My Life's Musical Journey... Overland Journey
The first overseas trip I undertook was on an old AJS
500cc motor cycle with my mate Bob in a sidecar that
I had made myself. We got as far as Southern Italy
but failed to make the return journey as a result of
a broken chain. Possessing no funds for repair I
feigned severe illness in the middle of a French
village, Bob sent rushing for help at the local
British High Commission. The end result was
repatriation to England for us two scallywags in a
very comfortable train and ferry, thank you very
much. The bike was returned to the UK courtesy RAC.
That expedition was a prelude to a journey that found me, at the age of 25, driving my 1948 Morris 8 from England to Australia. A year with London Transport, driving a double-decker bus, had given me valuable experience for such an expedition. I neglected however to tell my parents about the trip, proceeding as if I was merely doing up the car, getting an article in the local newspaper, finding a co-driver and suchlike. The local paper published this article... and that was how my parents found out about my plans. After the initial shock however, Dad helped me rebuild the engine in preparation for such a daunting journey.
After a year of harrowing experiences traveling through Europe, Greece, Turkey, Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, I eventually sold the battered vehicle. One of the highlights of that journey was giving a piano recital to the British Ambassador to Nepal in Katmandu... although I discovered fairly rapidly that fine English brandy and Mozart do not mix, so I was eventually driven back to my 'hotel' in the consulate land rover, with a union jack fluttering away on the bonnet, vowing not to do that ever again.
I continued my adventures hitch-hiking around India, Nepal and Tibet for three months before flying to Singapore, where I was forced to stay for a week, then onwards to Perth... a skinny nine stone, suffering from pneumonia and amoebic dysentery, with the princely sum of $27 in my pocket. That amount bought me a pair of boots and a bus fare to a farm in the Western Australian central wheat belt, where I worked for a year. The farmer grew to like me in time, despite setting one of his tractors on fire when the wind changed and bending a set of harrows beyond recognition after hitting a large rock.
I spent the next five years working around Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand before returning to Perth to 'settle'. The travel bug was now virtually out of my system, however I did make a few trips back to England in a more civilized manner, sadly though once for Mum's funeral.
My career in the Travel Industry began almost as soon as I left school, joining the public service in London. Since then I have worked for British European Airways, Ansett Airlines in Darwin, Trans- Australian Airways in New Guinea and in Perth. I have held managerial positions in various travel concerns and operated my own travel agency for three years. Prior to culminating my career as a lecturer in Travel and Tourism, I was both Personnel and Administration Manager for a travel company which involved the operation of fifteen branches throughout the state and I had the responsibility of sixty staff under my wing.
I lectured for nearly four years at college, and all seemed well in my life before that institution went in liquidation in January 1993. A recent divorce and loss of my then partner compounded this personal crisis, so I returned to my rented home, after registering for the dole, and sat around, mulling over my future prospects, at the age of 50.
