Kiwi Vagabond

This is Errol Allison's second publication. His first details his travels from his homeland of New Zealand to the UK. I have not been able to obtain a copy at a cost I am prepared to wear.

This book details his journey home - ten years later. This book is published in 1969, so the travel can be estimates to occur a year or two before.

He sets out with a few basic goals - some countries he wishes to visit, a brother living on the Pacific island of Nauru who he has not seen for 16 years, a modest budget to work with, and yet no shortage of self belief!

Allison is, I presume a nice guy. He writes himself a nice guy, and there is no reason to disbelieve this. He certainly benefits from a generous load of good luck, although those who travel know that sometimes you make your own luck. Those people also know that sometimes it is about the journey, not the destination, which becomes clear enough in this book.

Allison was in the NZ Army, serving in Greece - The Battle for Crete in particular, (he was later a prisoner of war in Germany) and Greece was one of his first destinations on leaving the UK. At that time, the mere fact of being a Kiwi meant special treatment in Greece, but as a soldier who served there he was made especially welcome, and treated to many experiences and affections - an ideal start to a journey.

The generosity of strangers didn't stop in Greece, and was a common theme throughout the book. Mixing in a little historical detail with the stories of those Allison comes into contact with and his experiences, it is an easy read, and for me at least, reads well.

For those interested his route is Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, East Pakistan (Bangladesh), Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australian Papua (Papua New Guinea), Australia, Nauru, New Zealand.

There are also quite a lot of black and white photos accompanying the text. Most suffer from relatively poor quality, but a few are good, and he did well to capture a number of portraits of women - not always easy.

As an aside, in Bangkok Allison meets a Chinese girl in the street, named Teetar. Eager to practice English, she ends up spending some time with him. They both appear quite taken with each other, despite her being around twenty years younger than he. He promises to write as he departs. And write he must have, as it cannot be coincidence that in his death notice I found on the internet he was noted as ‘loving husband of Teetar'. I can vouch it isn't a common name in NZ!

So, while I recognise that I am a little biased, I did enjoy this book, I am going all out with 5 stars for this one. *****