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| You've got to see the funny side - wader enthusiasts Rick and Elis Simpson |
IT is every birder's nightmare.
After the long flight from London, via Dubai, you and your partner have arrived in Perth, Western Australia, intent on seeing many fantastic birds.
As you lounge back in the seat waiting for your coach to set off for your hotel, you realise something is missing.
You check: Suitcase, laptop, rucksack? Rucksack! Where the heck is the rucksack?! It contains two pairs of binoculars and a scope?
This is what happened to Rick Simpson and wife Elis back in September, 2013.
It did not take them long to twig that they must have left their £5,000 worth of optics on another bus - one which they could now see as it left the airport terminal on its way to who knows where.
In panic, Rick jumped off the stationary bus and sprinted - screaming and gesticulating wildly - in pursuit of the bus where he believed their rucksack to be languishing.
It was the first time he had run, let alone sprinted, for almost 30 years.
What is more, he has a chronically dodgy back as a result of an injury sustained during his illustrious career as a firefighter.
But his dash was to no avail. The bus gathered speed and disappeared from sight.
What happened next is recounted by the couple in their fabulously entertaining new book, A Quest for Waders.
As well being superbly-illustrated with both photographs and line drawings, the book is a compendium of the numerous scrapes they got into as they travelled the globe (14 different countries, nine different flyways)hoping to see as many birds, specifically waders, as possible.
On one occasion, they and their vehicle had to be rescued by police after becoming hopelessly stuck on a foul-smelling sewage farm
On another, they were woken at night by the alarming sound of elephants munching through the grass-made roof above their heads.
Many of the 'hotels' they booked on their budget adventure turned out to be in a disgusting state - with broken showers, blood-stained bedsheets or infested with bugs of all shapes and sizes.
And there was one scary flight which, but for the brilliance of the pilot, could have ended in tragedy.
The page-turning narrative of A Quest for Waders is a vibrant blend of the magnificent (the birds) and the horrific (the practicalities of actually getting to find them).
It is written in a fast-paced highly amusing style, peppered with abundant laughs.
If you welcome learning about the world's waders and enjoy a good chuckle, this is most definitely the book for you.
Its launch price is £15 but until the end of February only, it is available for a reduced price of £13.50 plus £3.50 UK postage.
To claim this 10 per cent discount, email Rick and Elis at waderquest@gmail.com and state whether you would like to pay by cheque or PayPal (bank cards option currently not available).
More details about Wader Quest, which is a registered charity, at Welcome to wader Quest - Wader Quest
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