This travel log has been recreated from information that I send home via postcards.

The bulk of the travelling was by Train using a 2 Month EuroRail Youth Pass and staying in Youth Hostels.

I departed from Melbourne airport at around 1:30am with the first stop being Bangkok. From Bangkok it was a direct flight to Athens (we were unable to disembark at Athens but had an hour or so at Bangkok) and then on to Rome arriving at 4PM on the 24 August 1980. The weather in both Bangkok and Rome was rather hot and humid.

As I planned to check out Rome when I returned, I called into the Vatican on the way from the Youth Hostel to the Railway station before departed for Florence at 12:30 the following afternoon. I arrived Florence in the late afternoon of the 25 August 1980 and headed for the Youth Hostel. The following morning I visited several Galleries as well as the Cathedral before boarding another train for Venice.

I explored the western end of Venice on the afternoon of the 26 August before arriving at the Youth Hostel late that afternoon. Unfortunately there were no vacancies so I returned to the Rail Station and caught a train. I have no idea where it was going but I got off at some station after midnight and caught the next train back to Venice. That morning I visited some of the Islands and walked through the lanes on the south eastern end of the main island complex including the Piazza S. Marco before heading off to catch a train for Verona. I changed trains at 1 am on the 28 August at Verona for one heading for Innsbruck and Austria.

When I arrived at Innsbruck the weather was overcast with some light rain but as the day progressed it cleared and I took at trip up to the top of some of the surrounding mountains. From Innsbruck I continued on through Mittenwald to Garmisch-Partenkchn for lunch before arriving in Munich in the afternoon of the 30 August. I met up with a friend that had been to Australia as an exchange student and visited such places as the Olympic Stadium, Science Museum and several other attractions.

Late the following afternoon I departed and headed west across southern Germany to Lindau on Lake Constance and then onto Basel and finally at 10pm on the 1 September I arrived at Bad Krozingen south of Freiburg. There were two families that I visited in Bad Krozingen that had also been involved with student exchange. One took me for the morning to Freiburg whilst the other took me for a drive up into the Black Forest and Mt Belchen.

I departed early the following morning for Karlsruhe and then onto Stuttgart arriving in the afternoon of the 3 September at Nuremburg. After a night at the Youth Hostel I continued North towards Kassel stopping off at a small place called Gensungen where I met up with the parents of the student that had stayed with our family in Tasmania.

I spent several days with this family visiting several places of interest including the Eder Dam, Waldeck, Fritzlar and a trip to the East German border. I departed from Kassel on the evening of the 7 September and spent the following day in Copenhagen. That night I caught another train for Stockholm. After walking around the city including the radio tower I bedded down on the "af Chapman", The Swedish Touring Clubs Youth Hostel at Skeppsholmen. The following day I caught a ship that would take me to Helsinki.

After spending the day in and around the city I headed north towards the Arctic Circle, arriving at Tornio around 9 am on the morning of the 11 September. It was here that I met up with a chap from Sydney - Australia and two girls from New Zealand and we all headed off to Gallivare.

The following day the New Zealanders headed for Stockholm whilst us Australians continued on into Norway and Narvik. After a quick look around I headed south in an attempt to catch a train at for Tro. Unfortunately I was a little late and ended up "sleeping" near the railway platform before catching a train the next morning. On arriving at Tr the weather was terrible. I spent the night at the Youth hostel meeting up with the chap from Sydney the next morning when we both visited the little township of Hell. That evening 15 September we caught a freighter and headed out to sea arriving at Bergen the following morning. The ocean end of the fiords is not that spectacular and scenery wise it would have been better to continue by train.

On arriving at Bergen we continued on to Flam which is on one of the arms of the Sognefjorden. The trip from the main line to the township is worth the excursion in itself. After a night at Flam we continued on to Oslo. The railway from Flam to Oslo is about 525 miles long with 200 tunnels and snow sheds one of which is 5 miles long. At the Oslo Youth Hostel almost half were Australians. The 18 September was warm and sunny. One of the fascinating attractions was the Folk Museum with its traditional homes and Viking artefacts. I parted company with the other Australian and continued onto Copenhagen and Hamburg that night. The Platform at the Oslo Railway Station was still all wooden.

After changing trains at Hamburg I continued on to Amsterdam, arriving early morning of the 20 September. I departed Amsterdam the following morning for Haarlen and Den Haag where I spent most of the morning at the Madurodam. I continued on to Arnham. The Arnham Youth Hostel along withe the "af Chapman" in Stockholm were the best accommodation that I stayed in for the whole trip. The following morning, 22 September I retraced some of my steps to Osterbeek some 10 km west of Arnham and visited some war graves as well as the Airborne Museum (Operation Marketgarden from the second world war).

From Arnham my next stop was Cologne and then onto Koblenz and into Luxembourg for the night of the 24 September. Luxembourg was a strange place, it appeared as a big hole in the ground with a central island as if it was surrounded by a moat which had been drained. From here I headed north through the Arden to Clervaux and onto Brussels. The following day I visited the Antwerp Zoo. On leaving Antwerp I headed to Lille spending the night at the Youth hostel in Amiens.

On the 27 September I took a train to Villers-Bretonneux as Australians had been an important factor in the defence of this town during WW1. Unfortunately the weather was extremely foggy and I was unable to find anything or anyone, it was spooky. As there were only a couple of trains that stopped I had to return to Amiens and continue on to the English Channel and Dieppe returning to Rouen for the night.

The 28 saw me arrive in Paris for several days. Whilst in Paris I spent a day at the Louve, climbed the Eiffel Tower as well as walking the Av. Des Champs Elysees and visited the Invalides, Wax Works and Notre-Dame. I also travelled on almost all the metro routs through the city. On the 1 October I left Paris at 9:00 AM for Bad Krozingen. For the next 6 days I used this as a base with day long excursions to Strasbourg, Basel Zoo and Rhine Falls/Schaffhausen.

On the 8 October I said farewell to my friends and headed for Zurich and Lucern. Visited the Transport Museum. The following day it snowed around the township of Interlaken and the train had to use a cog drive to its next stop, somewhere south of Interlaken before returning and continuing on to Bern. The following day I arrived in Geneva and took one of the Lake tours.

I departed Switzerland on the 11 October and headed for Marseille. The following day I arrived in Nice and booked into the Youth Hostel. The next morning disaster struck! my 35mm SLR camera was stolen along with a spare lens and a full roll of photos. It took me all day to get the police report completed for my insurance claim. This mishap caused me to miss Monaco and that evening I continue on around the top of Italy to Genoa and on to Pisa, to see the leaning tower before arriving at Rome on the 14 October. I spent several more days in Rome as well as an excursion south to Cassino.

I departed Rome on the 18 October 1980.