AND SO IT BEGINS - The Great Australian Crawl.

The GREAT AUSTRALIAN CRAWL, months in the planning, years in the dreaming, commenced yesterday like all big adventures, with anti-climatic last minute details and multiples versions of "oh shit I forgot the charger". By the time I got out of the city it felt more like I'd been expectorated from a giant's throat than the military exit I had envisaged. In whatever state of readiness - I AM ON THE ROAD!

No! ... WE are on the road because that is the nature of this expedition. It's Tommie and me and there is a spare passenger's seat on the Swagmobile, a metaphorical space to be filled with people who wish to explore this journey, whatever it becomes. It is a heartfelt invitation!

Our plan is to return to Sydney on December 6, 2014, 300 days from now, older if not wiser. We travel north with certain benchmarks like getting to Cooktown around mid-April, Darwin and Kakadu mid-May, Broome in June. We will start the southern descent to Perth via Karijini National Park around July and then turn east across the Nullabor in August or September. We have to arrive in Burra at the end of October for the Burra Festivale and then complete our eastward crawl to Melbourne via the Twelve Apostles [or however many have kept their faith by then], until finally swinging north to Sydney.

While the boundaries for the trip are flexible the core intention is not. It's covenant is stated on the posters that will invite people to join me for evening chats and which will adorn the walls of country pubs and halls. It reads:

The Electronic Swagman is traveling Australia collecting and telling stories.

The first of those story-collecting talks happens this coming Saturday, Feb 15 at the Megalong Community Hall. It is a place where much of my personal story resides and where the past imbues the daily conversation; where horses, eucalypts, mountain mists and occasional swollen creeks still determine the pace of life. It is a living library for the Australian experience and the perfect place to start out on this journey. You are welcome to join us at 7pm as you are welcome to join us in any town through which Tommie and I pass.

As we travel along our first segment of the Great Australian Crawl to Brisbane, we will pass through Gulgong, Coolah, The Warrumbungles, Dorrigo, Nimbin & Lismore.  It might be that you have friends in these towns or you know where great stories lie buried or living, waiting either to be exhumed or broadcast. Let us know because that's our mission. 

But enough. To the road. Glad you are with us. The first page is about to be turned.
c ya

Raymond & Tommie

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Send your thoughts and stories to swag@electronicswagman.com.au or call Raymond on 0414 929768. If you wish to speak to Tommie just leave a message.