In 2004/2005 I left my job and London to go travelling. It also marked the end of my first serious relationship. She and I were together for around 5 years and I left with a hunger for new experience and adventure and a need to heal myself. I travelled alone, picking up and dropping randoms along the way and building a set of memories that will stay with me forever. I kept a journal of the entire trip and I'm glad I did - so many snatched conversations and moments that can get forgotten but are often the most powerful parts of a trip. Those moments are all documented by hand in various journals; no editing, no spell checking, just exactly as I experienced them.
Poem 1: Island Life - In New Zealand I headed to the South Island and then jumped across to a remote island called Stewart Island. Very few people live there and I stayed in a freezing cottage called Ann's Place. Generally I was fine travelling on my own, but at this point I reached a point of extreme solitude. Its almost that point when you realise that you have to much clarity, too much time to think and I really started to crave human company. There are a few smaller islands near Stewart Island; one is called Ulva Island. You can only spend a few hours there. It is essentially a nature reserve. It was a beautiful place and inspired me to write this poem.
13.04.05: Island Life
Thick bush,
Impenetrable, deep and dark.
And yet inside it harbours a wealth of life:
Tangled creepers,
Gnarled trunks,
The trill of the tui,
The flap of wings,
A rustle in the undergrowth.
And then...
An opening,
A glade,
A view of the outside,
A bay of paradise; with still, emerald waters.
A wader probing at the shore and the white, pristine sands of an unnamed beach.
Long, unending days.
The lazy ways of Island Life.
I've been flicking through old travel notebooks. It was nice to find a list of my favourite memories of the long trip.
1) The Peruvian family I stayed with in Cusco.
2) Hiking the Inca Trail.
3) Xmas and the New Year in the Peruvian Jungle.
4) Balmy nights and days in vibrant Buenos Aires.
5) Two day road trip along Ruta 40; 1,000km of wild, Patagonian steppe, bordered by the rugged Andes.
6) Mount Fitzroy in El Chalten, Parque National los Glacieres.
7) Standing on the tip of South America in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the most southerly city in the world.
8) Five days hiking and camping in Torres del Paine, Chile with a mad scouser. Finishing with a 4am night trek to the summit of the Torres and watching dawn break from the top - magical.
9) Lenny Kravitz concert in the National Stadium, Santiago de Chile.
10) Mendoza the Argentine wine region and the many nights spent drinking fine red wine.
11) Wellington, New Zealand, the windy city.
12) Seeing a Royal Albatross on the Otago Peninsula.
13) Stewart Island, South Island New Zealand for the ultimate solitary experience.
14) Hiking the Routeburn trail in the pouring rain.
15) Sea kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park.
16) Watching the sunset over Sydney Harbour.
17) Attending a 'Bush barbie' at the home of my cousin who lives in Minlanton, on the Yorke Peninsula Australia.
18) Spending the night out under swags in the red centre with the milky way above.
19) The multitude of stars, planets, and the Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere.
20) Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.
21) Cycling and canoeing in Atherton Tablelands.
22) Farmstay on Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia.
23) The intricacy of mangrove forests.
24) 'Winter Carnival' in Port Douglas, Queensland - i.e. fish markets, tropical stalls and barbeques on the beach.
26) Floating fish restaurant on the fringes of Bangkok.
27) Four wheel drive round the 'Golden Triangle' (Thailand, Laos, Burma) and touching Burma.
28) Staying with a Northern Thai hill tribe and fretting about malarial mosquitoes.
29) Slow boat down the Mekong River.
30) Karaoke in a Bangkok brothel.
In Australia I was struck my so many things, the contrasting landscapes, the unique and bizarre animals and birds, the glorious sunshine, the outdoor culture, the brashness, the beer, but also scratching at the surface a seedy underculture; a forgotten ill-treatment of the native Aborignes and all the while they are noticeable, sad and forlorn like misfits in a world they once owned.
Aborigne
What kills a man's hope?
His desire to live?
You sit there;
Beaten, battered, broken.
Roused by the occasional cling-clang of the tram.
In your drunken stupor do you dream the life of your ancestors?
What broke your soul?
If there was a way could I breathe new life into you?
Whatever happened to you.
I pray, I hope.
That one day you can be reconciled with your old life.
A world that predates all else.
Red Earth
Red earth.
Scorched by endless sun.
The ochre of life.
Red-like sunset.
Blood-red battle.
The colour of rage.
Harsh and uninviting.
Many have perished.
Treading your weather-beaten path.
I long to taste you.
To feel you on my skin.
To smear myself in you.
Red earth.
The soul of this land.
The mother of all.
Chile
In Chile and Argentina I trekked. The great outdoors sustained me. I was in love with this land. The empty Patagonian plains, the low skies, the food, the people, the exoticism. I met so many people as I travelled through South America, zig-zagging southwards from Bueno Aires, from one awe-inspiring landscape to the next.
In Puerto Natales, Chile, I spent a few days with a teacher of Latin-American literature. He spoke beautifully and we translated Pablo Neruda poetry together. He gave me his cherished book of Neruda poems which I still have. I'll never forget the night we spent together, drinking red wine and discussing poetry til the sun came up.
The Moment
You said we were the same.
You saw it in me.
What was it?
The inner sadness we share?
We talked.
We walked.
We drank 'Gato Negra'.
We returned, knowing where we were headed.
In the room we kiss.
Your moustache feels strange.
Your jumper is itchy.
Our clothes removed and to bed,
Overcome with lust.
We roll around like animals.
We fight each other.
I desperately want you inside me.
And yet, equally I don't.
Your small, gentle fingers,
So unusual for a man.
You touch like an experienced lover.
I never expected this of you.
And then the intruder.
His world-weary eyes suddenly anew.
He leaves in a hurry.
To give us back our moment.
But, for me at least the moment is gone.
I hurriedly dress,
Don't look,
So I avoid the hurt in your eyes.
The moment has gone.
Lust unfulfilled.
But your touch was gentle and for that I am grateful.
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The time approached to come home again. I was ready. I was tired of moving from place to place. It was time to stop.
The Passage
My passage,
A voyage of discovery,
To 'infinity and beyond'
Or almost.
This journey has been long.
I have moved between countries
And over continents
Land and sea.
Oceans apart.
Land mass separation.
I am bewitched by the beauty of the earth.
Mother Earth is strong.
I genuflect to her Majesty.
With one false move she can destroy a millennium of work.
Take pride in her strength her creation.
The passage almost over,
I reflect.
Take refuge in memories and thoughts,
And prepare for my return.
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