Mrs Cowan came from Christchurch as a young bride in 1944. And, yes, she did wonder what had struck her.
But she got stuck in and in 1948 helped her husband Bernard Cowan form one of Haast's early transport companies which plied Haast's road to nowhere - the Haast-Jackson Bay road, which until 1960 came to a dead end at both ends.
"I live in Christchurch again now, but I remember the opening [of the Haast-Otago road] and the end of isolation," Mrs Cowan said on Saturday.
The Cowans operated their transport company until 1968, when they transferred the business to George Wallis, who operated as Haast Transport and is now Wanaka Lucerne.
Mrs Cowan was not the only Haast woman behind the wheel of a five-tonne vehicle.
Betty Eggeling, who is also 89, also had her heavy-traffic licence and would travel the Haast Pass with her husband, Charlie, to fetch supplies.
Mrs Cowan said she only drove around the district.
"But I did drive out to Central once because no-one else was available.
"I had to deliver a package to a building site and Bernard just said `Just take great care you don't go into the hole in the front of the building site'.
"I said, 'No dear. I won't,' But I did. And it took two hours for the boys to dig me out," Mrs Cowan recalled.
Mrs Cowan was taught to drive by her husband in a truck - they did not own a car - when her son, John, was small.
"He would beg his father to drive. But I was determined. I was going to drive," Mrs Cowan said.
A Ministry of Works manager in Hokitika was able to issue licences so Mrs Cowan arranged for a test when he came down to Haast.
"I said 'Where do you want to go?' He said 'Up to the canteen. I am in a hurry and I want to catch a plane'.
"And with that, he handed me my licence. I felt thoroughly let down.
"Then he said 'I've been watching you drive for the last two years'. Of course, I had been driving without a licence," Mrs Cowan said.
Mrs Cowan most often drove her husband's International Harvester.
Later, the company used Bedford trucks.
The trucks then were much simpler and she would not like to drive a modern truck.
