Back in January 2004 Martin Wright, one the club’s most sociable regulars at the London Meetings, royally entertained a packed Crown Court with tales of his marathon cycle ride to Australia ! Many in that audience will remember his great photos, distinctive narrative style and his thirst for adventure. Well Martin is at it again – this time he’s go back to the land down under to ‘pick up his bike and have a look round’. I think too many cold winter nights provided the motivation to get back on the road ! Anyway this is the first in an occasional series, based on Martin’s emails, and charts his offbeat approach to the road ahead.

6 May 2004 : “Since arriving in Sydney a few weeks ago I have caught up with a few friends and been forced against my will to drink obscene amounts of alcohol. The cycling has been great apart from arriving and leaving any of the big cities. One time a passenger in a car leaned out of the window and pushed me off the road and of course swore at me. Luckily I was travelling slowly so came to no harm. After Canberra I cycled through the snowy mountains passing through Cooma, Jindabyne, Thredbo, over dead horse gap at 1590 metres above sea level, Geehi and Cooryong where I stayed much longer than intended due to there being a festival dedicated to one of Australia’s greatest poets, Banjo Patterson, and particularly his greatest poem, the man from snowy river. Lots of bush poetry was recited, lots of yarns were told, lots of music played. It was a great 3 days rest for me. I cycled on to Melbourne, which took me another 5 days where I caught up with Mark Attwood, another Pom who has left the mother country for better weather. Whilst here we watched Aussie Rules Football at the Telstra dome – Essendon v West Coast Eagles. Great game for a first timer !

Went to the theatre to see a play called, ‘ridiculousness’, which is summed up by its title. Found a pub which sold Guinness then found another pub which did not sell Guinness but had a very lovely barmaid from New Zealand who gave me a few free drinks… Leaving Melbourne I soon got lost only to find my way again, eventually made it to Manangatang where I caught up with the glass jar himself, Phil Matthews. Phil’s cooking has improved and his ability to drink is about the same. Mark Attwood came up for a few days and we visited Chinkapook, a place where I have a history concerning an aboriginal lady in 1984 ! Watched country football at Manangatang after which we drank beer, had a bbq, drank more beer then watched lucky Liverpool beat Man Utd ! What a bloody awful game. From Manangatang to Koorlong where I stayed with Phil’s brother Rob for a few days I spent a few days out at the farm trying to help put up a half kilometre of fencing – the fence looked good and my contribution was to hand out a few tools where needed and collect our lunch boxes ! From Koorlong to Kulwin to Paringa in South Australia to Morgan and on to Burra from where I am having yet another day of rest.”

24 May : “Hello from Ceduna. My bike is starting to get tired so I will have to stay in this god-forsaken town until it has been given a little T.L.C. Shouldn’t take too long ! If you all look at your maps of Australia which you obviously have open in front of you so you can follow my every move you will see Ceduna situated to the west of the Eyre Peninsula. From here over to Perth I will be crossing the Nullabor – I will also be cycling on the longest straight section of road in the world. I think it is about 140kms without even the slightest kink… take a photo to prove it.

The wind was a bastard most of the way around the Eyre Peninsula- it is harder than cycling uphill, as you never get a moments rest ! I met a couple of interesting-eccentric characters on the way round. The first was a travelling vacuum cleaner salesman and the second a Professor from the Sorbonne in Paris – he seemed to have a brilliant mind for most things but when I mentioned the F.A. CUP FINAL taking place in Cardiff on may 22nd he was totally bemused !”

14 June : “Hi all – Rex Hunt here or is it Greg Norman ? Still in sunny, windy & rainy Esperance and loving the rest. Went fishing the other day with the hostel owner and a Japanese chap. It was sunny windy and rainy but it did not stop us catching a few tiddlers. I myself caught three fish; my first ever, and a few were caught by the other two amateurs ! Back at the hostel I learned the art of scaling, gutting and filleting fish. It was then down to cooking and eating everything between us… I left the cooking to Katsuo (the Japanese fellow) I did the washing up but the fish was bloody brilliant.

Yesterday I joined a group of five others for a round of golf in the ‘ESPERANCE BACKPACKERS INVITATIONAL’ at the Pink Lake Golf Club. The criteria for being invited – you had to be bloody useless at golf ! We bought two crates of beer, hired two golf buggies then headed for hole number one. We managed five holes and ten beers each in three hours. For holes one to five my scoring was as follows : hole one par five – 17, hole two par five – 12, hole three par three – 5, hole four par four – 8 and hole five par four – 6. My favourite clubs were a five wood and a putter, with which I hardly ever got the ball off the ground as I zigzagged my way to every hole. The rain and the light put paid to completing the eighteen holes..

This morning I woke up with a headache so decided another rest day was needed… have been the bloody pizza I ate. Will move on from here tomorrow I think and should take about two weeks to reach Perth. I will expect to receive many e-mails – those of you who have not written I think it is about time you did… Enjoy ! PS – Bloody lucky French”

… map of Martin’s progress…

To contact Martin for a chat, a question or to discuss anything he’s talked about on his journey email him on eggodyssey@yahoo.co.uk. After all Martin & his travel adventures are what the club is about and it feels worth supporting him…

Report by:Matt Doughty

Many cities run free and personal tours. These are usually run by volunteer friends, and not professional tour guides but are local people who are happy to show visitors the usual and unusual aspects of their city. A selection of these tours are as follows:

New York City: www.bigapplegreeter.org www.centralparknyc.org

Chicago: www.chicagogreeter.com

San Francisco: www.sfcityguides.org

Australia: Melbourne: http://www.worldtourism.com.au

Adelaide: http://www.bugaustralia.com/

Japan: http://www.jnto.go.jp

Korea: http://english.tour2korea.com

Jamaica: http://www.visitjamaica.com

Bahamas: www.bahamas.co.uk

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

In June, 1979, Moon Publications of Rutland, Vermont, published the 1st edition of South Pacific Handbook. A quarter century later, Moon Handbooks South Pacific is still the leading travel guide to Polynesia and Melanesia, with an 8th edition due from Avalon Travel Publishing in late 2004.

In 1973, Bill Dalton’s Indonesia Handbook launched the Moon Handbooks series, which now numbers over 100 titles. South Pacific Handbook was Moon’s second book, researched by David Stanley and put together by co-author Bill Dalton. The 1979 edition of South Pacific Handbook was printed by Colorcraft Ltd. of Hong Kong, which is still used by Moon’s successor company, Avalon Travel Publishing.

South Pacific Handbook was the first travel guide to the Pacific islands, covering the entire region including Micronesia. A few years later two Pacific territories which had full chapters in the 1st edition ceased to exist. New Hebrides achieved independence from Britain and France in 1980 and became Vanuatu, while in 1986 the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands broke into four separate entities as the United States restructured its interests in Micronesia. Early editions of South Pacific Handbook now provide source material for historians.

Bill Dalton withdrew as co-author after the 1st edition, and David Stanley has researched and written all subsequent editions. In 1985, the Micronesia chapters were made into a separate guide, and Papua New Guinea was dropped from the coverage. The 1979, 1982, and 1985 editions of South Pacific Handbook pioneered travel through the region, and it wasn’t until 1987 that the first competitors began appearing. To meet this challenge, the 1989 edition of South Pacific Handbook was expanded to include the full range of accommodations, not only the budget properties previously featured.

The 5th, 6th, and 7th editions of Moon Handbooks South Pacific appeared in 1993, 1996, and 2000, and Stanley has recently made five extensive trips to research an 8th edition. Twenty-five years after its genesis in 1979, Moon Handbooks South Pacific is still what Paul Theroux called “the most user-friendly travel guide” to the South Pacific.

About Moon Handbooks South Pacific: The 976-page 7th edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific (ISBN 1566911729) was published by Avalon Travel Publishing of Emeryville, California, in January, 2000. An 8th edition will be released in late 2004. David Stanley is also the author of Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands (ISBN 1566914124), Moon Handbooks Fiji (ISBN 1566913365), and Moon Handbooks Tonga-Samoa (ISBN 1566911745). More information is available on http://www.southpacific.org Avalon Travel Publishing titles are distributed in the United States by Publishers Group West.

Saturday 3^rd July

This month was the opportunity for the clubs members to show their slides to their fellow Globies. It was also our first meeting where we could try out our new digital projector, many thanks to Paul for making the technical side of the meeting run so smoothly.

We started off with six members giving traditional slide shows, Dan Bachmann kicked off with a talk on the island of Santorini. He was followed by Mike Dodd, who was the first recipient of the Globetrotters Legacy Award, Mike’s slides showed us a small part of his trip to South East Asia. Ernest Flesch showed us his Russian trip from Moscow to St Petersburg. We headed into Asia again with Phil Ferguson’s trip to the mountain kingdom of Bhutan. Across to Africa for Jeanie Copland’s walking trip to Morocco, taking in Berber villages and Marrakech. Last before the break was Helen Barnhill, who showed us faces of Angkor Wat, both human and stone.

The second half of the meeting saw the debut of our new digital projector as Dick Curtis kicked off with a geographical quiz. Tracey Murray took us to Texas and the spectacular Big Bend National Park. Nick Preston showed us Iguaçu Falls from both the Argentinean and Brazilian sides ending with a wonderful shot of the falls during El Nino. Japan was our next destination, as Francesca Jaggs described her retreat trip to the Shinto temples near Kyoto. We stayed in Japan for our next speaker, but this time to the southern Island of Kyushu as Kevin Brackley showed us the volcanoes and towns of the island. And finally Dick Curtis showed us some of the quirky architecture of Brescia in Italy. While the second half speakers had been talking the results of the quiz had been worked out, congratulations to Anne Dodd who won first prize. Many thanks to all the Globies who took the time to prepare and give us a great afternoon.

By Padmassana

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk Admission members £2, non members £4.

What is it: altitude sickness is divided into three syndromes: acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). AMS is the most common form of altitude illness and, while it can occur at altitudes as low as 1,219–1,829 m (4,000–6,000 ft), most often it occurs in abrupt ascents to over 2,743 meters (over 9,000 ft).

How do I get it: travellers whose itineraries who find themselves at an altitude of 1,829–2,438 m (6,000–8,000 ft) and above should are exposed to the risk of altitude sickness. This could happen for example by flying into a high-altitude city, by driving to a high-altitude destination, or by hiking or climbing in high mountains. High-altitude cities with airports are Cuzco, Peru (3,000 m; 11,000 ft); La Paz, Bolivia (3,444 m; 11,300 ft); or Lhasa, Tibet (3,749 m; 12,500 ft).

What happens if I get it: symptoms often resemble an alcohol hangover: headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, and, occasionally, vomiting. The onset of the most common form, acute mountain sickness is delayed, usually beginning 6–12 hours after arrival at a higher altitude, but occasionally more than 24 hours after ascent.

Diagnosis and treatment: the three rules that travellers should be made aware of to prevent death from altitude illness are:

1. Learn the early symptoms of altitude illness and be willing to admit that you have them.
2. Never ascend to sleep at a higher altitude when experiencing any of the symptoms of altitude illness, no matter how minor they seem.
3. Descend if the symptoms become worse while resting at the same altitude

For most travellers, the best way to avoid altitude illness is to plan a gradual ascent, with extra rest days at intermediate altitudes. If this is not possible, prescription drugs are available to prevent or alleviate the effect of altitude sickness if taken in advance.

How can I avoid getting altitude sickness: not everyone is susceptible to altitude illness, and there are currently no screening tests that predict whether someone is at greater risk for altitude illness. Susceptibility to altitude illness appears to be inherent in some way and not affected by training or physical fitness. How a traveller has responded in the past to exposure to high altitude is the most reliable guide for future trips but is not infallible.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/altitude.htm

There will be no July and August meetings, but back in the Fall, with a new format!

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St ), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm . Admission $8, non members, $10.

I read somewhere that two Australian women travelling in Africa to dissuade anyone taking stuff from their backpacks put rubber toy snakes on top of their stuff in backpacks.ï¿Â½ They heard Africans and others were afraid of snakes.ï¿Â½ (When I lived in Grant Bldg here at the Soldiers Home in Washington DC, pigeons would use the window sill outside my room as a toilet.ï¿Â½ I brought a similar toy rubber snake and put on the window sill.ï¿Â½ The pigeons took no notice and still performed their toilet all over it. ï¿Â½Ha!)

I don’t know how accurate this is, but I read that if you pay for airline ticket with a credit card the credit card number goes on the airline ticket.ï¿Â½ I know many recommend you pay for airline ticket with a credit ca rd in case they go broke you are covered etc. But this adds a new dimension.

Someone suggested that when you go to the beach you put your valuables in a plastic bag and bury in sand and cover with a blanket while you swim. Someone else suggested a waterproof bag you could take in water with you.

Years ago I met a couple in Rio De Janeiro travelling around the world. ï¿Â½They took their airline bag to the beach and she used it as a pillow while he swam. A big wave came up and she lifted her head to see how he was doing and when she put her head back her pillow was gone.ï¿Â½ No one saw anything but interesting enough there were two undercover policemen just wearing bathing suits that took the couple up in the hills nearby to see if anyone was carrying their airline bag. This was unsuccessful so they returned to the beach and someone said they saw some little boys burying something in the sand (supposed to come back at night andï¿Â½ retrieve).ï¿Â½ They found the bag intact and the grateful couple dispensed money to all.

If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com