Title: Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia: A Motorhome Adventure Author: John Timms
Publisher: AuthorHouseUk ISBN: 1524683000 Pages: 214
Genre: Travel
Reviewed By: Dan MacIntosh

Pacific Book Review

Although John Timms is listed as the author for Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia: A Motorhome Adventure, this travelogue is actually his late wife, Lisa’s, story. It’s taken from her diary and written from a decidedly feminine perspective. In fact, John Timms is one of many characters in this tale, and a relatively minor one at that at times. If you’ve ever wanted to experience Australia, traveling from Currumbin to Melbourne, with many stops in between, this first-hand account will take you there. This journey plays out the way it might feel like in your dreams. John and Lisa travel from scenic site to scenic site and do so at a leisurely pace. By taking a motorhome, these two are literally in the driver’s seat. No sightseeing at the mercy of any strict travel plan. No long plane trips or initial trips just to reach the vacation destination. When time doesn’t matter, one can stay at favorite destinations for more than the planned allotted time. And these two do just that. You get to see what you want to see, for as long as you want to see it.

Yes, John Timms is many times a ‘character’ in this book, but so are the couple’s two dogs. Again and again, locales are described by how much or how little the dogs enjoyed a particular spot, just as with the humans. Although the author doesn’t come right out and say it, these animals are an essential part of this traveling family. If dogs aren’t allowed somewhere, well, that somewhere doesn’t get on the road itinerary.

While shopping trips are worked into the overall story, this is mostly a book about nature. Beaches and other bodies of water take up a goodly part of the writer’s attention. Ironically John and Lisa don’t strike one as particularly avid swimmers. Nevertheless, scenes – especially from along the coast – are described over and over again.

There are pictures that accompany theses road tales – mainly at the beginning of each chapter – but this is by no means a photo journal. Instead, it is a written work, primarily. Along the way, we get to know a little about Lisa. For instance — and this contrasts with many other such travel books — Lisa expresses misgivings about traveling so much. When it rains too much, she writes about how much she hates being away from home in the midst of bad weather. She also whines (just a bit) when she can’t get good TV reception. Most travel works suggest that the road life is the best life, without any serious downside. Not always for Lisa, though.

One noteworthy entry finds Lisa wondering aloud about how we don’t always realize we’re enjoying life in the moment. We may not be aware just how good an experience was until after, many times long after we’ve experienced it. Such are much more philosophical musings than mere travel stories. It is one big clue that this came from a day-to-day diary about Lisa’s life; one that just happened to be entered during a tourist trek.

Ultimately, these thoughts make this book both unusual and special. It gives the writing perspective, Lisa’s individualistic perspective, that is. In fact, it’s as much about her and her life, as it is about the places she visited. Sure, you can read about travels around Australia, but you’ll never see it quite the same way as this book describes it. Of course, it could never be as good as seeing these places with your own eyes. No travel book could ever take the place of personal experience. Ultimately, though, by writing it all down, the author did go that extra distance – so to speak – to be self-aware of some memorable experiences while they were happening in real time. And that in itself makes this book special.

The US Review of Books

John and Elizabeth Timms spent nine months traveling through Australia in an RV. This travelogue chronicles their experiences along the way as Elizabeth keeps daily track of the places they visit while also contemplating the nature of travel and the lessons learned on the road. This account captures the realities of long-distance traveling and honestly portrays the pitfalls they encountered. Elizabeth writes candidly about her uncertainty about being gone from home for so many months even though she is seeing so many amazing places. She truly captures not only the beautiful sites but also the emotions she is feeling throughout this epic journey.

At one point, she muses about their traveling pace as they wonder if they should speed up to see more or slow down and savor the moments. These are the kinds of questions all travelers ask, and Elizabeth adds to the conversation with her own enlightened thoughts. She faithfully records the highlights of each day, from the scenic views to the friends made at campsites. She describes the food and the towns they pass through, the architecture, and the wildlife.

Readers will be transported to Australia as they travel side by side with the Timms. This account brings this land to life with its exquisite eye for detail and accessible prose. This book is far from the travel shows that glamourize travel or even the Instagram-perfect travel posts. Instead, it seeks to share the couple’s real adventures on the road, including all the setbacks, challenging logistics, and lessons learned the hard way. The book celebrates the joys of the journey but also the difficulties and reveals the chronicler’s open-hearted, adventurous spirit.

Official Review: Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of “Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia” by john walter timms.]

3 out of 4 stars

Have you ever considered spending nine months traveling the Australian coast in a motor home? That’s what Lisa and John Timms did with their two dogs in 2004. They bought a 35-foot, 16-year-old American motor home and outfitted it for the trip. Lisa and John rented their home to tenants to make the mortgage payments. They packed away all their furniture and personal items they couldn’t take with them. Starting from the Gold Coast in Queensland, they traveled the coastline of New South Wales.

At first, Lisa was hesitant about the trip around Australia. She wasn’t excited about leaving her home and living in an RV. As the weeks and months went by, she started enjoying the freedom of traveling and visiting all the coastal towns as they headed towards Sydney. Lisa kept a diary of their trip to help her remember her day-to-day impressions. Should I Go Walkabout in Australia by John Timms is the humorous and exciting account of the events happening along the way.

What I liked most about the book are the fun descriptions of the sites they camped. For example, they visited the Conjola National Park and stopped at Washerwomans Beach. They found pieces of fish left by fishermen and stood in the water and fed stingrays. She describes how the stingrays were playful, and she didn’t feel threatened by their dangerous tails. Lisa has a very down-to-earth personality that kept me interested and immersed in the story. She doesn’t only talk about the fun they have but also the frustration of living with John on the road.

What I liked least about the book was the number of errors. I don’t think they had the book professionally edited, or they would have corrected the multiple mistakes. Like using “wandering” instead of “wondering” or “its” instead of “it’s.” I also found formatting errors that caused errant spaces in the middle of a word. Because of this, I’ve rated it 3 out of 4 stars. It is an exciting story, so I didn’t give it 2 stars and would have given it 4 stars if the many errors were corrected.

I’d recommend it to those interested in stories about traveling. Lisa’s memories are about the people they met along the way and the difficulties of having dogs while living in an RV. She shares her excitement in finding out-of-the-way shops and restaurants. I’ve thought about touring around the US in a camper when I retire, but now I feel the trip around Australia would be a fantastic adventure.

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Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia
View: on Bookshelves

“Never memorize something that you can look up.” Albert Einstein

Latest Review: Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia by john walter timms

Official Review: Should I” Go Walkabout” in Australia

by ccundall2130 » 01 Jun 2020, 23:56

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of “Should I” Go Walkabout” in Australia” by John Timms.]

Australia has always interested me. When I started reading this book, the pandemic still had everything completely shut down. Since travel wasn’t possible, I chose to escape into a book about traveling Australia. Should I “Go Walkabout” in Australia, a Motorhome Adventure is published as being authored by John Timms. This book is actually the journaling of Elizabeth (Lisa) Timms, John’s wife, and was originally titled “Should I Tour Australia?”. Lisa died shortly after their second trip through Australia and this book is published after her death.

This book is a compilation of the journals and emails from their first nine-month trip. The plan was to start at the Gold Coast, where they are from, and go all the way around Australia along the coast. In the nine months they traveled, they barely made it along the eastern coast. The journal detailed the routes they followed as well as the problems they had with vehicles and appliances in their motorhome, which was brand new and shipped in from the United States. With much detail, Lisa described the attractions and van parks they visited. Since they were traveling with their two dogs, Jack and Callie, many attractions were off limits as dogs weren’t allowed. They still explored many places along the way. They visited beautiful beaches with pristine water, drove through the tree surrounded routes, beheld the mountains from their Ute, and even fed the stingrays in Lake Conjola. Lisa and John had an unusually large motorhome and usually got amazing sites. Many were close to water or parks where they could run and play with their dogs. The trip wasn’t always fun, though. Lisa spent most of the first half wanting to go home. She didn’t enjoy the nomadic lifestyle and missed her family. However, once they slowed down and started taking in more of the sites, she found she enjoyed the travel more. John would check out the many golf courses they came across, and Lisa enjoyed the shops, especially the book stores. Lisa even wrote about avoiding shops that had imported goods because she wanted nothing but Australian made mementos.

This book was very informative for me. My knowledge of Australia is limited to what is shown on the television and in magazines. This book is not only a journal of their trip, but a travel guide on the best van parks that were pet friendly and scenic roads to provide the best views. Lisa was candid and didn’t hold anything back. She wasn’t afraid to recommend avoiding places, usually because they were filthy and had trash everywhere. I loved that they started with an intended route but chose to take recommendations of those they met along the way instead. This book was difficult to get into at first because Lisa’s tone was negative and she wasn’t thrilled to travel. But as her writing continued, she relaxed and seemed to enjoy herself. Her descriptions became more vivid and happy. The only thing I didn’t like was the inconsistently stated dates since it was essentially a journal. I would have liked to know how long they spent in a particular place. She mentioned a few times they planned to stay in a place for a couple of days or another location for a week, though. The thing that establishes her point of view as more relatable to me is that they aren’t native to Australia. Lisa is from Wales and tremendously enjoyed the green and cooler areas that reminded her of home. Her summation of their trip in the concluding chapters was a pleasant ending. It was good to see she wanted the reader to realize there was a method to what she wrote and could use this book as a travel resource. As stated in her introduction, this book was primarily written with her friends in mind. As an animal lover, it was especially fun to read about the reactions the dogs had when seeing their first horses, cows, and kangaroos.

The book consisted of 88 relatively brief chapters. Several pages possessed pictures from their travels, including the extraordinary picture of John feeding the stingray. It begins with Lisa’s introduction and ends with a list of the places they visited and the route they took. However, the Kindle format made it difficult to track the route. I kept an Australian map handy as I read to see where they were. The introduction mentions a second book that describes a year long trip they took to travel the rest of the way around Australia. I feel this book is definitely a stand-alone, but the second book would be intriguing.

This book is suitable for all readers and doesn’t have profanity or erotic scenes. There were a few formatting errors and punctuation errors, but they weren’t distracting. The only distracting phenomenon was the separation of “F” and “L” in every word that began with this combination, such as flight and floors. Since this happened throughout the book, I stopped counting them. I believe any person that likes to travel and enjoys humor found in traveling with a partially deaf husband and two dogs will enjoy this book. It would also be entertaining to a person contemplating traveling Australia for nine months in a motorhome! I appreciated the content and antics found in this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. However, the errors were so numerous that I could only give it a three out of four stars rating instead of the four stars I thought it deserved.

***** Reader’s Comments ******

_Lindsey_ » 03 Jun 2020, 06:21
– This story sounds like a really immersive guide to exploring in Australia! Thank you for reviewing it.

Post by LinaJan » 03 Jun 2020, 09:58
– As a walker of long-distance trails and someone whose dream is to eventually (‘eventually’ only due to finances, not other reasons for I’ve been ready for a long time!) SETTLE in a forever-motorhome I am adding this book to my shelf. Your review is very exhaustive and inviting, regardless of the drawback! Thank you!

Kirsi_78 » 03 Jun 2020, 14:05
– We have dreamed about a longer stay in Australia for quite a while. This book sounds like something I’d better put on my reading list! 🙂 Thanks for a nice review!

Chimdi_3 » 03 Jun 2020, 15:53
– I love to travel but I haven’t gone to.as many places as I would have loved to.its therefore great to see the world through Someother person’s eyes .nice review.

Jachike Samuelson » 03 Jun 2020, 20:43
– I’ve always loved the idea of touring but I’ve always had to live vicariously to others because, in reality, I don’t like moving around very much. Perhaps, the idea of doing so in a motorhome should finally spark me into action.