Travels with Morris

Book excerpt: I arrived as a 'Ten Pound Pom' when the urge for exploration of that vast land, Oz, coincided with a former acquaintance’s invitation to join her and do likewise. This was Julie whom I had met on the voyage out, her proposal being to combine resources, purchase a second hand car, then fulfil our mutual aspirations. During the early 1960s, Mo Rudling and her friend Julie travelled thousands of miles around wild Australia with their faithful companion Morris, a sky-blue second hand Morris Minor. They spent many nights in the bush, sleeping in a two-man tent and cooking over just a camp fire and tackling unmarked roads (self-taught Mo having passed her driving test only a few weeks prior to the trip). The pair went down below to the opal mines at Coober Pedy, climbed above (without falling off!) Ayers Rock and, in time, sailed out in a glass-bottomed boat to view the oh-so colourful Great Barrier Reef. Both trained nurses, Julie and Mo were able to undertake short-term nursing contracts south of Perth, in Broome and later in Darwin as they made their way across the country. Mo even discovered a long-lost relative in Victoria – her uncle, a First World War hero who, having survived Gallipoli, went on to fight on the Western Front and returned to Australia to become a Soldier Settler. Travels with Morris is Mo Rudling’s account of her adventure in Australia. Inspired by the diaries she kept during her travels, this book will appeal to any fans of travel writing, particularly those who are attracted to the land of Oz as well as those who, like Mo, decided to emigrate there after the Second World War.