Sometimes I ask myself why I enjoy being on the move. I was born in Australia to Dutch parents on 4 July 1951. My mother was seven months pregnant with me when she migrated to Australia on, at that time, a five day flight from Holland to Australia. At the age of five I accompanied my parents back to Holland on a passenger ship and distinctly remember the Suez Canal and other shipboard experiences. We lived with family in Groningen, an historic and attractive city in Holland for two years. This city was also to leave an indelible impression on me, one that helped forge a strong desire to return. A few months after I started my schooling my parents decided to return to Australia as there was still a shortage of housing in Holland at that time. At age seven, therefore, I found myself on an another ocean going voyage returning to Australia. Another five weeks of adventure on the open seas! Perhaps another reason why I enjoy being on the move could be due to my grandparents on my father's side and their forefathers before them. They owned their own carnival van and were part of a travelling circus and carnival around Holland until the nineteen sixties. Perhaps there is some gypsy blood in the family therefore!

Travelling is what I like to do above anything else. It gives purpose to my life and provides me with a sense of accomplishment and well being. There is much to learn about other peoples, their cultures, their histories and their environment.

Working firstly in a bank when I left school I realised that this profession was not for me. However the bank suited my purpose as it had offices in New Zealand. I started my travels by being transferred there. It was not long after that I resigned from the bank and found a position in a travel agency. Hitch-hiking around this small but scenically beautiful country during my breaks made me realise an economical and sociable way to travel, being invited into people's homes and experiencing how they live.

As a result of those trips spent on passenger ships in my boyhood years, ships became a hobby of mine and I dreamt of the time that I would one day be embarking on another such journey. This occurred in 1972 when I returned to Holland on the Greek liner, "Australis". In Holland I found work on a river barge which plied its trade on the Rhine River and its many tributaries; transporting various cargoes around the rivers and canals of northern Europe, including Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France and Belgium. I was therefore being paid to travel, to practice and learn new languages and meet people in their own environments.

While I was working on the barges, I met Rebecca Bruns, an American travel writer who was hitch-hiking around Europe by herself. She inspired me to do the same and shortly thereafter I left the barges, bought a back-pack in Amsterdam and joined the ranks of the many hitch-hikers who were travelling around Europe. Rebecca and I kept in touch by correspondence and fifteen years later, while I was staying with her in San Francisco, searching for a VW campervan, her inspiration provided the inception for the documentation of my journey. While I was writing this book, Rebecca wrote to me often and in one of these letters, she wrote to tell me of her battle with cancer and of her difficult struggle to recover to full health. Alas, Rebecca succumbed to her illness and died, shortly before I finished the manuscript which I had intended to send to her before bringing it to publishers. I have dedicated the book to this energetic and vibrant lady whose premature death, at age forty three, leaves those who knew her with a disturbing emptiness.

I hitch-hiked around Europe for four years between 1972 and 1976, from the North Cap of Norway (Europe's northernmost point of continuous land), from east to west, across North Africa and travelled overland through the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand and Malaysia before returning to Australia. Many interesting jobs helped finance these adventures, including sailing on a king's yacht around the Greek Islands, picking grapes on the high slopes of the Moselle River in Germany, and labouring in a commune located in the hills just outside St Tropez on the French Riviera, etc.

When I arrived back in Australia I searched for work in order to save money which would enable me to continue my travels to South America and Africa. During this time I found an opportunity to work as a photographic model and did so, living in the Australian cities of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney for three years before commencing my international career overseas.

I started in Milan, Italy where I was fortunate to have met an Italian by the name of Luigi, who worked as a booking agent for a prominent modelling agency called Fashion Model. He saw a photograph of me when I was working as a sailor on the Rhine River barges and recognised a potential to market my image as a 'rugged man'. Before long I was working very well, travelling to exotic locations such as the Caribbean, the Maldives, Morocco, Iceland and the Italian Riviera, being photographed as a fisherman, a car rally driver, a sailor and a cigarette man, etc. In Milan I became acquainted with a beautiful American model, Sharon, with whom I was to have a three year relationship. We travelled the European modelling circuit together working in cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona and others before coming to North America where we continued working successfully in New York, Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida. Sharon provided me with a wonderful opportunity to know the United States of America, as well as enjoying the good company of her family and friends.

While I was living In New York, I was part of an international advertising campaign in search of a man to represent Camel cigarettes and was one of two men selected to be photographed. A five year contract was negotiated in excess of US$1,000,000. Unfortunately a change in advertising agencies by the cigarette company, J.R. Reynolds, prevented that unique opportunity from being fulfilled. The company did, however, pay US$60,000 for a test of the market. I was supposed to have represented a rugged adventurer being photographed in many exotic locations, from river rafting down an Amazon River tributary to hiking amongst the glaciers of Greenland. The thought of being paid, to travel as the Camel cigarette man, to magnificent locations (which ordinarily I would go to anyway) was certainly appealing and would have been an extraordinary experience.

During the three years which I spent in North America (1982-1985), I took advantage of numerous travel opportunities as a professional model. From a base, a spacious apartment overlooking the Hudson River on Manhattan Island, I walked the streets of New York, visiting hundreds of photographers, etc. pursuing the modelling career. I bought a station wagon and a tent and travelled around the eastern seaboard of North America. The car doubled up as a place to sleep when the occasion needed it. Every winter, the intense cold drove me out of New York in search of sunshine. I drove to Florida where a motel room served as another base from which to work the Florida market from December through to March. While in Florida, Sharon and I became certified scuba divers which enabled us to enjoy the underwater world and explore many exotic coral reefs. In addition to diving off the Keys of Florida, we also went on a chartered scuba diving trip to the island of Cozumel, Mexico, where the spectacular coral reefs teem with myriad forms of colourful fish.

One summer was also spent in Texas, terminating with a pleasant, slow autumn drive through Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia, canoeing the Buffalo Springs River, hiking in the Smoky Mountains and camping in hillbilly country before returning to New York. At this time, I was fortunate to have been selected for several interesting photographic shoots, including locations in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador (South America), the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho (where the client took us rafting down the middle fork of the Salmon River) and as a rugged truck driver for 'Lets Go West', a German cigarette company, which flew me to the magnificent desert landscape of Arches National Park in Utah.

After parting ways with Sharon, I spent a summer driving along the eastern seaboard of Canada, camping alongside the rivers, lakes and rugged coastline of the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Quebec. The drive included the roads of the Gaspé Peninsula, along the mighty St Lawrence Seaway, and visiting the spectacular Niagara Falls, as well as many quaint and interesting fishing villages. I rafted some of the Canadian rivers which were cold and wild. During the many breaks from driving, I would sit somewhere at a lake's edge or at a rivers' banks, around a blazing campfire for added warmth and read up on Canada's interesting history.

My mate, an American model, Paul Mears, accompanied me on a trip to South Africa. We met in Milan and worked together several times on various assignments throughout the European cities. We had also spent many enjoyable times together, skiing the slopes of the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains. Paul went to Texas where he continued his work, but often spoke of going on safari. After some discussion, we decided to go to South Africa to work in Johannesburg and Cape Town in order to finance these adventures. Together Paul and I went on safari in a private game reserve next to the Kruger National Park. We stayed in a house overlooking the Oliphants River, a tributary of the Limpopo River. Every morning we got up to watch dozens of baboons eating and chattering on the rocks overlooking the river. We drove through the reserve many times and spotted magnificent wildlife in their own habitat. It was truly a fantastic experience! While in South Africa, I met a beautiful and delightful young English girl, Nicola, who was also working as a professional model and had also expressed a desire to experience a safari. She came with me on another splendid two week camping safari, visiting the magnificent game parks of Moremi, Savuti and Chobe National Parks of Botswana. We also flew into the Okavango Delta, where we took 'mekoros' (wooden dugout canoes) poled by black guides who took us deep into the marshy delta. From the Zambia side we rafted the wild rapids of the Zambezi River, the starting point being directly below the awe-inspiring Victoria Falls, which marks the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Several days were spent relaxing at the superb British colonial Victoria Falls Hotel, built alongside the old colonial train station, where steam trains continue to deliver passengers to these spectacular falls.

After returning to Europe for six months, where I continued working in many European cities as an international model,I took a memorable train trip through the glorious and majestic Austrian Alps to Salzburg and Vienna. I visited these cities for several days enjoying the many fantastic museums, palaces and other grand public buildings, as well as a visit to watch a classical ballet being performed at the Vienna Opera House. Taking advantage of an opportunity, I took the train into Eastern Europe, then still under communist domination, and visited the beautiful cities of Budapest, Hungary and Prague, Czechoslovakia. At that time the difference between European capitalist and communist countries was still clearly noticeable. Yet, from my train window, I felt romantically attracted to the charming appeal of these bucolic landscapes. The architectural elegance of Eastern European cities, albeit that some buildings were in a sadly dilapidated state, reminded me of an era lost in the West; as Soviet trams screech along well-worn rails, passengers alighting in a frenzy of activity; numerous Scoda cars jolting along bumpy cobble-stone streets; the lack of bright street lighting and commercial neon signs also adding a sombre evening element to the night gloom.

On my return to Australia I flew via the Philippines and Hong Kong and Macao and travelled by train to China visiting the important cities of Bejing, Shanghai and Xian. A special visit was made to the tomb and the warriors of the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (died 210 B.C.) who ordered hundreds of thousands of conscripts to build this amazing project that took thirty six years to complete. Naturally I included a walk along the equally spectacular Great Wall of China as well as a visit to the Ming Tombs. Further visits were made to the imposing royal fortress of the Forbidden City of Bejing and to the harbour and dockside area of the Bund of Shanghai. Foreign empires at the turn of the century were responsible for much trade being conducted near the Yangtze River delta. It led to the expansion of Shanghai from a little fishing village, to what today has become China's most populated city with over 11,000,000 people at last count and still growing strongly.

I returned to Australia and studied at two colleges in Melbourne gaining an Associate Diploma in Business Studies, majoring in Travel and Tourism. This was achieved in 1986-87. Before starting employment as a travel consultant or as a tour leader, however, I still had the aspiration to travel to South America and Africa and to cross Siberia.

I decided to return to the Americas as a photo-journalist, buy a van and travel as far as possible with the limited finances I had available. I arrived in San Francisco with a small bag containing some clothes, books and maps, my Nikon photographic equipment and a journal to record the events and happenings that I would experience along the trail of what I hoped would be an unforgettable experience.

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