... and I've just received the sequel to a very (in-)famous book which was discovered years after the author's death. I don't think I'll have the time to read it before I leave for Bali.
I'm still attempting to further reduce the weight of my luggage and have just managed to hollow out the handle of my toothbrush. I'll be travelling very light with just a very small rucksack on my back as I want to hike all over the island to see and do as much as possible.
I still remember as if it were yesterday when my good friend Noel Butler came down from New Guinea to Sydney in 1972 to invite me on an island-hopping trip through the Indonesian archipelago. I had just come down from New Guinea myself after having helped an Australian catering company to kick off their multi-million-dollar contract on Bougainville. Six months later and with the Bougainville operations assured, they promoted me to Financial Controller in their Sydney head office. All this had been a huge adrenalin rush and, still on a roll, I told a very disappointed Noel that I wouldn't join him on his trip. What a pity because I am sure that, 36 years later, I could still be living off the memories of that adventure trip whereas the head office job is all but forgotten!
Adventure travel is for the young which I start to realise as I take my early-morning walk, cup of hot tea in hand, and begin to miss Riverbend already - and I haven't even left yet!
P.S. Mustn't forget to cancel my newspapers for the duration of my trip. "Newspapers?", I hear you ask. Yes, those things which, as their name suggests, are made out of paper and which in the era of steam locomotives and corsets, used to be sold by midgets in floppy caps who yelled "Extra! Extra!" for reasons that are lost to history. These days, newspapers are mainly used for lining bird cages, making hats to keep the sun out, and folding into packets to hold hot fish and chips. Some people - those who are really bored - also read them.
