By Graham Reid

It’s not hard to find stretches of wilderness in Australia, but venturing past where the road ends can also lead to a watering hole with adult beverages, a two-day drive from the closest traffic light.

We are about 20 miles south of coastal Cooktown in the far north of Australia when we pull off the main highway onto a side road. I glance at my map and notice a place name further down this less traveled route: The Jump Up, just past Wajul Wajul.

I have to ask.

Dean laughs.

“You’ll know why when we get there. Anywhere out here where to road goes up to another level really quickly is a jump up. This one has about a one-to-three gradient.”

I’m doing the picture in my head of what that might look like—scary is my first thought—when the sealed road ends and our massive 4WD Oka hits the dusty ruts and we rattle sideway.

“Oh yeah, and of course it isn’t sealed,” says Dean with a dry laugh.

Thank God we’re stopping at a pub first. And not just any pub.

Remote parts of Australia have become my passion in recent years. Driving the long way between Alice Springs and Uluru—off the sealed roads and into lost canyons—and flying low over hundreds of miles of red desert where animal trails between waterholes create odd abstract patterns have been particularly memorable experiences. And usually quite solitary ones.

Despite the seeming emptiness, the desert is rich with life and seasonal changes turn dry creeks into raging deep torrents of roiling water.

And the Far North of Queensland (the pointy bit up to Cape York known as York Peninsula) where we are traveling now in the sturdy Oka—a region almost three quarters the area of Britain with cattle stations the size of Belgium—is yet another eye-opener.

Standing at the remote tip where a sign in the rocks proclaims we are the most northern point of the Australian continent I ask Dean Nulty, guide and driver to our group of five, where the nearest traffic lights might be.

About 650 miles, unless you turn right about halfway down the Peninsula and head to the bauxite town of Weipa on the west coast.

Australia Without the Australians

This is a vast country and you can drive a long way without seeing another car or people once you leave the small settlements. You do however see a lot of termite towers. We haul over to photograph one that stands 30 feet high. Every now and again we see a kangaroo, emu, wallaby, dingo, or strange bird and, near rivers and inlets, enormous crocodiles. We’re advised not to walk along riverbanks or too close to the edge of deep creeks. We don’t.

Out here the landscape constantly changes and there are 22 different kinds of tropical savannah, dense rainforest near the coast further south, areas of vast flat dry desert. Near the Archer River Roadhouse there’s a crude hand-painted sign by the muddy creek nailed up a tree which reads “We were here in a boat 14th March 2003″. The river had risen 48 feet, and that’s why they call it “the Wet Season”.

In our five day drive from the tip back to the city of Cairns on the coast we have been to a deserted, croc-infested beach which was once going to be a city to rival Singapore. We’ve photographed the skeletons of planes which crashed here during World War Two and walked where 19th century explorers trekked in search of water, a route, and fame (many achieving only a lonely and thirsty death).

We have chatted with Aboriginal people in small communities dotted about, seeing their rock art dating back thousands of years and looked at petroglyphs which are even more ancient.

And of course we have stopped at pubs.

Continue to Page 2 – Far North Queensland

Forgiveness, atonement, family. joy, connection and reconnection: these are themes which run through the holy days marked in the calendar of the Jewish faith this time of year, holy days which include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, two of the most sacred during the the year.

So it’s a good time to take a listen to a new recording from the Afro- Semitic Experience called Further Definitions of the Days of Awe. On it, a cross cultural band of musicians whose backgrounds range from classical to gospel to jazz and whose religions range from Judaism to Yoruba, join up with top notch cantors, respected song leaders in Judaism, to create new settings for the midnight prayers of Selichot, the service that marks the beginning of the most holy time of the Jewish liturgical year.

Do you have to be Jewish to appreciate what they are doing with this music? No. If you are, will this reimagining sit well with you? Quite likely.
There are elements of blues, jazz, southern gospel, and melismatic middle eastern sounds all wrapped in a music which, whether you know the service or not, comes across as spirit reaching for and connecting with the divine. “Prayer and study are a major tenet of all three Abrahamic faiths. That’s great,” says group founder, bassist, and composer David Chevan. “But we need the dancing at the temple, those ecstatic moments. That’s really where we’re coming from.”

Cantor Jack Mendelson was impressed by the group’s abilities to handle complexity and spontaneity in the context of tradition. He began meeting with Chevan, singing him lines he had learned through decades of training and study and and teaching others, among them his son Daniel. Daniel sings with his father on several track on the album, and other cantors appear as guests as well.

Members of the Afro-Semitic Experience include bassist Chevan, Baba David Coleman, an African drummer and drum builder, who is also a Yoruba priest, Will Bartlett, who plays woodwinds, who teaches jazz saxophone and klezmer workshops, Babafemi Alvin Carter, Afro-Cuban and West African percussion and Klezmer drummer, Warren Byrd, pianist, composer, and teacher of gospel arranging, and Stacy Phillips, steel guitarist and violinist. Guests including trumpet masters Frank London and also Saskia Laroo join in

The music they offer on Further Definitions of the Days of Awe. is soulful, whether that soul hearkens to the sounds of Otis Redding or an prayer for forgiveness in temple. There are jazz horn intros and rocking jazzy breaks in some of the pieces, and then other which invoke the sound of lament and longing for healing and home. Latin rhythms find their way in, as do beats of African percussion.

It sounds as though there is a lot going on here, and there is. Through it all the cantorial presence offers a clear strand connecting the heart of tradition with this new way of enhancing its sound. What track appeal to you most will vary according to your taste. Three you may want to check out especially are Shomer Israel, Viddui, and Adoshem, Part I.

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As the leaves begin to turn bright flame colors and an edge of chill comes in to the wind from the sea in Atlantic Canada, it’s time for the Celtic Colours International Festival. On Cape Breton, in the far north of Nova Scotia, musicians from the distinctive Celtic style of the island’s music join with artists from the Celtic strands which have helped create that music in inviting the world home to Cape Breton to celebrate family, friends, heritage, and music.

Concerts take place all across the island in venues which range from large performance halls in Sydney and Port Hawkesbury to schools, churches, and community centers in places including Baddeck, Belle Cote, Inverness, Iona, Boularderie, Cheticamp, Christmas Island, D’Escousse, L’Ardoise, Louisbourg, Marion Bridge, Membertou, North River, and Judique. Whatever the venue, each concert includes sets by three or four different acts, and then all join up for a finale, so any concert is great way to see how the music from Ireland, Scotland, the United States, the Nordic lands, and Cape Breton interwine as well as a fine chance to be introduced to new musicians as well as see longtime favorites. It’s a way of presenting music which makes for a lively and celebratory atmosphere amongst both artists and listeners. There are several concerts from which to choose each evening, and the after hours festival club in St. Ann’s offers another chance to catch the music after main shows for an evening are done.

This year, artists appearing will include The Black Family from Ireland with sister and international star Mary Black. Also from Ireland will top fiddler Niamh Ni Charra, who in addition to her solo career is known for her appearances with Riverdance. Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes from Scotland will be there, as will US old time and Appalachian style fiddle player Bruce Molsky, who is a festival artist in residence this year. Cajun band BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet from Louisiana will be there too, as will sean nos dancer Nic Gariess, and Appalachian singer and banjo-player Sheila Kay Adams. High energy band Blazin’ Fiddles and award winning singer and songwriter Emily Smith are among those from Scotland who will appear.

Among the Cape Breton musicians who will be taking to the stage in their home island are inventive fiddle players Ashley MacIsaac and J.P. Cormier, singer Mary Jane Lamond, and regional and international favorites Brenda Stubbert, the Colin Grant Band, Rodney MacDonald, Marc Boudreau, Douglas Cameron, Maybelle Chisholm McQueen, Troy MacGillivray, and Kimberley Fraser.

There is more than music to be had during Celtic Colours, too, which this year takes place from October 7th through October 15th. There are art exhibits and craft shows featuring the island’s visual artists, outdoor walks and talks celebrating Cape Breton’s natural beauty, and community meals and jam sessions celebrating the spirit of community which pervades the island.

It’s none too soon to be making plans to visit. Even if you’ll not make it this year, the Celtic Colours International Festival web site will give you a fine taste of the music and the lively atmosphere on Cape Breton in October.

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My favorite travel book this year Cambodian Grrrl, by Anne Elizabeth Moore, which recounted her experiences teaching young Cambodian women about self-publishing zines in Phnom Pehn. In my review a few weeks ago, I noted that my one frustration with the book was not being able to see the zines for myself.

Well, problem mostly solved.  Check ‘em out here.

I say “mostly solved” because they’re still a little hard to read — these zines were obviously not meant for digital distribution! But they give you a good sense of what Moore was up to in Cambodia, and the enthusiasm of her students.

Great Journeys, a new Lonely Planet book due for release at the beginning of October, covers more than 70 of the world’s most amazing and spectacular routes and will have even the most dedicated ‘armchair’ travelers scrambling to get out on the road.

And to celebrate the release of Great Journeys, Lonely Planet wants to help at least one lucky person get going.

Together with Railbookers, Lonely Planet is giving away a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia.

To enter, visit lonelyplanet.com/greatjourneys (which should be live sometime this week) for details on how to enter.

The contest ends on October 7^th at 11:59 GMT

Once you’ve entered and are waiting to find out it you are the chosen one, you can get a taste of what it would feel like to take a trip along one of the world’s longest and most fascinating rail journey with this virtual trip put together by Google map and Russian Railways.

It’s an armchair traveler’s dream come true.

Traveling from Moscow to Valdivostok, peering out the virtual window onto the Russian landscape with the sound of wheels on the track, Russian radio in the background, lulling you into a false sense of actually being on the train – it’s a brilliant collaboration of technology that’s almost, but not quite, as good as being there.