E noho ra

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' a wise man once said. It might have been Confucius, or maybe it was Mao Tse Tung. Either way, it was clearly someone who did a lot of walking and couldn't afford a push bike.

So how many steps does it take to start a journey of over 25, 000 miles? In my case, probably quite a few.

In just a few hours I will finally load myself up like a pack horse and take that step out of the door. Then I'll turn around and make sure I've turned the oven off. Then I'll check for my passport for the 10th time. Then I'll get to the end of the drive and suddenly remember something else and come back again. Then finally I'll be off, thinking 'Sod it, as long as I've got my credit card that's all that matters.'

It is always the first few hours of the journey that make me most nervous. That small trip from home to Heathrow gives me butterflies as I contemplate all the things that might go wrong and yet are beyond even my carefully planned control. Roll on coffee in the departure lounge.

My rucksack looks fairly empty. Which either means I am getting really good at packing only essentials, or I've forgotten loads of stuff. Only time will tell.

I have had to commit one painful act of sacrilege in order to keep my load down. My Lonely Planet guide to Australia contains exactly 1100 pages. Of these I need less than 100. So, lugging a thousand page book across so many miles is neither good for the ozone or me. Therefore I have cut out only the pages I need whilst making profuse apologies to the god of books.

Right, must dash. I've got a plane to catch and a whole new world to explore.


Live long and prosper.