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MY
TRAVELS |
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I
suppose
my
travels
began
with
holidays
to
relatives
–
in
the
1950’s
most
people
in
my
street
only
had
these
sorts
of
holidays.
We
traveled
by
steam
train
to
Kyogle
in
the
north
of
New
South
Wales
(including
an
overnight
sleep
which
was
thrilling
to
us
as
kids)
where
my
mother’s
sister
lived.
This
was
once
every
two
years
and
in
between
times
took
shorter
trips
to
The
Blue
Mountains
only
a
few
hours
from
Sydney.
The
most
enchanting
holidays
that
I
remember
there
were
with
my
older
sister
Margi,
in
Megalong
Valley
where
my
grandmother
ran
the
tearooms
and
cooked
her
famous
apple
pies
(described
in
my
novel
Valley
under
the
Rock).
She
did
this
daily
for
hundreds
of
tourists
who
came
down
from
the
Hydro
Majestic
Hotel
in
the
town
of
Blackheath.
Down
in
the
valley
an
imaginative
uncle
told
us
stories
of
fairies
and
bush
sprites
and
encouraged
my
writing
by
setting
challenging
writing
tasks.
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| John
with
Lisa
and
Keiran,
Greece,
1979 |
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| As
a
teenager
my
best
friend
and
I
planned
our
big
overseas
trip
for
when
we
were
21.
It
took
years
in
those
days
to
save
a
fare
and
the
trip
was
to
be
by
sea
on
a
big
liner
which
would
take
from
4
to
6
weeks.
We
dreamed
of
England
and
‘the
continent’
and
once
out
of
school
took
on
extra
jobs
whilst
at
Teachers’
College
to
save.
But
I
fell
in
love
and
married
John
so
it
was
many
years
before
I
was
to
go
overseas.
We
took
our
two
children
–
daughter
Lisa
then
7
and
son
Keiran
then
4
–
on
the
great
‘overseas’
trek
so
many
Australians
did,
to
England
and
then
to
Europe.
We
were
away
six
months
and
lived
in
Sussex
in
a
cottage
leaving
the
kids
with
Paddy
(a
wonderful
Mary
Poppins
type
woman
who
came
to
look
after
our
kids
as
babies
and
stayed
until
they
were
quite
grown
up)
to
tour
in
Europe. |
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Libby,
Papua
New
Guinea,
1995 |
Libby
with
David
Malouf
and
Gillian
Mears,
India,
1997
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With
the
children
we
lived
in
Greece
on
the
island
of
Samos
and
Patmos
for
a
few
months.
Perhaps
that
whet
our
appetite
for
travel
because
from
that
time,
every
few
years
we
traveled
to
places
near
and
far,
for
example
Indonesia
and
Bali
(near)
and
the
United
States(
far)
where
our
favourite
city,
like
so
many
tourists
before
us,
was
New
York.
Some
of
my
books
were
being
published
in
the
States
(Thunderwith
and
various
picture
storybooks
like
Freya’s
Fantastic
Surprise,
Tram
to
Bondi
Beach
and
Way
Home
and
so
on)
and
I
was
able
to
visit
my
agent
plus
various
publishing
houses,
all
very
exciting
to
me.
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Libby
in
Holland
1996 |
Libby
and
Lisa
in
Tiananmen
Square
2001
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When
the
children
were
grown
up
John
and
I
were
able
to
go
away
regularly
and
stay
for
much
longer
times
as
John
was
buying
antiques
from
England
and
France.
We
had
a
wonderful
stay
in
Amsterdam
where
my
Dutch
publishers
found
us
a
fabulous
apartment
on
the
Princengracht
right
in
the
heart
of
that
wonderful
city.
We
then
stayed
in
the
Normandy
area
in
France,
where
an
antique
dealer
gave
John
and
me
the
use
of
his
crumbling
chateau
so
I
could
write
my
film
script
for
Thunderwith
(The
Echo
of
Thunder).
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was
for
Hallmark
Hall
of
Fame
who
had
bought
the
rights
at
this
time
and
the
French
countryside
provided
an
inspirational
setting
to
write
an
Australian
movie
script!
We
then
lived
for
a
few
months
in
the
Village,
New
York,
in
Mulberry
Street,
in
a
wonderful
loft
in
Little
Italy.
Shorter
trips
giving
talks
saw
me
traveling
to
Papua
New
Guinea,
India,
Wales,
and
most
recently
China
where
my
picture
storybook
The
River
was
launched.
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Lisa
and
LIbby
in
New
York
1993 |
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