china

Wildlife sanctuary Laos, 1994

I've hit a milestone. I'm tempted to say that my reward is a license to pass judgement and offer advice, but don't worry, not even I believe that.

In the mouth of the giant pumpkin, Buddha park, Vientiane, Laos, 1993

The fact is keeping an exclusive romantic relationship afloat for twenty years is a reward for persistence, not skill. Instead of giving each other new china, perhaps we should be giving each other medals for stubbornness. They wouldn't be entirely inappropriate to be sure.

Waterfall swimming, Laos, 1993

But I'm glad in so many ways that we've both managed to stick with it through all the ups and downs of getting from there to here. We've traveled a lot of kilometers together over the last two decades. In fact when I went looking for old photos of us for this post I couldn't find a single one where we weren't away from home.

Travel, Lao style, 1994

We'd only been going out together for a little over six months when I took off for an indefinite time traveling and maybe resettling elsewhere. It only took four weeks before he'd joined me. We both knew that if we made it through the pressure cooker of backpacking in Asia we'd probably be OK and if we didn't well, we could part ways and get on with our lives.

The joys of poste restante in a pre mobile and internet age, Bangkok post office, 1993

We made it through Laos and Vietnam with black market visas, a few half truths and an awful lot of drink. Through India, Nepal, Thailand (six times in and out on that trip), Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia. We made it through being stranded, lost, sick, falling down Bangkok drains and almost caught in the no man's land between two countries after dark.

Reading the papers on the river Kwai, Kanchanaburi Thailand, 1993

Through deserts and monsoons, a lot of very very hot weather and some notable flashes of extreme cold.

Atop Borobudur, Java Indonesia, 1994

 We both revisited places we'd been before but experienced them totally differently. Noticed new things, tried new things, felt new things.

The sand dunes at Seal Rocks, New South Wales Australia, 1994

We had disagreements and argued, we did things we didn't want to, missed out, messed up, were disappointed (sometimes with ourselves).

Wyperfeld, Vicoria, 1994

But we kept going, through Asia, into Northern Australia and on a slow road home in a 1979 XC Falcon with a tent and two chairs and not much more.

Little Desert, Victoria, 1994

Over the next few years we worked and camped on weekends and every now and then gave up our jobs to go bush for a few months.

The Grampians, Victoria, 1994

 We experienced a lot, saw a lot and traveled even more kilometers. We slept on the lowered tailgate of the 1967 Falcon wagon and watched the stars, about as close to touching them as you can ever get.

Sorrento, Victoria, 1995

 I would never have lived this life of my own accord, and if I were to provide some kind of summary of what my bloke has given me the journey couldn't be more apt.

Flinders Ranges, South Australia, 1995

While we don't get about as much these days as we used to, our traveling hasn't ever slowed down.

The Oodnatatta Track, 1996

 Every day D shows me the sights - like I get to experience life through my eyes but his as well. Two lives for the price of one!

McDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory, 1996

And while travel is hard - make no mistake about that, this is not club Med - there is nothing more exciting, enriching, spine tinglingly alive making than life on the road. I feel incredibly lucky and deeply grateful and more than a little proud of the me back then who was smart enough to recognise a good thing when it passed my way.

The mighty Uluru, Northern Territory, 1996

Twenty years is a long time mate, but not nearly enough. xxxx