Old photo of me on a dugout on the Paya River in the Darien Gap, Panama

*I was born in Lewisham, South London in 1953

*I moved to Burgess Hill, Sussex when six months old with Mum (from London), Dad (from Lancashire), older brother Steve and younger sister Sue. This was home for the next six years. Across from the house was a large area of woodland. In 2003, revisiting Burgess Hill, the wood had been replaced by an industrial and commercial complex with a Mac Donald's right opposite the old family home!

*1960 - in a caravan on a dairy farm amidst the slag heaps of old coalmines half way between Bury and Bolton, Lancashire - Dad doing his teaching course near relatives. This was good fun, with loads of other kids. On a much later revisit to the slag heaps, the whole area had been turned into a wildlife reserve, complete with ponds and orchids. Better than being filled with a home for Big Macs!

*1961 - 1966: Back to Sussex and living in a council house in what was then a newly created suburban extension of the old town of Crawley. Our first TV (black and white), timorous adventures in the first car - a beat up Anglia and then, with growing prosperity, longer trips in a Commer campervan - down through France, the Basque country and Valencia. My adventures had begun.

*1966 -1969: Sailed to the East African coast in a passenger liner through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. Dad was on a contract with the Tanzanian government and our family spent an exciting three years living close to the beach and a fringing coral reef. Long and unpredictable safaris took our family across the length and breadth of Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Malawi as far south as the Victoria Falls. These were formative years - I developed a passion for the world's wild places and the diversity of life in them and a sense of Man's blunders in the pursuit of progress. Together with this my exposure to young Tanzanians of Arab, Indian and African backgrounds and the ideas of passionate teachers led me to a firm belief in the equality of all people and a strong distaste of racism.

*1969 - 1971: A long ocean trip down the East African coast to Durban and, for me, an eye opening trip through Apartheid South Africa was followed by a brief return trip to England and then back to Africa - this time the inland capital of Kampala, close to the Northern shores of Africa's largest lake - Victoria - and the start of it's longest river - the Nile. Uganda was politically in unstable times with ethnic tensions leading to two coup attempts and the bloody arrival of Idi Amin. In Kampala I finished school with A levels in Chemistry, Physics and Maths but with the simple desire to spend my life in the wilderness, wherever that was. I spent two months in what was probably my most enjoyable job as a volunteer at an ecological institute close to the Zairean border - tracking elephants, counting hippos and buffalo and driving researchers in the middle of the night to watch how hyenas and lions interacted.

*1971 - 1974: Three long years at Sheffield University, studying Zoology. Coping with being a young adult in a large city without having learnt any social skills was far more difficult than the zoology course. Lucky enough to escape to Fiji (where Dad was working) several times during this period - climbing up and down mountains and river valleys, exploring the outer islands on copra boats and the fantastic underwater life of the reefs, Everywhere, I discovered and enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of Fijian families : my introduction to the Pacific.

*1974 - 1975: Before I got my degree, I was off to New Zealand via Fiji - working and travelling by motorbike the length and breadth of the country. I hitch hiked or bussed or trained it back across Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Yugoslavia ( as it was then), Austria and Germany arriving back flat broke and itching to get back to the Pacific.

*1975-1976: A year's postgraduate course in teaching was to be my ticket to return to the Pacific : close to the fantastic mountains of Snowdonia and the North Welsh coast at the University of Wales - I spent much of my spare time walking and camping in the mountains.

*1977-1978: There were few teaching jobs in Britain in the late 70s and I moved to London after graduating - I met Alison while working in a government office at Lisson Grove.

Life got quite a lot more complicated for a few months. Eventually I headed off for my first teaching job in a small school in Timaru, New Zealand, while Alison did her own teacher training course in Hull. She flew out to join me at the end of 1978 and our joint adventures together began.