Journal Entry 1 by SKingList on Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Secondhand bookshop: Flinders Street, Melbourne. 

Journal Entry 2 by SKingList on Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Started this on the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide on Sunday and finished it today. It was a wonderful read, a look at travelers my age 45 years ago and then much older when they did the second trip in 1996.

Some favourites:

-the tour of the factory in 1996 and viewing the following year of the so called 'new concept' beetle. Glad to see VW took an interest in them and their trip.
-it was great that on the second go around, t hey were able to see some previously inaccessible places, such as Prague. Interesting to see their description and surprise - quite similar to my own- that all the neighbourhoods didn't look the same.
-I liked the stories of those they met on both trips and whether they'd kept in touch. I know those feelings from my own trips. Also liked the email interludes from people following their stories from home, and how they were able to use them as go-betweens.

Reading this here with Helen and thinking about places I want to visit. I'd love to do the overland trip.

The couple was also featured on Australian Story although there isn't much information on where they (and the beetle!) are now.

May release this in Adelaide or at the meet-up in Brisbane. 

Journal Entry 3 by wombles from Caboolture, Queensland Australia on Friday, August 24, 2007

I saw this in my email releases and wondered if it was about a Beetle :) My son has this mad VW obsession which has grown to a family thing, though none of us drive, if we did the first car we would buy would be a beetle.
We have a huge VW collection here but none of them are big enough for more then my big toe :)
We have punchbuggy fights and find VW themed geocaches.

So I was glad to see his on the table at dinner at O'malleys, and started reading it on the train on the way home until I started feeling sicker anyway.
It was great to see you Skinglist and hope you come back again soon! 

Journal Entry 4 by wombles from Caboolture, Queensland Australia on Friday, August 31, 2007

Yesterday I nearly wild released this book by accident. I was wearing new shoes and they gave me blisters :( I stopped to put bandaids and feet stockings on and put my bag and the book down. I finally got to the train station and I was early and thought that's ok I can read me book, while I rest my feet as the shoes were killing me! Then I realised I didn't have the book. I could have cried but I walked back to where I left it and thankfully it was still there! It didn't have a Bookcrossing sticker on it. I was so upset at the idea of more walking and also as I wanted to read of their adventures in India!
Finished it this morning before work, and have a plan to send it to someone I know who might enjoy it.
I loved reading of their adventures and googled their names and foun d the Beetle has been to a few VW displays.

Thanks for another book I might never have discovered if not for BC! 

Journal Entry 5 by Skyring from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, September 10, 2007

Wombles, you are an angel! You are the queen of the angels!

This is a delightful story about two trips twenty years apart. London to Australia in a VW Beetle - overland.

It inspired me to write my own book about two trips to New Zealand twenty years apart, though with considerable more ease and comfort.

Now, off to Sherlockfan in a surprise continuation of your RABCK! 

Journal Entry 6 by Sherlockfan from Upper Hutt, Wellington Province New Zealand on Monday, September 24, 2007

This book arrived with other exciting things from my great BC friend Skyring.
Thanks so much for thinking of me dear SR. This looks like a great read so I will not be rushing through it before the Melbourne Convention. 

Journal Entry 7 by Skyring from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, September 24, 2007

Heh. Thank Wombles. I'm just the middleman. Me, I'm wondering what the author will do when the fortieth anniversary draws near. Will they pile into that same faithful bug and retrace their steps?

Better yet, someone should take this book along on the same route. Volunteers? 

Journal Entry 8 by wombles from Caboolture, Queensland Australia on Monday, September 24, 2007

I volunteer Skinglist for that job, she was only just mentioning how she'd love to do this trip!

Better still the 4 of us can go, sounds like fun! 

Journal Entry 9 by Skyring from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, September 24, 2007

Me and three wonderful women! SIGH - I don't think Kerri would understand... 

Journal Entry 10 by SKingList on Monday, September 24, 2007

Hasn't it past the 40th? I thought it was 06, or did I get my books wrong?

I'd love to do this, and in a Beetle sounds far more interesting than on Ozbus. One of these days.

And nice to meet you, Sherlockfan, since I don't think I know you. 

Journal Entry 11 by Skyring from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, September 24, 2007

1961 and 1996, now that I check. I suspect that 35 years after 1996, all three original participants might be a little on the creaky side of spry.

Frankly, delicious comradeship aside, I'm not going to spend several months four of us wedged into a vintage beetle. Where would we stow the books?

Two travellers per car with backseats for baggage and camping equipment, maybe, and I think that they'd have to be the new model beetles - crossing deserts in a car without aircon is not my idea of a fun time.

Crossing Iraq and Iran could be tricky, too. Having said that, there ARE BookCrossers in Iran, and I'd love to meet some. Are women allowed to drive in Iran? I dunno, and some of you might have to disguise your feminine curves behind a false beard.

Oh yeah. Sherlockfan, SKingList is an intrepid traveller with more exotic destinations to her name than I've had cups of tea. She has been to more places in Australia than I have, not to mention two stints in Japan, trips to Eastern Europe and the wilds of New Jersey. I owe her a debt I can never hope to repay in Tim Tams, because she met me at Shin-Osaka, a hopeless victim of the Japanese railway system, and guided me through the metropolis and down to Hiroshima. And back again. She gave me the courage to go back to Japan, just for a night, all by myself. Somewhere there is a picture of me in Japanese pyjamas.

SKingList, Sherlockfan is the BookCrosser I use to sell my wife on attending a convention. Kerri, I say, Sherlockfan will be there, and she immediately says, can you book the tickets tomorrow? I took her by surprise in Dunedin, when she was astonished to find herself hugged by a mad Aussie (along with FutureCat, Lytteltonwitch and Wombles) and we explored Dunedin, the albatross colony, the seal beach and later on Adelaide and Wellington in a sort of frenzy of delight. Introducing her to some of the best of British BookCrossers in Birmingham was a special treat. She knows every restaurant in France, a very useful skill.

And Wombles we all know and love dearly. I like to think of myself as an enthusiastic traveller, but Wombles takes every possible ounce of pleasure from the most mundane sights. A supermarket in Dunedin turned into Aladdin's cave. The lady at the albatross colony souvenir shop gasped when Wombles announced she wanted one of everything, please!

I'm looking forward to meeting two of you next week in Melbourne! We can discuss the colours of our chariots then. 

Journal Entry 12 by SKingList on Monday, September 24, 2007

I don't know, you'd have to ask the Iranian president who's busy putting his foot in his mouth here in the US. Ditto on the no room for books, although if my backpack fits ;)

You all should read Tony Wheeler's "Bad Lands", tourism along the axis of evil. It's a fascinating look into his recent travels through Afganistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea ... Amazing what they're like vs. our perceptions. Great book, I don't own a copy or I'd send it down to you guys. Probably *easier* to find down there since it's from LP.

BTW, Skyring did you get my e-mail about Ryanland? 

Journal Entry 13 by Sherlockfan from Upper Hutt, Wellington Province New Zealand on Saturday, April 05, 2008

This book became rather buried when we were shifting house. First Open Home visited in Jan 2007; our house sold end of May; many many open homes and houses for sale visited until our current home found in November 2007.
Not sure just now at what stage during that awful interim I read this but it is now time for it to move on.
Enjoyed this book which was a combination of personal travels and lots of detail about the places they visited on their two trips. As another JEer wondered, I also wonder what the intrepid adventurers are up to now.

I'll take this book to our Wellington April Meet-up on Tuesday; we generally have 6 - 8 people attend although I have a feeling there'll be more this month. If it isn't snapped up I'll suggest that EdwardStreet takes it to the Unofficial OBCZ in the Ministry of Health which is peopled with avid readers.
Thanks Wombles for included in me this book's travels. 

Journal Entry 14 by Edwardstreet from Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand on Sunday, April 13, 2008

tbr 

Journal Entry 15 by Edwardstreet at Brewery Bar & Restaurant in Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand on Sunday, June 08, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (6/10/2008 UTC) at Brewery Bar & Restaurant in Wellington City, Wellington Province New Zealand

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

 

Journal Entry 16 by AnonymousFinder on Friday, March 05, 2010

Releasing the book after having it for ages and forgetting about it :-(

CAUGHT IN LOCHMARA LODGE MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS NEW ZEALAND