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About Me

I grew up in the marshlands of the Blackwater Estuary, just north of the Thames in England. I can trace my ancestors back at least 250 years in the area where i was born - they were mostly farm labourers and related trades. But my mother's father and, i believe, my father's grandmother were born in Australia where i've lived since 1985 - by pure coincidence.

Since i've been in Australia, i've wandered around a lot. At various times, i've lived in Melbourne, south coast of NSW, Sydney, north coast of NSW, Brisbane, North Stradbroke island, Cairns, Kuranda, the Daintree, Cape York peninsula, Arnhem Land and Darwin.

I've done a fair bit of overseas travelling in that time too.

From August 2005 to April 2006, i lived in Afghanistan and worked as a technical adviser for an organisation building and maintaining community radio stations there. That's where i started writing a blog on myspace.

From June to November 2006, i worked for Maningrida council, in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, as housing and environmental health manager. That town is overrun by vicious and dangerous dogs though, and you can't walk around without getting attacked. It felt like being imprisoned in my home, and i can't live without doing lots of walking, so i left.

I'm planning on going to England for a while at the beginning of December. But before that, i'm having a bit of a holiday and catching up with people and things in the Brisbane to Lismore area of the east coast.

I wrote a diary during a year-long journey i did round the world in 1995 and 1996. You can read it online at http://WillKemp-Words.com/travelling .

Here's a map of the countries i've visited so far. As you can see, i'm trying to make a solid band of red from Australia to north western Europe - there's a few more countries to go...

By the way, i don't collect friends and i generally don't respond to friend requests unless i've had some contact with the person requesting it. So, if i don't know you, and you don't at least message me first, i'm not likely to add you.


My Interests

I'd like to meet:

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My Blog

Sri Lanka

The flight from Singapore to Colombo took about three and a half hours. It was cloudy pretty much all the way and when we came down to land in Colombo, there didnt seem to be any bottom to the clouds...
Posted by on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:29:00 GMT

Singapore

The flight from Darwin to Singapore was relatively painless. Its only three and a half hours anyway, and the departure time of around six thirty in the evening was about as good as you can get. It me...
Posted by on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:51:00 GMT

Darwin Again

Jo had very kindly offered to drive me to the airport in Brisbane, so i didnt have to cart my bags to and from the train for a change. And the flight to Darwin went smoothly, arriving pretty much on ...
Posted by on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:35:00 GMT

Brisbane, Lismore, and Maleny

I got to Brisbane nearly two weeks ago now, and i dont seem to have had enough spare time to write since then.Last Thursday, two weeks of being in three different cities started to do my head in and ...
Posted by on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Melbourne and Sydney

Melbourne was ok, but there was nothing really notable about my stay there. The weather was better than i expected it to be. Although it was a bit chilly at times, i never really regretted my decision...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:03:00 GMT

Adelaide

The flight from Darwin to Adelaide last Monday left at ten to seven in the morning, which meant i had to get up at half past four. Fortunately id managed to catch up on a bit of sleep while i was in ...
Posted by on Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:34:00 GMT

Flying To Darwin

That was the tenth time ive done the trip from Europe to Australia (ive done it nine times in the other direction as well) and as far as i remember it was the first time ive been on a flight thats...
Posted by on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:53:00 GMT

Three Months in Basque Country - part 4

Im afraid its been so long since i wrote part three that if you were following it, youve probably lost track.Anyway, after i got back to Vitoria from the crazed hitchiking trip to Portugal i felt t...
Posted by on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:20:00 GMT

A Burqa And A Hard Place - by Sally Cooper

The end of Sally Coopers book, A Burqa And A Hard Place, made me sad. Not so much because it was about the sad goodbyes when she left Afghanistan, but more because id been enjoying reading it and no...
Posted by on Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:08:00 GMT

Anniversary

My father died at the wheel of the Thames sailing barge Thalatta twenty one years ago last Sunday. By a strange coincidence, on that day i had a hog roast job at the boatyard at St Osyth, where the ...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:35:00 GMT