In January 1973, I arrived in Sydney, NSW, Australia, the culmination of an 11-month journey overland through Asia with my girlfriend Heather and friend Richard. We had crossed Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan by rail and bus, and then travelled through the legendary Khyber Pass into Pakistan, and spent a month exploring Northern India and I made the first of what was to become a total of 14 visits to Nepal.
It is not a coincidence that the first article I wrote for this website 12 years ago (see here) was inspired by my first visit to the Antarctic; and between 2012 and 2017, my wife, Sharron, and myself joined five more expeditions to the polar regions including another visit to Antarctica in 2014. A planned 3-week expedition to the Russian Arctic in 2020 was twice postponed because of Covid and so in late 2021, we instead decided to cancel our Russian plans, claim a refund, and instead planned a third visit to Antarctica, in my opinion the most spectacular destination on the planet.
In December 1973 and February 1974 my then girlfriend Heather and myself spent two month’s hitchhiking around New Zealand when we took an extended break from our jobs in Sydney Australia.
It created many positive memories that remained with me for the next 50 years. It was where I made one of my first mountain hikes near Mt Cook but above all it was the friendliness of the people so proud of ‘God’s own Country’, and the incredible variety of the scenery and landscapes that remained in my mind. Continue reading
Notes from a Nomad 