'We only have one rule here. With the exception of Marron shells, which go back in the creak, all food scraps go over the deck. Between the kangaroos, the possums, the ants and the Goannas, everything goes.' 'Even the meat?' 'The Goannas love the meat and the more of those you have, the fewer snakes you have. Note I said fewer.' When you hear this, you know you are somewhere remote, odd and a bit special. It was nearly the end of our Kangaroo Island ...

Those of us who live in the developed world should feel privileged. We have clean water to drink, will only starve if we have substantial mental issues, have health services for all (except if you are in the worlds biggest economy, the US) and a reasonable level of security. We should feel privileged as to have all this still puts us in a world minority. As I lay in my shaded, brightly coloured hammock, sharing a 6km long white sand beach with no more 15 peopl...

Ending a great holiday can be hard. After an adventure, reality sucks. In the past reality has been living in s***ty places like Catterick, a dodgy Northern German garrison town or worst of all that armpit of the universe, Northern Ireland (this may offend some; it has good Guinness, is green and has some nice mountains and cold but picturesque beaches. All true, but as a man wearing the uniform of the British Army and hanging around the Ardoyne, the Bogside an...

Western Australia is about the size of Europe and boasts a population of about 2m, 1.5m of whom live in and around Perth. The nearest big city is Adelaide (which isn't big), 2000km away. It took us 5 ½ hrs to get there and we crossed 3 time zones. In a nut shell, it's a very remote city, in a very big country surrounded by a lot of b***** all. A couple of days in Perth is nowhere near enough time to get a proper feel of the place, but it is long enough to kn...

Fate now sees me sitting in a 4x4 in a Australian Army training village outside Townsville, listening to the sound of a platoon attack, watching it progress on the bit of situational awareness equipment I am supporting……….on a Saturday morning. It could be worse - it is the only weekend I have worked in years, I can spend an hour or so on the beach each day and go for a run/swim, and each night I sleep in a nice hotel, with views out to sea and over to Ma...