The Honeyeaters' Tree

Suddenly homeless and beyond mid-life, a British birdwatcher takes off for the Antipodes. He's looking for the 73 species of honeyeater. In the process he uncovers the tree of life and the landscapes of Australia and New Zealand. He learns how the tree of life connects all the planet's species and how one of them threatens it like rarely before.

The author flies via Singapore to a week around Perth. As 2008 turns into 2009, he drives two months in a campervan from Adelaide to Cairns, Queensland.

The route skirts floods and cyclones. A fortnight in Tasmania and Victoria, with its fatal fires, concludes the Australian leg. New Zealand then offers a coda with its own branch of the family. Railways, cities and culture shock play cameo roles throughout.

Not just about birds, the trip is a last chance to witness other survivors from the Triassic as they struggle against the latest mass extinction.