A budding local author has had her first book published eight years after she embarked on the escapade which inspired it.
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'Cape to Cairo and Beyond' recounts the adventures of Walcha residents George and Cherie Pethard when they joined another 20 people in 2012 to complete a road trip comprised of 11 MG sports cars travelling across Africa.
The couple drove nineteen thousand kilometres across 10 countries in a 45 -year-old MGB on "roads from hell", with no backup vehicle and DIY repairs - but they made it back.
Naturally, this epic journey was the topic discussed at many social occasions upon their return and, with encouragement from friends, Cherie wrote it all down. The manuscript was subsequently placed in a drawer, and the project lost momentum until earlier this year when Cherie gave it to her friend (and much-published author) John Heffernan to read.
"I remember telling Cherie when she started writing the book, that the best travel-writers manage to seed themselves into their work," Mr Heffernan said.
"Their books are not simply enthralling journeys for the reader, but journeys that reveal a real person behind the author, and the ways in which those experiences affected them.
"These authors are not just 'passing through'; they in fact allow their journeys to 'pass through them', leaving indelible imprints.
"I have to admit I was a little worried in those early days that Cherie -the -author might not be allowed to shine through. But when I read the final draft, I was left in no doubt about the powerful impact this journey has had upon her - and the last paragraph of the book beautifully confirms this."
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Mr Heffernan said he believes books usually benefit from mulling a bit and that Cherie's certainly had.
"I honestly could not put it down," he said.
"The journey itself is astonishing. Often I felt I was right there, crammed in between Cherie and George in that ludicrously tiny sports car, staring out with a mix of joy, awe and trepidation at the immensity and majesty, as well as the powerful human essence of that truly ancient continent.
"The book is a true travel-tale feast, peppered throughout with Cherie's deceptively low-key, desert-dry humour."
'Cape to Cairo and Beyond' was recently launched at the Walcha Golf Club and is now available at the Reader's Companion in Armidale as well as the Walcha Newsagency and Cafe Graze.
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