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This book is the story of an epic journey around Australia undertaken by two adventurous British seniors, Michael and Dawn Franklin-Harris. Their inherent love of nature and wildlife, the people, and the vast sweep of natural history, is plainly obvious in this recorded account of travels in this fascinating country. The duration of the tours described in the book covers four months and six months, coinciding with two consecutive English winters. They were to drive close to 20,000 km in the 10 months they were in Australia, covering north to south and east to west, on this large and varied continent. They were told afterwards by many locals that they had seen more of Australia than many Australians would see in their lifetime. Despite their age, their past life and experiences had made them eminently suited to take on and record such a journey. Dawn had left England in late 1963 with her first husband and young family on an assisted passage scheme to arrive in Australia in 1964. They spent eight years moving around following the work, periodically returning to their base in Queensland where they settled for a time before finally returning to the U.K. Her love of the country and its people never left her, and she always longed to return under different circumstances to her first experience. With Michael retired, that opportunity presented itself. Michael had been a Precision Service Engineer, driving on average 35,000 miles per year, both in the U.K. and abroad. Like Dawn, he had a passion for life and new experiences. With his deep interest in literature, he was no stranger to the written word and had published many essays in the U.K., France, and the U.S.A.
Charts the history of South Asian diaspora, weaving together stories of various peoples colonized by the British Empire.
Biography of Joseph Jenkins (1818-98). Tregaron tenant farmer Jenkins was innovative and successful with an award for the best farm in the county, and was an influential figure, involved in local politics and the building of the Manchester and Milford railway through the area. Despite this, aged 50, he left his wife and nine children without a word, and traveled to Australia. For the next two decades he lived there as a swagman: an itinerant farm laborer. Despite having little formal education, Jenkins had a keen intellect and a thirst for self-improvement through reading, and was a poet in both Welsh and English, winning 13 consecutive prizes at the Ballarat St David's Day Eisteddfod for his englyniau (a specific form of Welsh-language poetry) so he is remembered also as a man of letters. The book draws greatly on the journals he kept in both Wales and Australia.
Thomas Keneally, the bestselling author of The Daughters of Mars and Schindler’s List, returns with an exquisite exploration of community and country, love and morality, taking place in both prehistoric and modern Australia. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Shelby Apple is obsessed with reimagining the full story of the Learned Man—a prehistoric man whose remains are believed to be the link between Africa and ancient Australia. From Vietnam to northern Africa and the Australian Outback, Shelby searches for understanding of this enigmatic man from the ancient past, unaware that the two men share a great deal in common. Some 40,000 years in the past, the Learned Man has made his home alongside other members of his tribe. Complex and deeply introspective, he reveres tradition, loyalty, and respect for his ancestors. Willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, the Learned Man cannot conceive that a man millennia later could relate to him in heart and feeling. In this “meditation on last things, but still electric with life, passion and appetite” (The Australian), Thomas Keneally weaves an extraordinary dual narrative that effortlessly transports you around the world and across time, offering “a hymn to idealism and to human development” (Sydney Morning Herald).
Hes caught in a rip tide off Kuta Beach in Bali: no ones on shore to help; every time he cries out, the waters rush over him. Tony Speed is in free-fall. Near 30, a victim of the budget ax, hes lost his first real job as an Instructor at a southern university. Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and John Lennonthe gods of his idolatry--all tell him to get out, just go. So he takes his lifes savings and chases his Japanese girlfriend to Tokyo. But Yoshiko dances to a different drummer, and before he knows it, Speeds in Southeast Asia, knocked silly by a rip tide. That rip is the books central metaphor, as Speed travels through Asia and the Lucky Country of Australia, watching the fragmented pieces of his life play out like a kaleidoscope. Set in Bali and Australia, with flashbacks to Japan and the States, A Fine Excess is a novel that reads fast and goes deepan On the Road for the new millennium--with a foot in this floating world, and a wing in the spiritual realms of East and West. It's a book about the adventure of discovery, integrating our whirling selves with the mirroring chaos and beauty of the world. Whats Speed searching for, what does he want? An affirming vision wholenesssomeone and some place to hold onto. Its the mid-70s, after all. Vietnam, Watergate, a worldwide recession form the crazy quilt hes woven into. He joins Aussie friends Peter and Kay in hurricane-ravaged Darwin where hes harassed by the local bar faunaOckers. With fellow wayfarer Dacy, he hitches a ride through the outback in a Holden station wagon piggybacking a lorry, the red dust of the Simpson Desert clogging every pore. In Coober Pedy, the mole-like denizens burrow into caves to escape the heat while ferreting night and day for fire-lit opals. Its all Dante-esqueand exhilarating! Speed finds work in Adelaide, picking grapes for a winery. He settles in for a month of love-making with Colleen, a funny, pretty Canadian scientist who despises Aussie men. Tempted to linger, Speed finds he cant shake the memory of Jeri, the American woman he met in Indonesia who is now in Sydney. On his way to her, he stops off in Melbourne, where he re-joins Peter and Kay. Theyre in the process of breaking up, and Speed gets caught in the inevitable rip. A couple of weeks later, hes keeling into Jeris orbit. But shes involved with two other men. Only when he can recognize the quiet charm of Carol, Jeris reticent roommate, does Speed find peace and love. He finally gets his revelation, his Zen slap, through Dennie, Carols quadriplegic cousin. In the sad and luminous figure of Dennie, the suffering, acceptance, gratitude and grace at the core of the religious traditions of the East and West finally converge. All journeys are beginnings. This is a book about beginning.
In this stunning work of narrative nonfiction, the author tours the front lines of ecological invasion--in Hawaii, Tasmania, Guam, San Francisco, in lush rain forests, through underground lava tubes, on the deck of an Alaska-bound oil tanker.
The classic tale of Odysseus's return home in a stunning new translation. THE ODYSSEY, which tells of Odysseus's long voyage home after the battle of Troy, is one of the defining masterpieces of Western literature. Populated by one-eyed man-eating giants, beautiful seductive goddesses, and lavishly hospitable kings and queens, it is an extraordinary work of the imagination, the original epic voyage into the unknown that has inspired other writing down through the ages - from ancient poems to modern fiction and films. With its consummately modern hero, full of guile and wit, THE ODYSSEY is perfectly suited to our times. Thanks to the scholarship and poetic power of the highly acclaimed Stephen Mitchell, this new translation recreates the energy and simplicity, the speed, the grace, and continual thrust and pull of the original, so that THE ODYSSEY's ancient story bursts vividly into new life.
Journalist Aaron Smith never planned to go to India before he had a contract put on his life by a drug dealer, when suddenly India seemed like the perfect place to get lost. In the process, he ended up finding himself, as well as encountering a dead body or two, witnessing the tragic death of a friend, dodging terrorist attacks and a revolution, and befriending a colorful cast of characters. Pulling no punches, this Gonzo-styled, page-turning Indian adventure has pathos, self-deprecation, and a wicked sense of humor. It provides a raw, honest, and amusing appraisal of traveling through contemporary India.
'This book is both highly educational and a damn good read.' - Sam Burgess, OAM, former chairman Zig Zag Railway 'A fascinating view of railways throughout the world by an Australian railway do-er.' - Mike Mohan, formerly of US Railroader, Southern Pacific Railways and now ARG, Perth Join Tim Fischer, former deputy prime minister of Australia and one of the country's best-known (and most energetic) train enthusiasts, on an entertaining and informative journey to the great railways of the world. From the early days of train travel to the heady international race to develop new railways to the inaugural journey of Australia's new Ghan, Tim explores the successes and the disasters of a mode of transport that still captures the imagination today. Here are tales from Tim's many hundreds of train trips around the world, colourful anecdotes about the characters he's met and the far-flung places he's visited, and descriptions of his twelve greatest stations in the world - as well as enough rail history and technical information to satisfy the most ardent trainspotter.
A unique story of a what turned out to be a two-year trek around Australia in a 16-foot catamaran named Tom Thumb.Scheduled to arrive in Sydney during the America's Cup, Darby gives his first-hand account of the politics and excitement surrounding that event.