Getaway

So, I’m up in the North East of Taiwan having a look at the spectacular Taroko Gorge, famous for its secret waterfalls and marble canyons, when I stop in for a coffee at the central base. I see a little crew of unmistakable Australians and think to avoid them. That is until I notice it’s Catriona Rowntree!

To those of you who aren’t Australian, Catriona does a show in Australia called Getaway. Before that, however, she was the focus of my most intense teenage celebrity crush. She used to be the sexy voice on the radio and was on the TV whenever I got home from school, hosting a sparkling piece of entertainment called ‘What’s Up Doc?’

So I sat down to talk to her when the others had left her alone. Keeping my cool I saddle up and ask, ‘Are you Christina Rowntree?’ Shit. ‘Catriona’ she answers, ‘yeah.’ And so the conversation begins. But the teenage boy in me just couldn’t hold it together long enough to ask for her hand... Besides which, later I would find out that she got MARRIED last year! Ah, the lost opportunities…

She has been travelling the world getting paid to do what she loves for the last 10 years. She said that she knew what she wanted to do with her life in High School. Then she just went out and did it... I admire that, perhaps because it’s the polar opposite of from my experience of life. I got out of school and studied Commerce for 5 and a half years and am only now beginning to get a sense of this thing called 'purpose.'

Anyway, if you’re in Australia look out for Getaway’s Taiwan episode coming up…