never forget it. He got me safely to Adelaide and we parted friends.

Great memories, but the best was yet to come for Ellen when she crossed Bass Strait into Tasmania.

"I knew by the time I reached Perth I was going to move away from Maroochydore. Then setting foot in Hobart I just knew: this is my new home!"

Heading to Tasmania
Shortly after completing her round Australia odyssey, Ellen packed up her possessions and drove down the eastern seaboard, then aboard the Spirit of Tasmania to start a new life.

What was it that made her choose backpacking over driving around Australia?

"I'm not very mechanical and if I'd broken down it could have blown my travel budget. Driving alone sounded a bit lonely too. I wanted to chat with others on the bus, and I was able to set myself a predictable budget; I aimed for $300 per week."

Ellen admits she went a bit over budget. "It was the daytrips," she laughs. "I figured, while I'm here - do it. This may be my only chance.

"Plus I was mixing with adventurous people who motivated me to do things I'd always wanted to do: white water rafting, parasailing behind a boat, hot air ballooning.

"In Kakadu I trekked to Jim Jim and Twin Falls carrying a blow-up mattress, which I used to paddle upstream on. It was quite an effort but I kept up with the young ones," she says with a grin.

Was there a hostel that stood out? "I think YHA's Treehouse at Mission Beach, north Queensland, is one of the best. It's a pole house in the rainforest - different, airy and beautifully clean. They had a barbecue twice a week, with homemade vegie burgers made from local produce, and you could buy them for $1.00.

"While I was there, the TV crew from Getaway were filming. I was interviewed by Sorrel Wilby!"

Ellen tallied up an incredible 22,000 kilometres, she met people from 30 different countries, and slept in 73 different beds. But statistics aside, the journey did change her life.

"Travelling for seven months was just what I needed to get a new lease on life. There's more to life in retirement than waiting for the children to call and ask me to babysit.

"Winning the Tasmanian Get Up & Go Award was incredible too. I became a guest speaker for Probus and seniors' clubs. I reckon I spoke to over 1,000 seniors about my backpacking trip!

"I'm just a pensioner with a bit of an adventurous streak, and there's others doing what I did. Many rent their homes and take off for a year. Financially, it's within reach of most people. Don't sit around wishing someone would take you, just take the first step," she stresses.

"Solo travel is an amazing experience. We should all do it once in our lifetime. My philosophy is simple: I've only got one life, so get up and go."