Local woman Maureen Tough initially contacted Jan Randall, who lives in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, in 1964, when they both expressed an interest in finding a pen friend through a magazine.
The pair have since exchanged hundreds of letters detailing key life events and milestones.
Mrs Randall’s visit to Guernsey marks the first time she has ever travelled anywhere by plane, as well as the first time she has left Australia.
‘Even though we are strangers in a way, we don’t feel like it. We’ve shared each other’s life stories,’ said Mrs Tough.
The friends first got in touch as 11 year olds when, through Princess magazine, they both shared their contact details in the hope of finding a pen friend to write to.
‘I’m an only child, so that’s probably why I was looking for a pen friend,’ said Mrs Randall.
‘I think I must have just picked Maureen’s name, and that’s how it started.’
School life formed much of their initial writings, with boyfriends, marriage and children all featuring heavily over the following decades of correspondence.
‘We’d probably send each other three or four letters a year, and back in the day they would take six or seven weeks to reach each other on the boat,’ said Mrs Randall.
‘Sometimes Jan used to write and ask if I was ok because I’d forgotten to write to her for a little while, with life busy with children and grandchildren,’ said Mrs Tough.
As the world embraced the digital age, the pair gradually incorporated emails and telephone and video calls into their correspondence.
‘Especially coming up to this trip there were lots of phone calls,’ said Mrs Randall.
She committed to coming to Guernsey following the death of her husband Bob a couple of years ago.
She sold the farm on which they lived, and put some of the proceeds towards the trip.
‘I rang Maureen up one day and said “I’m coming over”.’
‘She said “really?”, and I said “yes”.’
Having previously never travelled on a plane, Mrs Randall took a flight from Wagga Wagga to Sydney, before flying to London Heathrow via Dubai.
She undertook a two-and-a-half-week tour of the UK before arriving in Guernsey last Saturday.
‘I was very nervous flying, but I got some tablets from the doctor and tried to keep calm, and everything was fine.’
Seeing each other for the first time in person at the airport was ‘very emotional’, the pair agreed.
‘I walked out and we just looked at each other, and then we hugged,’ Mrs Randall said.
‘It’s going to be even more emotional on the 13th [today] when Jan leaves,’ Mrs Tough added.
Their time together has seen them travel around the island, with Town harbour and Fort Grey among Mrs Randall’s favourite sites.
‘I loved the port, I thought it was beautiful.’
The friends have also made a video call to Mrs Randall’s family back home.
‘They’re amazed at our friendship, as is everyone, but it just comes so naturally to us, chatting to each other,’ said Mrs Randall.
Asked whether a return visit was on the cards, Mrs Tough admitted she also did not like flying, but did not rule out her and husband Norman making the trip down under one day.
‘It would be lovely.’
Whatever the future held, the pair said the odd letter or two would still be sent to one another.
‘We’ve got WhatsApp, we’ve got email, but I am still guilty of writing long letters,’ said Mrs Tough.
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