Travel is the ultimate head trip for Canberra's John Brookes. The self-published author and Pedal Power ACT advocate has spent the last six years exploring the world from his armchair and writing up the results in blog and book form.
Originally from the United Kingdom, John moved to Canberra in 2012 with his wife who had secured employment locally.
"We had travelled here several times [previously] and got to know the place," he said. "After living and working in London for 20 years we just loved the sense of space and it is so nice to be able to complain about a 20 minute commute to work."
John, who described the move downunder as 'a real life adventure', had been four years into his journey of literary exploration at the time.
"There is always so much going on here," the Leeds University literature graduate said.
"There is a lot happening in the arts all the time and great cinema and fantastic people."
While John makes his living extolling the virtues of the velocipede, his inner life is fuelled by a vivid imagination, a keen interest in the world as seen by others and a desire to learn more about his planet. He is keenly aware of the power of the written word to transport readers to new worlds.
"I am travelling the globe (in my head) by reading contemporary literature from each country," he told Gang Gang. "I have mapped out a list of more than 270 destinations which covers every state recognised by the United Nations and a few that aren't."
He said that in some cases, particularly Africa which he has just finished, finding contemporary literature written in English by residents had been a bit of a challenge.
"Vanuatu and Azerbaijan were not easy," he said. "I have been able to source works through departments of culture and local writing groups. I also had a writer from Comoros Island (it's off the African coast not far from Zanzibar) send me a draft manuscript of his book that had been translated into English."
Because John's cut-off date for books is post-1990, many works predate the internet, mobile phones and social media meaning that even though they are recent, they describe another, and far less homogenous, world.
He enjoys the diversity of voices and experiences but has picked up on the fact that there are many common themes.
"My reading has been very eclectic," he said. "It includes spy thrillers, detective novels and contemporary literature. I have read one or two romances and even some non-fiction. The non fiction has to have literary merit however; it can't be of the Lonely Planet or guide book variety".
John's other core stipulation is that the work he reads has to be available as a printed book, not just as an e-book or in online form.
"What I am finding is that while there are differences in languages, clothes, customs and even values in some cases people seem to be driven by universal impulses."
Doing good and trying to leave the world a better place than they found it is one of these.
"Writing is a powerful weapon for people who want to highlight issues in their society," he said. "People generally write because they have something to say."
John said his literary travels, which are the subject of a blog and books currently being self-published at the rate of one a year, will also inspire physical travel as well.
He is now mad keen to go to, of all places, Outer Mongolia.
"It is such a fascinating mix of the traditional nomadic lifestyle and one of the last Stalinist style states," he said.
"You have two worlds, both of which are very different to our own, surviving side by side in the same place."
John's latest book "Reading the World: A Global Journey Through Literature Volume II" is now available through Amazon as a paperback or through Kindle.
To find out more visit: readingtheworld.co.uk
Salvage expert's quest to solve mystery of the missing sub
One of the enduring mysteries of WWI is the fate of the AE1, the Royal Australian Navy submarine that accompanied the forces sent to seize the German colonies in New Guinea and on New Britain.
The vessel disappeared without a trace and all hands were lost. Her sister vessel, the AE2, was to fare much better.
Ordered to make her way through the narrows into the Sea of Marmora and "run amuck" (sic) she did so at the same time Australian troops were being put ashore at Gallipoli.
The AE2 was forced to surface on April 30 due to technical problems and was scuttled after being shelled by the Turks.
Her successful foray, which lifted the morale of the Anzacs, vindicated the E-class submarine design used for both the Australian boats.
A Queensland salvage expert, who is using crowd sourcing to fund his own expedition to locate the AE1 off the coast of Papua New Guinea, now believes the AE1 may have also been lost in action.
Fritz Herscheid, who has been researching the submarine's fate for almost four decades, believes she may have run foul of a German schooner, the Kolonia, while on patrol.
"It is my opinion that when patrolling the surface of the Bismarck Sea that day the crew may have left the hatch to the engine room open to alleviate the sweaty heat of the tropics," he writes.
"As the vessel plunged into an emergency dive to escape the onslaught from above the crew would have unwittingly sealed their fate."
While Herscheid bases his theory on interviews with a Catholic missionary and local villagers dating back to the 1960s there is no known record of a German ship sinking an Australian submarine at that time or place.
The loss of the AE1 was Australia's first mass casualty of WWI.
To find out more about his search visit the unityaid.com website.
