Red Earth Diaries

A Migrant Couple's Backpacking Adventure in Australia

Non-Fiction - Travel
214 Pages
Reviewed on 05/12/2021
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Author Biography

Jason Rebello was born in Mumbai, India and went to sea at the early age of seventeen.

He spent many years sailing across the world on modern ocean liners, eventually rising to the rank of a ship’s Captain. His sea career was interspaced with a healthy dose of backpacking and intrepid travels and as a result, he was firmly hooked on a life of adventure and uncommon living.

His travel blog, The Evolving Backpacker, was born out of his passion for travel. He has also written several self-help books under the ‘Migrant Ninja’ series.

Jason along with his wife and two children is now settled in Australia.

    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Red Earth Diaries: A Migrant Couple's Backpacking Adventures in Australia is a work of non-fiction that focuses on travel, culture and memoir, and was penned by author Jason Rebello. A concise but comprehensive read with plenty of adventure from cover to cover, this is the unique tale of how a couple with very little to their name migrated to Australia with the dreams of crafting a new life in a new country. What results is an incredible story of their initial backpacking odyssey as they fall in love with the country and its many wonderful characters, and the story of how this inspires them to set up their new lives and thrive in a brand new environment of hope.

Author Jason Rebello brings together many different genres and influences of non-fiction to provide an educational and entertaining work. In terms of a memoir, this is a truly inspiring tale of migrants coming from India with dreams of a totally different life, and this element is narrated tenderly and with great attention to detail in the prose. For readers looking to travel to Australia in the future, the book provides a great overview of the culture and history of many different places across the country, with enticing local details and personal reactions to the learning experience. And in between all this is a truly exciting tale of exploration and inspiration. Overall, I would definitely recommend Red Earth Diaries to fans of travel writing and inspirational memoirs everywhere.

Mamta Madhavan

Hold onto your dreams. You never know which one of them may come true! Red Earth Diaries: A Migrant Couple's Backpacking Adventures in Australia by Jason Rebello chronicles the author's passion for travel and discovering new places, and will encourage readers to get out of their comfort zones and explore Australia along with the author. The author's journey is all about chasing dreams and gives confidence to readers to chase their dreams and make it happen. It is also about love, a migrant's journal (the author left his home country of India and migrated to Australia in 2014), and can also be called a travelogue. Jason Rebello's personal life story, his career as a sailor, and making his dreams come true will encourage readers to work towards making their impossible dreams come true and live an adventurous life, exploring and discovering.

Red Earth Diaries takes readers to Australia, its stunning landscapes, and unparalleled natural beauty that boasts of beautiful beaches, tropical rainforests, world-class wineries, agricultural regions, quaint and exotic animals, perennial lurking dangers, and other attractions. The book is not only about discovering Australia and enjoying it but there is a thread of chasing dreams and making it happen that runs through the author's story, which gives the book different dimensions. It is also about how readers can evolve and grow and how traveling can change their perception about life and the world. Jason Rebello is honest and straightforward while sharing his story and his passion for travel, and there are underlying spiritual undertones that give the book a zen-like appeal.

The author's travel adventures and his discovery of the inner self, as well as the outer world, make this different from the usual travel book. There are a lot of good messages that can be learned which will help readers experience the richer feelings of gratitude and leave them grateful. Apart from discovering Australia, the author's travel adventures and stories teach readers a lot about living life to the fullest. This is one of the best travel books I have read in recent times because it is not only about discovering a place but also about discovering the self and improving for the better.

Emily-Jane Hills Orford

Life is an adventure. Sometimes it’s a day-to-day ritual of earning one’s livelihood, but other times it takes us on wild adventures, traipsing across a continent or even around the world. Jason and his wife Ambika are avid adventurers. When they first met, they bonded over their common interest in traveling, hiking, and seeing new places. A seafarer since the age of seventeen, Jason fell in love with many places his ships frequented, but his heart was always tugged in the direction of Australia. The two, as newlyweds, decided to pack up their lives in India and start a new one in Australia, beginning with an exploratory journey around Western Australia. They fell in love with the land, the life, and the people, and learned so much about the history, the livelihood, the geography and all that makes this unique continent so interesting.

Jason Rebello’s Red Earth Diaries: A Migrant Couple’s Backpacking Adventures in Australia takes the reader on a journey across what is appropriately and fondly called the red continent. The author leads the reader briefly through his early days as a seafarer, to meeting Ambika, and finally their joint decision to discover Australia. They were taking a risk as not many people can live long without some sort of steady income. But their adventure paid off in more ways than one. Jason’s power of language weaves a fascinating tale of his and Ambika’s adventures, travels, inserting interesting details about various aspects of the continent’s history, its people, its geography and so much more. None of the book is dry reading as the author’s ability to enrich each revelation has the reader yearning for more. A wonderful and informative read.

Eduardo Aduna

Red Earth Diaries: A Migrant Couple's Backpacking Adventures in Australia by Jason Rebello is a lovely tale of independence and adventure set in the beautiful but harsh continent of Australia. Jason and Ambika are newly-weds on a backpacking trip to discover the rich cultural and natural heritage that Australia has to offer. It takes a large amount of courage to venture on a trip with a limited amount of money and with a multitude of unknowns. Doing so as newlyweds is something that few would even consider. This premise in itself is sure to pique the interest of many readers. Add the rich setting in one of the most remote, unexplored, and unique continents in the world and you have the perfect recipe for a travelogue.

Author Jason Rebello’s prose is engaging and at times truly poetic. The way he observes his surroundings, noting the sights and sounds as well as the behavior of the people he interacts with, indicates heightened attention to details both concrete and abstract. I was mesmerized by his research into the history of Australia and the way he juxtaposes their own experiences with the country’s rich and sometimes bleak past. The couple’s unique point of view as newlyweds, wanderers, and migrants add layers of context to each interaction in their journey. Red Earth Diaries is an inspiring, surprisingly informative, and wonderfully colorful read, a book that I would pick up again and again, just to read select passages.

Foluso Falaye

A newlywed couple went backpacking across Australia with plans to settle there afterward. Jason Rebello was a captain of merchant ships and Ambika was a senior sales manager in India’s leading newspaper company. Their brave journey generates a story that includes beautiful landscapes, folklore, fellow travelers, deadly animals, historical facts, a lost tribe, Airbnb hosts, bushrangers, indigenous, a chartered helicopter ride, and a romantic story. Jason urges readers to go after their dreams and presents his colorful narration of the resilient, welcoming culture and beauty of the Land Down Under. Red Earth Diaries is for all the dreamers and travelers out there. Readers will learn about the history, people, wildlife, and what it's like to be a traveler in Australia.

I admit it: I am jealous. Jason Rebello's journey with his wife certainly sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I would be thrilled to actually find the lost tribe and the presumably extinct trees. Red Earth Diaries reveals that life can indeed be an adventure and taking a break from our normal routines to explore something new is a healthy practice for the soul. Jason smoothly switches between relating his experiences and interesting facts about the places he visited. The lifelike descriptions provided give as close an experience as one can get from a book; I would take consolation in that before I actually visit Australia. Red Earth Diaries is a must-read for anyone that wishes to experience a daring and inspiring journey.

Nancy sorial

It's really an amazing journey which you can experience it through this book.
What i liked also is that I am in the middle of a similar adventure, so for me it was like someone telling my story and feelings with a really great expressions.
And of course it's very informative about Australia and the culture there.