The Perfect Australian Travel Book

A Great Gift for Anytime of Year

As a wide-eyed sixteen year old about to start college, my

life and future were thrown into turmoil by the un-characteristic actions

of my normally safe thinking father, who had suddenly become hell-bent on

dragging his family to the other side of the world - Australia, a land of

constant sunshine, seemingly endless horizons, tanned nubile females,

crystal white sands and rolling surf, a land where anything and everything

seemed possible, a place that was to change my outlook on life for ever.

Having settled into my new life with great relish, and fast approaching the

end of our third year in Oz, my mother finally insisted the family return

to the U.K. (much to my father's consternation). What I, nor anybody else

could have foreseen, was the length of time that was to pass before my wish

to return became a reality.

All of life's events had in a strange way led me full circle to this

eventuality, and on a bright summer's morning, I stood alone looking out

across the glorious blue waters of Sydney Harbour.

The sun was still as bright, the sky as blue, and the shimmering heat haze

as hypnotic as ever. Like beta particles, a thousand memories flooded my

jet-lagged brain as I drank in the spectacle of this watery idyll - I was

back in Oz and even I could hardly believe it, so with my notebook in hand,

a spring in my step, and a smile as wide as the Harbour Bridge - I set off

to re-discover OZ.