The Wrong Way Home
London to Sydney the hard way
Inspired by the hippies of the ’60s, I set off from the UK to see if it was still possible to travel overland from London to Australia.
With woefully inadequate funds and little hope of actually making it through such notorious hot-spots as the Balkans, Iran and Afghanistan, I threw caution to the wind and followed the trail overland to the East.
It was a journey of exhilarating highs and, on occasions, frustrating lows, of diverse experiences – including the world’s most expensive disco (in Albania), the bombed-out villages of Croatia, the opium fields of Laos, student riots in Jakarta, an all-night beach rave in Thailand – and memorable encounters with a wonderful cast of often eccentric, at times exasperating and, once in a while, overly amorous characters.
It’s probably still my favourite journey ever.
‘Moore’s a sharp observer of the bizarre … Read, enjoy, escape’
Maxim
Start your journey now
Here’s some good news. The Wrong Way Home is available now as an eBook. Within a couple of clicks you can be set off from London to Sydney, right now. Bonza!
Photos from the trip
Please forgive the poor quality of the images in this gallery. The originals are in a storage unit in Australia, so I’ve had to use images from when the web was slow and high resolution was a curse rather than a blessing. I plan to visit my storage unit some time this year. When I do, rest assured, the image quality will improve dramatically.
Shuja
4 years agoHey Peter,
Just finished ‘The Wrong Way Home’ – 20 years late, I know – but I loved it. Inspires me to go explore places like East Timor and the other interesting, off the beaten path places you describe.
BTW: Kosovo is on my list after reading your review on it !!
Looking forward for more of your works
Stephen Jakubans
5 months agoHi Pete, slowly making my way through your books and love them. I have travelled through many of the countries you have written about and the nostalgia makes me emotional in a good way.
I was in London between 90 and 93. The photos of your younger self seem strangely familiar. I was one of the boofhead Aussies
in London you describe in your books. We may have met.
Still travelling.
All the best, I’ll check out your podcasts.
Peter Moore
5 months agoHey Steve,
Ha ha. A fellow boof head! I’m sure we did probably run into each other. It was a pretty insular world. Maybe at Dixies in Clapham Junction. The Church. Any number of Aussie pubs or parties at Antipodean households. God, they were good times!
Peter Moore
4 years agoThanks Shuja. Glad you enjoyed the book. You should drop by Kosovo. And East Timor. Both great places …
Steve
4 years agoHi Pete
We met at Keith’s place in Maida Vale in London and I have some sad news. Keith died from cancer in September, back in Hobart. He went out in typical Keith’s way, gone but not forgotten
Cheers
Steve
Peter Moore
4 years agoHi Steve,
Yeah, sad news. I’d stayed in touch with Keith on Facebook – AKA Lew Skannen – and heard the news.
I put a little memorial on social media at the time, using a pic of him when we went into Afghanistan. I remember they all thought he was Russian, which pleased him immensely!
Like you said, gone but not forgotten!
Thanks for getting in touch.
Cheers
Peter
Trish Brown
4 years agoHi Peter,
Just reading your very interesting 1999 publication ‘The Wrong Way Home’ – in Albania at the moment!
Just keen to know what year you set out for that trip?
Regards Trish
Peter Moore
4 years agoHi Trish,
Thanks for your comment. I left London in April 1994 to do that trip. Quite a while ago now and I know Albania is in a much better state than it was then. Having said that, the Albanians were incredibly hospitable, despite the conditions they found themselves in and it remains one of my favourites of all the places I visited.
Cheers
Peter
Richard
4 years agoPeter,
I am just reading ‘The Wrong Way Home’ after it has been sat on my shelf for years.
It is bringing back a lot of great memories of a trip I did in the 1998 in the other direction, from India to Jersey by Enfield motorcycle.
Poignantly and movingly, today on VJ day I have just read the section about your grandfather.
Thanks,
Richard
Peter Moore
4 years agoThanks Richard. I must admit to thinking about my grandfather too. There’s been a lot about the war in Burma here in the UK and his plane was shot down during a bombing raid to support the Chingdits.
Cheers
Peter
Neil
4 years agoHi Peter
I too have just finished your book. It brought back memories of back packing in China in 1990. You made me remember the frustration of trying to arrange anything there in those days. Days there were either very hard or very rewarding.
Peter Moore
3 years agoHi Neil,
Glad you enjoyed ‘The Wrong Way Home’ and that it brought back memories of your time in China. It was a struggle back then, but of course that’s what made it such a great adventure. With the benefit of hindsight – and enough water under the bridge – I always remember the hard times as the best times!
richard
3 years agoHi Peter,
Just finished your book. It was very enjoyable.
When did the trip take place? I did my 1st overland Amsterdam to Bangkok and then Bali in 74-76,
Followed that up with a bicycle trip through SE Asia in 82/83.
2020 has been the 1st year i have NOT left the country I am living in (Thailand) in decades.
Namaste’
Peter Moore
3 years agoHi Richard.
I did the trip way back in ’94.
Funny thing is, I get a lot of emails from people saying things haven’t changed much.
Having said that, I am envious of you doing the big overland trip at the height of the ‘Hippy Trail’ era. That must have been something else!
Ed
3 years agoReally enjoying the book at the moment and great to stumble upon these photos of the trip. Some much needed escapism at the moment!
Peter Moore
2 years agoThanks Ed. I know what you mean! I could do with an adventure – any adventure – right now!
Walkace
3 years agoRead Vroom with a View – loved it! I’m still riding Lambrettas at 71. We went over the Alps on one when I was 67.
Then I discovered The Wrong Way Home. It brought back lots of memories of backpacking in the past. Funny book but well written, will look out for more of yours,
Wish I could say I bought it but I’m to tight!
Thanks Wallace
Peter Moore
3 years agoThanks Wallace. Glad to hear you enjoyed both books. Good luck on your hunt for my others.
Cheers
Peter
Donald
2 years agoHiya Peter
Loved “The Wrong Way Home”. I hope your readers’ admiration still puts a smile on your face, nearly 30 years after your trip. As a new reader, I revelled in your words and observations. It was picked it up in a charity shop because I wanna go to Iran on my motorcycle.
After an arduous (and badly planned) dash to the south of Spain in 2018, a mere hop in comparison to your epic journey (7000 miles in three weeks there and back with two weeks stationary in Spain), I’m doing what I can to increase my strength, flexibility and endurance because the desire is strong. I’m roughly the same age as you.
My first proper adventure was to Utrecht in The Netherlands when I was 17 in 78 to visit a Dutch girl I’d met in France two years earlier on a family holiday. The bike then was a 200cc Yamaha. About a month after I passed my test. Travel has been part of me ever since.
I’m writing a novel about an Iranian boy and his life being brought up in a terrorist training camp. During the research for it, I came across details of Babak castle in the north of Iran not too far from the Azerbaijan border. The now grown boy travels out of Iran for the first time in his life, via the dam over the Aras river on the border, avoiding border crossings.
The calling is to see the castle built by Babak Khorramdin and the dam and the two bridges built centuries ago nearby. Meeting real people in Iran is foremost in my heart.
So thank you for further inspiration. It is very well received and simply encourages me that visiting Iran is now my destiny.
I hope I haven’t taken up too much of your time but I had to let you know how much I enjoyed your book. Funny, entertaining and informative.
Looks like I’ll have to read the one detailing your adventures on a scooter too.
Travel well.
(The email is valid, but don’t tell anyone) 😉
Peter Moore
2 years agoHey Donald,
Thanks for your message! Always happy to hear from readers, especially if they enjoyed my books. Never gets old!
Your trip to Iran sounds amazing. It is easily one of my favourite places I’ve visited. The people there are pathologically hospitable and a remind that it’s dangerous to equate the government of a place and its people. You certainly won’t have any problems meeting real people, that’s for sure. And they’ll helpfully point out the government guys following you as well! 🙂
Again, thanks for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it. and good luck with your travels and your book.
Cheers
Peter
Agnieszka
4 months agoHi Peter,
Unlike your other readers, I wasn’t in an exotic and fareaway płace while reading your book. I spent days and night at the bedside of a family member in an old, igły and claustrophobic Hospital. Even the narów Windows ovelooking the Canadian prairies were covered with a film that dulled the Sun and blurred the view. I Łobez reading about your adventures. Your book was my window to the wider world.