Saturday, October 14th, 1995. After a hearty Irish breakfast to send us on our way, we head off to Dublin airport to begin our great adventure.
These were the first words of a diary I wrote almost 20 years ago. The diary that would eventually lead to me writing my latest book, A Love Like This. At that time, my husband and I had, as my mother would say, “good pensionable jobs”. We were lucky to have such secure employment, but still we were bored with the humdrum of our nine-to-five days. We were at the stage of our lives where we were considering starting a family but we also had that travel itch that we needed to scratch. We knew that if we were lucky enough to have children, we’d probably settle down and our travels would be limited to a couple of weeks in the summer. So we took the decision to take a 12-month career break from our jobs and set off on an adventure around the world.
Saturday, November 4th, 1995. Blue skies, crystal water and the most beautiful golden sand. Perth is like paradise after a stressful time in India and Bangkok.
The story about India and Bangkok is for another day, but when we arrived in Australia we were relieved and delighted and felt that our adventure was truly beginning. Our plan was to work there for a few months to earn enough money to go travelling around the country. It was a crazy but wonderful experience. We worked at jobs including picking Chinese cabbages and checking dead chickens at a chicken factory. I even got a job sewing curtains in a curtain factory. Not only could I not sew a stitch, but I was the only English-speaking person among a hundred Vietnamese women. Whilst I’d fiddle around with these industrial curtains, pretending I knew what to do, they’d shout across to each other in their own language and I swear they were laughing at me the whole time. Still, it was well paid and nobody seemed to notice my inadequate work. Or maybe I was being paid for entertainment value!
Sunday, March 24th, 1996. It’s emotional waving goodbye to Perth but now the real Australian experience is finally about to begin!
When the time came to leave Perth, we bought a 20-year-old Escort Estate and a two-man tent, and headed off with a plan to drive right around Australia. We allowed ourselves 30 dollars per day – 10 for fuel, 10 for a campsite and 10 for food. It was tough but fun to budget and a great sense of achievement if we could manage to save a couple of dollars each day to afford us a Big Mac at the end of the week! The experiences we had while on the road were truly amazing and sometimes it’s hard to believe that I was that 25-year-old girl who swam with wild dolphins and wrestled with crocodiles and kangaroos (I may have exaggerated the wrestling bit!).
So back to my beloved diary and how it became the inspiration for A Love Like This. Throughout our travels, no matter how exhausted I was, I never let a day pass without writing in that diary. I wanted to ensure that every single day was documented so that one day I could look back and amaze myself at how much we did. My other motivation was the fact that I’d always wanted to be a writer. I loved writing stories and poems but I never shared them with anybody. I’d gone straight from school into a job in the bank and never felt confident enough to pursue writing seriously. But something about this diary felt different. I think I always knew I’d take it out some day and make good use of it. So when I had the idea for the story of A Love Like This, I knew straight away that I’d take some of the characters on the same journey that my husband and I did 20 years ago. I wrote the book with my diary by my side, reliving memories and once again becoming that 25-year-old, carefree girl, living the dream.
Monday, May 20th, 1996. “Congratulations, you’re going to be a mother.” I almost fall off the chair in shock!
I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I sat with my husband in a doctor’s office in Sydney, watching the plus sign appear on a pregnancy test. We’d just completed out trip around Australia and were planning for our next stop – New Zealand. It couldn’t have been more perfect. It was what we always wanted and the timing was perfect. Thankfully I was healthy so was able to spend the next few months travelling. Christchurch was one of our favourite places and so became a very important city in A Love Like This.
We eventually arrived home to Ireland with a healthy glow, a head full of experiences and a heart full of happiness. I was 14 weeks pregnant with my first child by then, and we were on top of the world. We were still living the dream, but it was a whole new chapter and we felt like the luckiest people in the world.
So now, 20 years and four children later, I’m still living the dream. I’m hugely privileged to do what I love – what I’ve always wanted to do. My writing fits in nicely with my family and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. And the icing on the cake is being able to take my characters where I want and capture a place or time in my life that was very special to me.
A Love Like This by Maria Duffy is published by Hachette Books Ireland
