Will Kemp

About me:

I grew up in the marshlands of the Blackwater Estuary, just north of the Thames in England. I can trace my ancestors back at least 250 years in the area where i was born - they were mostly farm labourers and related trades. But my mother's father and, i believe, my father's grandmother were born in Australia where i've lived since 1985 - by pure coincidence.

Since i've been in Australia, i've wandered around a lot. At various times, i've lived in Melbourne, south coast of NSW, Sydney, north coast of NSW, Brisbane, North Stradbroke island, Cairns, Kuranda, the Daintree, Cape York peninsula, Arnhem Land and Darwin.

I've done a fair bit of overseas travelling in that time too.

From August 2005 to April 2006, i lived in Afghanistan and worked as a technical adviser for an organisation building and maintaining community radio stations there. That's where i started writing a blog on myspace.

From June to November 2006, i worked for Maningrida council, in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, as housing and environmental health manager. That town is overrun by vicious and dangerous dogs though, and you can't walk around without getting attacked. It felt like being imprisoned in my home, and i can't live without doing lots of walking, so i left.

I'm currently living in England. My mum's 85 now and i don't want her to have to live on her own, so i'm voluntarily marooned on this godforsaken little island. I'm working as a freelance web developer.

I moved my blog from here to http://SnapAndScribble.com a while ago, but i haven't been writing it as regularly as i was a couple of years ago - mainly because living in England's so boring there's not much to write about.

The blog i wrote here while i was living in Kabul in 06 to 07 is also at http://WillKemp-words.com/afghanistan - it's easier to read there. And i wrote a diary during a year-long journey i did round the world in 1995 and 1996. You can read it at http://WillKemp-Words.com/travelling.

Here's a map of the countries i've visited so far. As you can see, i'm trying to make a solid band of red from Australia to north western Europe - there's a few more countries to go...