Jean Gray had been alive for 83 years before she took her first flight overseas.
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Mrs Gray and her friend Val Wareham, who was also in her 80s, flew to England before further adventures in North America and New Zealand.
Mrs Gray celebrated her 103rd birthday today and looked back fondly on that trip.
“Oh it was really good,” she said.
Her first international experience was clearly a positive one as two years later she visited England again.
While her overseas trips were a great feat, perhaps more impressive is the fact that Mrs Gray was still driving her car at the age of 97.
Mrs Gray has lived in Terang for the past 80 years and is at the May Noonan Centre by Living Lyndoch aged-care facility on Foley Street.
She was born in Warrnambool and went to primary school in Noorat.
Walking “two miles” to school is among her earliest memories.
Some other significant memories include a time during World War II when her husband, Ern, trained soldiers at Nullawarre.
He had served for the British army in France in World War I.
Mrs Gray also remembers the day United States President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963.
Mrs Gray has also been a tennis fan for many years.
“I always liked playing tennis and I’ve enjoyed watching the tennis,” she said.
Among her favourite players were Aussies Rod Laver, Frank Sedgman and Lew Hoad.
These days she stays up late to watch her current favourite, Roger Federer.
Mrs Gray and her husband were community-orientated people and she was involved in the Red Cross, rotary, school committees and the Country Woman's Association.
“I always enjoyed being in the Red Cross,” she said.
Mrs Gray is very close to her family and communicates with some family members using video calls.
She has three children, six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
She said one of the significant changes she had noticed was how fast young people move in the modern world.
“When I see the young people, they go so fast,” she said.
“They don’t go as slow as I used to.”
Jean’s daughter Alwyn said she had often asked her mum if she would like to move to Warrnambool but Jean never took up the offer.
“I love Terang,” Jean said.
“I think it’s a good spot.”
