News from Jupiter
Visiting Mazatlán and San Cristòbal in Mexico
April 13, 2024
I think I mentioned a while back that I’ve been to Mexico. Got back two weeks ago. I flew into Mexico City and from there made two trips, one north to Mazatlán to see two dear friends from California whom I miss, the other south to San Cristòbal to see my German cousin’s daughter who has a house there. She’s a doctor, married to a […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: The Croc’ Hunter
April 7, 2024
Here, at last, what you’ve been waiting for – the tale of the croc’ hunter. We are in far north Queensland, where we had just caught a mud crab, but I forgot to note how utterly delicious it was. Huge clumps of white flesh. Never had anything like it since. So, on again, word for word . . . Monday 5th January, […]
From My Notebooks in 1976: A New Year In Australia
March 31, 2024
For a year or so I have been digging back into the notes I kept on my journey round the world in the Seventies. Here they are, word for word, as I wrote them. 1976, and it’s a New Year in Australia Friday, January 2nd Finished working on the bike in the morning. Went into Cairns to get food and see Botanical Gardens. Teak, […]
From My Notebooks In 1975: Hair From An Elephant’s Tail
March 11, 2024
Early on my journey, when I was passing through Kenya I became friends, briefly (all my friendships were necessarily brief) with a man whose brother had married and gone to live in Australia. When he heard that Australia was on my route he asked me to take along two bracelets woven with the hair from an elephant’s tail. They were remarkable objects. The hair was […]
From My Notebooks in 1975: Rollingstone Creek
March 3, 2024
When I read what I’d written half a century ago, I found it so harsh that I almost skipped over this episode, but it’s a long time ago, things have changed and Australians reading this will know how much they’ve changed. You left me last week as we were recovering from a downpour in the night. Friday, December 26th At first the prospect seemed […]
From My Notebooks in 1975: Christmas in Oz
February 25, 2024
After that extraordinary interlude with the truckies the rest of Australia seemed rather dull at first. In fact the word “dull” crops up too often in my notes. But before I get into Christmas in Oz, here’s a picture that somehow got away last week. Tuesday 23rd December We rode on. Felt like making time. Doubtful weather. In Mackay looked for waterworks and Mr. Cooley’s […]
From My Notebooks in 1975: Horror Road to Sarina
February 18, 2024
Before we get down to the pleasures of Australia in the Seventies, I want to say something about Putin, in the light of what has just happened. Like most people, I suppose, I have found it hard to imagine a human being of evident intelligence, acceptable appearance and in comfortable circumstances (to say the least) . . . it is hard to imagine such a […]
From My Notebooks in 1975: Leaving Brisbane, Australia
February 11, 2024
G’day, everyone. How are you this Sunday morning? Perhaps like me you start the day looking for good news and not finding any. Us humans having pretty much obliterated one small country and decimated its population, and done a similar job on 20% of another, much larger country, it looks like the only survivors in the long run will be the cockroaches and the arms […]
From My Notebooks in 1975: Leaving Sydney, Australia
February 4, 2024
From the outset of my journey, I was very clear about several promises I made to myself. First: I would do it in one single, unhurried journey and then write a book about it. Second: It would be a complete journey, overland, uninterrupted, visiting as many countries as I could on the way round. Third: I would travel as frugally as possible in order […]
More Old News From Jupiter
January 28, 2024
Still following the story as it happened, my next stop had to be Australia. As idylls go, my idyllic time on the commune in Northern California lasted longer than most, but after almost four months I had to move on. The Sunday Times had engineered a free crossing of the Pacific for me and my bike on the P&O cruise liner SS Oriana. In return […]