kitchen in Katherine!
You’ll want to know about kanga-
roos of course. I’ve seen plenty of
them! Even here, in Canberra I see
them every day, nibbling the sparse
winter grass in a local park. I have
had some close encounters with
them involving two separate occa-
sions when they have tried to get on
my bike with me! They are not very
bright and will just as soon boing
towards you to get away as they will
boing away from you. They may even
start to boing away, change their
minds and boing towards you again.
One, having failed to become my pil-
lion learned from the experience and
went off in the opposite direction.
The other one, sad to say, ran into the
back wheel, nearly knocking me off
my bike. It was badly injured, was
shot by local farmers which nearly
broke my heart with grief and guilt.
I had been anxious to get to a small
outback settlement before dark. (It
cannot be called a city as it had only a
pub.) I vowed never to travel at dusk
ever again in Australia.
Visiting a country does not, for me,
just mean gazing at the scenery. If
that was all there was to it, I’d have
packed it in as a ‘seen it all’ tourist
years ago. I have seen the world’s
highest mountains, dived in the seas
renowned for the most spectacu-
lar marine life, seen Mount Fuji and
climbed the Eiffel Tower. I’ve ridden
my motorbike through remote and
mysterious valleys, browsed in exot-
ic Middle Eastern markets, lazed on
Caribbean beaches, seen the Grand
Canyon and gambled in Las Vegas.
But there is more to travel than that.
I’m not arrogantly saying that I’ve
been everywhere and seen every-
thing, but the highest, the smallest,
the oldest, the first, and the very best
the world has to offer no longer at-
tracts me. I’ve seen views to knock
your socks off. So what is it, apart
from the sheer joy I get from riding
my motorbike that keeps me going
on this seemingly endless and rest-
less quest?
It’s curiosity about what’s round the
corner and the people I meet along
the way. Sometimes other travellers,
but mostly I enjoy and delight in the
people who live in the area I am vis-
iting. I listen to them talking about
what is important to them. I peek
into their lives for an instant. I glean
information about what to see, where
to go and how to get there. These days
I rarely travel with a guide book, pre-
TRAVERSE 35
ferring recommendations by word of
mouth, and have not been disappoint-
ed so far. I wouldn’t have missed the
Taj Mahal or Sydney Opera House but
get so much pleasure out of other less
grand sights. Australians are just as
fascinating as the people from any of
the other countries I have spent time
in.
Immensely proud of their coun-
try, many sell up their homes on re-
tirement and buy an old bus, trailer