Since the Stone Age, the walkabout has been an Aboriginal rite of passage. It is when adolescent boys wander aimlessly into the bush on a journey with no particular destination. During this time, they make the spiritual transition from boy to man. It's a time for self-assessment and deep thought, when he can learn about himself without the influence of his elders, friends, or family. It's a physical and psychological journey.
I didn't look like an Aboriginal adolescent as I set off from Belfast on my café racing Moto Guzzi, but looking back, I see that the same determination drove me to set off on a journey of self-discovery. I was twenty-one and, wanted to go 'somewhere' for 'sometime' and, well, for 'something'!
This desire drove me to break free from my mediocre, middle-class existence and reach out for the unknown. The demand was irresistible and bound me to an ancient ritual that many young men before me had taken for adventure. Come with Chris Donaldson on this roller coaster 'ride' of self-discovery and you will not be disappointed as there is a near-death experience around every corner! 40,000 plus miles (not counting 10,000 more crewing on an ocean-going racing yacht) through 33 countries there are enough harum-scarum life lessons to keep you turning those pages.
All along the way there are formidable road blocks: Trigger happy boy soldiers with AK-47s in war-torn Africa, the Sahara Desert, The Andes, waves the size of Everest that threaten to sweep him over-board, hepatitis E in south America and PTSD when he got home - and that's only the half of it.
This odyssey, seen through the eyes of someone in their early twenties fresh for the Belfast Troubles and lived out in the early 1980s, is raw in its exposure but thoughtful in its deliberations and revealing about the regimes and cultures it passes through.
