Road to Andamooka

Hardback edition published by Robert Hale, London, 1965 (also available in Travel Book Club edition)

The cover blurb:
With only £20 in his pocket, John Summers set out to see the world. This is the record of his journey, and of the many people he met on the way – exotic, fascinating, some dangerous, some exciting. From the scarred underworld of Toronto to a rusty tramp steamer in the Indian Ocean and the dusty outback of Northern Australia, the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour of 30,000 miles.
The characters are as varied as the setting: Fighting George, Din Khan the Camel-Man, Big Mac and Geordie the Bosun are only a few of the unforgettable people you will meet between the covers of this book. Laughter, excitement, terror, crowd fast upon one another against the backdrop of a truly romantic and colourful world canvas.

Further reading:
Extract from Chapter 1: Leaving Britain
Extract from Chapter 11: Opal mining in Australia
Sunday Telegraph article about the book