Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gobi Desert - Inner Mongolia
Late Autumn 2000
———
Chris
Cathy Freeman won an Olympic gold medal on the day I turned twenty-two. It
was 25 September and the 2000 Olympic games were well under way. Cathy Free-
man was winning gold, Ian Thorpe was smashing world records and we were rid-
ing peacefully through the desert. Apart from the opening ceremony, I had not the
faintest idea of what was going on.
I sat by the tent, stirring the dinner and letting my mind wander over obscure
parallels. Sydney was hosting one of the biggest sporting events in history. Thou-
sands of cameras were beaming pictures to billions of people all over the world.
The Gobi Desert was hosting my birthday, and it had about as much significance as
a camel burping. Admittedly, Tim was catching the action on our little video cam-
era, but even he hadn't remembered until halfway through the afternoon.
But then, why should he? I laughed at myself and swivelled around to take in
the surroundings.
We were in the middle of a desert and all morning, we'd seen only endless ex-
panses of salt-bush and a few camels on the horizon. Days ran into one another
and dates had no meaning at all. If anyone had asked us the day of the week, we'd
have had, at best, a one in seven chance at the right answer. What relevance did my
birthday have out here, anyway? It was twenty-two years after the actual event and
the passing of the day hadn't marked anything significant.
Tim was up the hill, filming. He steadied the camera on its tripod, hit 'record',
then raced back down the slope and skidded to a stop beside me. We were acting
out a celebration.
