Slips, Trips and Stumbles

Mark Otter

Description

In this deliberately incomplete and selective memoir, the author relates experiences from his extraordinary life of travel around the world. Some stories are interesting, some exciting, some of life-affirming importance, some humorous, some heart-warming, some hair-raising, some crazy, some quite silly and probably ill-advised, but all of them are exotic and fun. And they are all completely true. Some of the stories in this book are of extraordinary experiences of nature, humanity or even geo-politics that the author has been amazingly privileged to experience.
Read about his experiences of surviving a plane crash; having a first contact visit with primitive people; swimming in filthy waters where he should not have; doing some nocturnal wanderings in an unfamiliar city; making a fool of himself in Ireland; getting frustrated by officialdom in Russia; enjoying the delights of Scandinavia; exploring fascinating European history; swimming in a number of European countries but, most of all, enjoying the thrill of it all. There are stories here from about 50 countries; and there are still many more (stories and countries) to come.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 08 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369490945
• Langue: English

Extrait

SLIPS, TRIPS AND STUMBLES
IN THE ADVENTUROUS LIFE OF A SERIAL CAREERIST
 
 
 
 
 
MARK OTTER
 
Copyright © 2023 by Mark Otter.
 
ISBN:
Softcover
979-8-3694-9095-2

eBook
979-8-3694-9094-5

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 05/05/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
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www.Xlibris.com.au
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CONTENTS
Dedication
Prefacei
1Introduction: about this book and me
Something to make a difference
The Navy
DFAT/AusAID/NZ
Academia/WWF
Almost losing one life and getting a new one
2The navy
Vietnam
UK
Patrol Boats
Back to the big navy
HMAS Balikpapan – my first (and only) command
More ‘media tart’ experiences
Working for the boss
What next?
3Solomon Islands
The Bugarup
‘Don’t go up there, Mark’
Temotu Province
A plane crash
4Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Diversity
Throwim Way Leg Bilong Mi in Papua Niugini
Security
Mount Bosavi
Birds of Paradise
5Other Pacific Island Countries
Fiji
Samoa
Tonga
Vanuatu
Kiribati and Tuvalu
Niue
Cook Islands
Nauru
Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)
6Indonesia
Navy days
Honeymoon and a later ‘adventurous’ trip
2002: PhD field research
Bom Bali
7Other Asian Countries
Hong Kong and Macau
Korea
The Philippines
Bangladesh
China
8South America
Brazil
Argentina
9Ireland
Ballykissangel
10Germany
My introduction to European trains
Früstück Zimmer s I have known
Berlin
Hanover
Usedom
Rügen
Borkum
The nasty stuff: Germany’s legacies of Nazism and communism
Konzentrationslager (concentration camps)
Nürnberg (Nuremberg)
Dresden
Communism, the GDR, the Stasi , the fall of the Wall and re-unification
Leipzig
11Scandinavia (or is it the Nordics?)
Norway ( Norge/N oreg )
Denmark ( Dan mark )
Finland ( S uom i)
The train trip from the Fourth Dimension
Sweden ( Sve rige )
12Other European Countries
Estonia ( E esti )
Russia: Reflections on St Petersburg
A cycling trip in Austria, Slovakia and Hungary
Switzerland: Geneva
Austria (again), Czechia and Slovakia
13Swimming Trips
Turkey: Istanbul and the Hellespont
The Hellespont. Why do it?
Croatia
Italy’s Lake Orta ( Lago d’Orta ) #1
Lake Constance / Bodensee #1
Lake Orta ( Lago d’Orta ) #2
Lake Constance / Bodensee #2 and Zürich
Dubrovnik and Montenegro
Slovenia
Venice
Sydney
Wildlife Rescue
14And finally ... what does all this mean?
DEDICATION
T his book is dedicated to my children and grandchildren. Be curious and questioning … always and about everything. Seize and make the best of life’s opportunities, and to accept the odd inevitable disappointments with good grace when they come your way.
PREFACE
* * *
Does one travel to experience beauty alone or to understand a society with all its blemi shes?
* * *
T his book is really just a collection of interesting stories as they relate to my exciting life of travel in both professional and private capacities. They are all true, totally without any stretching of the truth and they all happened to me personally. Lots of other memoirs mix up fiction and non-fiction. Were I to do that, the whole effect and purpose of the book would be compromised because it wouldn’t be genuine. I relate the events and experiences I do here because I find them funny, interesting, adventurous, quirky, sad, embarrassing, life-changing – or, in some cases, all of those. I am completely happy to plead guilty to the inevitable reviewer’s crack that they form a disjointed chronicle and that they may be completely irrelevant to anything of importance in the world. It is also deliberately incomplete; there are many more stories but I have chosen the ones I think may be of greater interest. In a few cases, they relate extraordinary experiences of nature, humanity or even geo-politics that I have been amazingly privileged to experience. It is certainly not an autobiography. It is, in essence, an incomplete and selective memoir.
I pondered long about a suitable title and sub-title for this book. The ones I chose are fine - the sub-title is accurate, the main title is also appropriate as it relates to the fun, excitement and near-misses in my life of travel. There certainly have been risky experiences and a few of them could well have done with a bit of prior sensible thought and planning but, had I done so, I probably would not have done them; and to have done them has made my life interesting and I look back on them with nostalgia … well, mostly. Most of the risks I took were mild enough; indeed many of them are just funny or silly and accompanied by some degree of mirth from friends, colleagues and family. Perhaps others were thoroughly deserving of the tut-tutting or even more serious criticism by superiors and the same colleagues, friends and family. There have been some experiences, such as swimming in filthy waters in a port in Indonesia or walking alone through risky neighbourhoods in the middle of the night in a certain Asian city while probably not very sober, would perhaps have been better not attempted. But I didn’t break anything or hurt anyone. I wouldn’t have chosen to go to war or to have had my heart attack, but then I had little choice about either. So how would I advise others contemplating some of my adventures? A fulfilling life is all about getting out of one’s comfort zone and doing different things, preferably things that will make a positive difference to others. Do what seems like a good idea at the time with some thought about consequences, but not too much; that’s about all I can say.
I also pondered over many months (years?) how to structure this little story. After trying several ideas out, I had decided on a thematic approach divided into such topics as ‘scary incidents’, ‘life-changing moments’, ‘moments of sheer pleasure’ or ‘adventure’. But then I changed my mind. Don’t worry, all of the same stories to do with exciting and adventurous experiences are still there, just in a more-or-less country order with just a slight nod to chronology. While it is not intended to be an autobiography, no doubt some of my life’s progress and some of my personal philosophy will come through. That is why the term ‘memoir’ is an apt description of the book. The older I get, the more certain I am of many of my moral or political ideas and some aspects of this will inevitably come through. I can’t apologise for any of it – indeed I am quite proud of that; if you are offended, as a great comedian once said, ‘you may leave the room’.
I refer to a number of people in the book, but none of them by name. I don’t want to offend anybody or embarrass them in front of others. So, you may identify with some of the protagonists if you feel so inclined – you may be correct, but maybe not. As Francis Urquhart would say, ‘I couldn’t possibly comment’.
I suppose it is just human nature to see all new personal experiences as unique. So, the stories you are about to read have been unique, at least they seemed to be so for me at the time or, as someone once said ‘You are unique; so am I. That’s something we all have in common’. Perhaps I’m not one to take the hint that a subject has been adequately covered already, so forgive me if that is how it seems to the reader. But I am curious and I am inclined to be relentless in finding out stuff, whether it is in a book, on the internet, or, as often as not, from getting out there and taking a good look for myself. There is always another country to visit, another language to be confused by, another experience to have or another headland to swim around – just to see what is there and to see how people do things differently.
I hope you enjoy the read. If you are just a little inspired to buy that plane, ship, bus or train ticket, then I will have achieved my aim. Perhaps I will see you ‘out there somewhere’. I hope so.
* * *
Books, like lighthouses, illuminate the dark seas of life. The searching beam at a light station won’t identify every object in the ocean, nor can a memoir capture a life in its true entirety. (John Cook. The Last Lighthouse Keeper: a Me moir )
* * *
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: ABOUT THIS BOOK AND ME
* * *
The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult. (Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, Marquise du Deffand, letter to Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, 7 July 1763)
* * *
Something to make a difference
S o, how did I embark on this travelling life? I suppose it started with a teenage dream of doing something out of the ordinary and, if it doesn’t sound too self-indulgent, something that would ‘make a difference’, perhaps even noble. I don’t remember any specific incident but, by about the age of fifteen, I wanted to break out of suburbia and the monotony of nine to five living.