Latest diary entry - March 22, New Zealand - week 2

On the Wallaby Track
2005 Trip Diary for Brian & Heather and their merry band of intrepid travelers

On the Wallaby Track is a term used by Australians who are wandering around the continent. People may be On the Wallaby for as little as a few weeks or for several years, the latter traveling from place to place, picking up jobs when they need to, or if the opportunity presents itself.

It's over already?

And so, after 86 days of travelling, of riding elephants to Karin villages, of riding the Death Railway of riding mules down and up a cliff face, we were home. We had travelled in first class luxury, in cramped buses, on long-tailed boats, canoes, river rafts, floating market dugouts and ferries. We had descended into limestone caves and climbed Mount Warning, Mount Kosciusko and (by car) Haleakala Crater. We walked along deserted beaches and across the POW built bridge over the River Kwai. We followed the footsteps of convicts in both Port Arthur and Sara Island. We travelled along the River Kwai, the Yuan River, the world heritage Gordon River, Sydney Harbour and the Parammatta River and across the Kolahi Channel. We shopped in floating markets in Bangkok, night markets in Chang Mai, Chinese and Karin village homes in Mai Hong Son, wall-to-wall malls in Singapore, street markets in Salamanca, Hobart and boutiques all over. We had travelled on both sides of the roads and encountered innumerable hairpins, switch-backs and twisty bits of roads. We have watched Thai dancers, Burmese/Thai children perform, a Shakespearean play directed by a fellow high school old-boy at the Sydney Opera House, Maori dancing and challenges for peace, the world's gay community perform during Sydney's Mardi Gras march. We talked, one-on-one, with peoples of all cultures along the way, and found most to be honest, kind and helpful. We visited relatives and old friends and we made several new ones.

Heather took over 4000 digital pictures and I shot 52 rolls of film, along with 8 digital movie tapes. (Beware of any invitation to "look at a few of our photos.")

We are home - weary, but relaxed, and enjoying signs of spring.

Would we do it again? Bloody oath we would - not for a couple of weeks, but.

Til next time! Hope you enjoyed our ramblings - send us an e-mail at briahols@yahoo.com if you have any questions or comments.

2002 Wallaby Track journal: www.wallabypocketprompter.com
Brian's Guelph Art listing: www.guelpharts.ca/holstein