'I'm pretty flexible about the New Zealand part of my trip,' I said to the long-suffering consultant at the other end of the line. A pause. 'There's just one non-negotiable, though. I have to spend some time in Dunedin. And I wouldn't mind going to Invercargill. A longer pause. The whisper of a sigh. 'Invercargill?'... Continue Reading →
Travelling Versus Arriving
Even before COVID-19 put an end to my trip of a lifetime, many things had gone wrong. Nothing affecting the entire planet, you understand, and nothing disastrous but, still, there had been some hitches. It all started off so well too. My journey from Edinburgh to Sydney was uneventful and I arrived safely and speedily... Continue Reading →
Melbourne Athenaeum Library
It was the sign advertising books for sale that caught my eye. We were putting in time, my cousin Pam and I, until the doors of the theatre opposite opened. It was hot enough that I didn't want to wander far so we ducked inside an old building, were directed to a neo-classical lift and... Continue Reading →
An Author’s Eye View
Recently (recently enough to have to cut short my journey) I was travelling in Australia. As is my wont I tried to read books that had some relevance to my destination. Two such were by Nevil Shute: A Town Like Alice and the less well known The Far Country. I'm not an expert on the... Continue Reading →
No Such Thing as Co-incidence
In the Australian spring of 1965, two very different people arrived in Melbourne. Rosemary Steele from Musselburgh was bored with her life, full though it was, and this led her to apply for an assisted passage to Australia. She was successful and made the decision to emigrate, agreeing to remain in Australia for at least... Continue Reading →
Canberra
I went to Australia slightly reluctantly, specifically to see relations who were flatteringly keen to have me visit. The majority of them I had never met, although I had heard of them all my life. I was also going to see the places my parents had often spoken of, places in which they had met,... Continue Reading →