When I set out on my big trip to Australia, I vastly underestimated how difficult it would be to find time to keep up with my work while travelling and writing about my travels at the same time. Now here I am, almost 6 months in, with most of the travelling done, and I can already feel the memories of the first weeks and months slipping through my fingers. Recollecting the first few trips is like trying to recall past holidays, piecing together bits of information from maps, mementoes and pictures. There’s a jumble of place names, mental images and memories from Tasmania and Western Australia, already displaced by newer, fresher impressions of Queensland and the Northern Territory. If I kept on travelling, those would possibly soon go the way of the others, nothing lingering long enough to really sink in and become a lasting memory.
I originally thought I would also travel to New Zealand „while I’m over here“ – having come all this way, it seems ridiculous not to go that little bit further – but right now I feel all travelled out. I am quite happy to head home, having seen and done all I have, without adding another layer of experiences to muddle the effect of those I’ve already had.
As it will probably take me a considerable amount of time to structure my thoughts, sort through my pictures and present the stories of my actual travels, and because I’ve always been a service-oriented writer, I will start out by summarising the practical things I learned along the way. Hopefully some of the memories will resurface as part of that exercise.
