First of all I want to thank the academy...

It being September 21st, by my calculations I am halfway through my travels today. I started from Toronto on the 12th of July and I expect to be in Montreal on December 1st. It's the longest trip up the 401 I've ever made. At this milepost I would like to do some shout-outs.

This, then, is the post for all of you who have been reading my blog wondering when I would get to the part of the story where you came in and whether I would mention you and what I would say (or perhaps I've already passed that part of the story but my description was lacking). It is for those of you whom I want to thank for facilitating the process of getting me from there to here. It's a long list of personal thank-you's, basically, which at the Oscars would be drowned out halfway through by swelling music.

Mom and Dad: thanks for being the home administrative base. Maeve and Dave: thanks for your own homey-ness and sorry for the box and the automobile parts I left on your living room floor. Patchen: thanks for the lift to the airport and sorry for the bag of sneakers and other excess weight that I left in your living room. Alison: thanks for not panicking on the airplane, thanks for sharing your amarula, thanks for introducing me to your marvelous family, and sorry for trying to grab the steering wheel that one time. Colin and Anzu: thanks for putting me up in your beautiful but doomed East London apartment with the view of chimney-pots, thanks for fashionable noodles and laid-back sushi, the safety vest, and sorry for the bag of stuff I left in your bedroom. Beryl, John and Leah: thanks for your warm and off-beat hospitality while I was in Johannesburg - it was a pleasure to meet you - Leah, thanks for the bubblegum. I don't think I left anything in your guest room, but let me know if I did. Jacques and Leona: thanks for hanging out with us in the bar until closing time and later. It was a fun night. Pauline and Terry: thanks for giving us not one but two luxurious rooms overlooking lush Cape Town hills, and for the dinners and major breakfasts, and Pauline I hope you didn't mind too much that I beat you at Scrabble. Maurice: thanks for taking us to the beach at Hout Bay and for the tickets to Antigone - in which you outshone the king - and I really enjoyed getting to meet you. Rampe in Malealea: thanks for your assistance with my reluctant horse and your patience. It was great talking to you. People who helped me on the mini-buses, whose names I don't know: thank you for taking pity on a bewildered foreigner with no knowledge of Zulu or Basotho; in particular thanks to that former-miner guy with sunglasses on the mini-bus from the Lesotho border, who ran with me to catch the car to Prathaditjaba. Lee: thanks for the lift to Jo'burg and the place to stay and everything else, even the 5 am wake-up call. Tracy: thanks for the very welcome welcome back to London and the wayward Canadian party (with honorary guests from Ireland and Japan) in your lovely pad. Ellen: thanks for saving me from sleeping in the bus station that first night in E'burgh - I hope you enjoyed the highlands. Eric: thanks for generously letting me sleep on your floor at the height of festival-goer-from-out-of-town season - good luck at the Observatory. Downward Dog (Cat, Jack, Carrie, Mike): thanks for taking time out from the festival stress to share some pints with me, and thanks for the opportunity to see the show, which was amazing as always. Richard: thanks for giving me the gospel truth, finally, about cats and dogs. Nikki And George: thanks for showing me around - first in the Yarra Valley wine country and then all the way to Adelaide, and for saving me from the lethal clutches of the Giant Koala, and Nikki's Parents: thanks for letting me show up unexpected and stay in your beautiful house, and sorry for the jacket I left in your guest room. Melbourne Writers' Festival: thanks for a week of stimulation followed by luxurious relaxtion in a bathrobe that cost more than my car. Lou and Zoey, Sleepers: thanks for inviting me to judge people - I'll try not to make a habit of it. Steve Smart and Overload: thanks for inviting me to be judged. It was great to meet everyone involved in Overload. Klare: thanks for the hairdresser recommendation that I didn't take, and the tour of St.Kilda, and for your wonderful grouchiness. Sean: thanks for shepherding me through the Melbourne spoken word scene and putting me on stage at Babble. EZB and Michael: thanks for enduring that show with me, and EZB thanks for the entertaining notes, which I have saved. alicia and Steve: thanks for cheering me on and for asking me to your radio show. alys: thank you (and your roommates) for indulging me with comfortable accomodation, although I have to say it was a bit of a let down after the Windsor. thank you for the lesson in potatoes and kiwi phonics. Amelia: thanks for organizing an impromptu Adelaide spoken-word conference for me at the pancake house, and sorry I missed your reading because of a footy game. Kat: thanks for the German lessons. Trish: thanks for letting me share your table and good luck in Arnhem land. Tug: thanks for the ticket to the missing Opera House, and for inviting me to Bardfly, and thanks for being so darn entertaining. Benito: thanks for letting me crash on your couch or whichever couch happened to be near by, and for drinks, and for hosting me at Bardfly. To the Sydney Opera House, thanks for being there.

If I have missed anyone who is reading this, I thank you too. Part Two: Melbourne, Brisbane, the Great Barrier Reef, New Zealand, and beyond!