Everyone has a bucket list – don’t they? Brunswick Heads author Emma Scattergood does.
Emma was introduced to the world of travel when, at the age of one, she was thrown into the back of a motor caravan and transported from England to Australia along the ‘scenic’ route via Afghanistan and India.
Once planted here, she grew up on a Mullumbimby commune, with all its peace, love and mungbeans, and she became one of the first hippy children to attend Mullum High.
Dreaming of escape
Rather than have a big white wedding, Emma convinced her husband Darryl to elope to Thailand together with their two children. Much to their surprise, they found themselves backpacking through Vietnam and other Asian countries with young children – so much like her own childhood.
Emma’s passion for travel has never abated, and for the past 20 years a laminated bucket list has lived in her wallet.
Emma’s first book Bucket Lists and Walking Sticks explores reasons for having ‘bucket lists’, the truth of which Emma and Darryl discovered when a shattering accident left Darryl with life-changing injuries.
Adventure of a lifetime
With their priorities rearranged, Emma and Darryl pulled out the old laminated bucket list and set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
A trip around the world ticking off list items: from drinking Singapore Slings to viewing ancient Petra, kissing Ireland’s Blarney Stone and looking for the home of Doc Marten.
Meandering throughout Asia and then Europe, Emma describes their adventures on the high seas and in high-speed trains, in mouth watering detail, pulling the reader headlong into the sights, life, culture and beauty of each place they visit.
This journal, offering one couple’s unique perspective on the experience of seeing the world, might just make you want to follow in their footsteps.
Bucket Lists and Walking Sticks is available from local Byron Shire bookshops and online.
