Long and winding road we travel in life

An abridged audio of this blog post can be heard in the above vBlog, with additional images.

An old boot on a road near Karratha, Western Australia

Like fleeting images from a rearview mirror, the pictures here reflect a life travelled. Some show empty roads and vast landscapes that stretch away forever, while others capture people, fellow travellers along life's journey; a long and winding road on which we are all journeying.

Strange things happen when you travel far from home and explore the world independently, immersing yourself in and embracing all that comes your way, good or bad, and learning to deal with it regardless. When I did so at a young age it was particularly life-shaping. I strode out like a latter day Laurie Lee to make my own personal discoveries in a far away distant land. Whereas writer Lee went to Spain at the age 20, I went to the island continent of Australia at 21 and stayed for a year.

With travelling buddies in Narrogin, Western Australia, 1988

When you travel far from the safety net and familiarity of home, life changes forever. Assumptions, certainties and fears that once seemed deep grounded are challenged, reassessed or blown away.

You grow, you learn and you take some hits, but you get back up stronger, wiser and more resilient.

Yet it is only when you look in the rearview mirror after the years have become decades, and the decades have become multiple decades, that the true enormity of how these experiences have shaped your life becomes clear.

As I look at these pictures of distant times and places, the younger me and the people I fleetingly criss-crossed with on life's journey, I know some part of me will forever reside in those scattered far off places. But I also know that even if I travel there again and embrace nostalgia's wistful warmth, something will be missing. That something is the magical convergence of being in the right place, at the right moment and with the right people - and the happiness it brought.

A break while cycling through the vastness of the outback

We are all travellers on this strange and wondrous journey called life, so take the time to check that rearview mirror and appreciate those fellow travellers you've met along the way, the ones who travel with you today and the ones you have yet to meet.