Road to Andamooka

Straight out of college, with dreams of being an author, John Summers took a job as a junior reporter. It is fair to say he was terrible at this job, and sensing he was not expecting to be long in it, he resigned and bought a ticket on a streamer to Canada with the small sum of twenty quid in his pocket. And so begins Summers' look around the world. Published in 1965, I assume the travel too place in the few years before.

While the narrative concentrates mostly on the people he meets (there are really four main characters - one for each part of the book) and the antics he shares with these people, there was enough of the travel and places visited to keep me interested.

Fighting George is his travelling mate in Canada, where they have plenty of big ideas on how to make money, starting with beaver trapping, ending in having travelled extensively without achieving much at all, and all the while Scotsman George drinking too much and starting fights.

Next Summers signs on with a logging team where he meets Big Mac. Another interesting character, who Summers works with until he injures himself and ends up in hospital.

Then he is offered an opportunity to become a molybdenite prospector - all he needs to do is get to Darwin, Australia. So all his savings go on a stream ship ticket to Port Augusta (about as far from Darwin as you can get, and still be in Australia), with a short stop in Colombo.

In Adelaide, he meets Old Mack, who advises him to employ Din Khan the Afghan camel man as the guide he needs to head up North to Arnhem Land, near Darwin, where the Molybdenite is thought to be! Din Khan however is not around, so a side trip to Andamooka to see if opal mining is a good fit (it is not) and back to Port Augusta. This time Din Khan is in town, but he is off to Alice, and not interested in heading up north.

Here the books skips some of the narrative, and Summers has appeared in Darwin, bought an old Dodge truck and is about to head to Arnhem Land. He meets a mine manager, tells him where he is headed, and the man says - I have the guide for you - meet Din Khan, he has been breaking some horses for me! This time Din Khan is agreeable, and they head to the wilderness for a few months, although no molybdenite is at risk of being found, as Summers' geology skills are not up to much. After some adventure in the outback, Summers is back in Port Augusta, this time looking to return home, but the ships are all booked for months ahead.

Signing on as a seaman gets him on his way, but some misrepresentation sees him signed on as an Ordinary Seaman, which would suggest he had a clue about sailing, but he certainly learns fast. Before sailing, he witnesses a fight in a bar where a huge sailor beats up 6 warfies. This man of course is the Bosun on his ship Geordie Musson, a mean and tough superior, especially for a man who blagged his way into a job. The remainder of the book is his voyage home, with Geordie, and a brief stop in Port Said.

Entertaining, and a quick read, but as mentioned focussed on the characters he meets and the way Summers manages to get by without a great deal of work!

3.5 stars, rounded down.