Where am I at the moment? ......... At home Brisbane Australia

About Us
PictureAll at see Thailand
About Rossi
I have been traveling since 1989 when like most Aussies I took my first 10 Day Package Holiday to Bali........ I still remember arriving in Bali from the cold Melbourne winter and getting off the plane and the hot tropical air hitting me, it was totally different to anything that I had experienced.... and they had palms trees here... we don't have those in Melbourne
It took me about 24 hours to realise that I wanted more than just lazy days sunning myself by the pool drinking cheap cocktails..... I wanted adventure..... so I hired a little 4 wheel drive and decided to spend a few days exploring the Island. I left my bags in the room in Kuta and drove around the Island, getting lost, finding my own accommodation and food learning a bit of the language, learning how to use a Mandi (Indonesian bath) but having a great time.
I was hooked I wanted more of this.

Backing up a bit.....
I grow up in country Victoria Australia and was always interested in stories of travel and adventure, I remember visiting my Uncle and Grandmother and looking a the things they had collected from their travels to far off places and it was just something I always wanted to do.
My Uncle Frank and my Grandparents often went on trips around Australia in their and although I was too young to understand about their adventures I look back on the photo's and admire their sense of adventure...... this was a time before mobile phones, the internet, GPS. If you got yourself into trouble you had to get yourself out of trouble, a time where people would stop and help you, the same way you would stop and help them. My Grandparents would just load the car get a map and go.My Grandma said Granddad looked like Humphrey Bogart when he was younger and looking at the photo of him with his motorbike I can see what she means.

In the early 1970's at Bairnsdale West Primary School I remember going to a slide show where one of the other students mother had a slide show on how they had driven from England to Australia in a Landrover! There was photo's from Iran, Pakistan & Thailand just to name a few places.

Then at Secondary School Bairnsdale Technical School we had some teachers who told stories of their travels to India, Indonesia, Egypt and other far off places.

I went to university in Melbourne and studied accountancy (I am not your average accountant), it was during the last year of studies that I went to Bali.  I then got married for the first time and for our honeymoon we had a run ticket to Singapore and spent a month making our way by train bus and ferry through Malaysia and Thailand..... it was enough to just wet my appetite for more...

I pick up a boring accountant job working for World Vision an Non Government Organisation (aid agency) in their Melbourne office and I loved hearing about the work they did at the coal face of international aid projects. One of the perks of being a boring Accountant with World Vision was every year I got to travel to a field country to assist in the audit of field office and (my favorite) field projects. I was lucky enough to visit projects in Kenya, Ethiopia & Indonesia.
PictureVisiting an Ethiopian village to do audit work.
Working in Ethiopia was a unique experience as I was there only a few months after the end of the 17 year civil war (1991), where the rebels had become the government and the remainder of the government forces had become the rebels it was still common to hear gun battles in Addis Ababa and in the countryside. Whilst visiting a project a few hours out of Addis Ababa I was woken one morning by the sound of close gun fire in the village where I was staying, I didn't if I should hide under my bed or what!  But the fighting did not last too long probably only a few minutes and for the locals it was just another day and not even worth mentioning a breakfast. The audit work was inspiring to see how such a little bit of money could change the lives of so many people. The project audits where a challenge and often I would need two interrupters one from English to Amharic and one from Amharic to the local language. At the time Ethiopia had a population of 50 million people and over 70 languages were spoken. Even now some 25 years later I still donate to World Vision because I know it truly helps people and changes lives and at the end of the day it is not huge dollars for me.
World Vision Ethiopia used everything that it had at its disposal the office I work in was a shipping container with others stacked on top of it and a door and window cut out, see the photo's below. The people would share everything they had including their local customs, food and drink. I like my coffee strong but the Ethiopians take it up a few notches, the coffee ceremony involves roasting the green beans in front of you, grinding the beans, brewing the coffee even the pouring of the coffee seems to be an art form. The coffee was served the traditional way with salt and butter in it.