Chasing Dreamtime: A Sea-Going Hitchhiker's Journey Through Memory and Myth [Paperback]

Neva Sullaway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

Chasing Dreamtime is the incredible true-life story of a young traveler's journey through memory and myth. In 1975, after college and a brief, disastrous marriage, Neva Sullaway attempts to escape her anguish as well as the post-Vietnam confusion of her generation by sailing alone around the world, but her plans are abruptly scuttled. A string of unlikely events occurs and sends her boat-hopping across the vast South Pacific.

While sailing among the exquisitely beautiful Pacific atolls, Sullaway is arrested for a visa violation, hunted by sharks, stricken with tropical fever and held at knifepoint. Even after being entangled in a drug-smuggling scheme and facing death several times, Sullaway continues her journey, taking a brief respite from sailing the seas to pedal a "pushbike" 2,000 kilometers along Australia's northeastern coastline. There the odyssey takes its sharpest turn as she ventures onto a fishing trawler in the remotest outback regions.

While poised at the brink of her physical and emotional limits in the stark Never-Never, Sullaway catches a glimpse of the elusive Aboriginal concept of Dreamtime and her darkest demons unfold into wings of flight. For Sullaway and the reader alike, reality can never be the same again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a gripping parallel journey sailing across the Pacific and through the emotional storms which cloud the writer's past" -- National Geographic Channel

"This book's structure, style and scope give it a legitimate claim to being top-tier maritime literature." -- The San Diego Union-Tribune

Winner of a San Diego Book Award in best unpublished nonfiction narrative category. -- San Diego Book Awards

About the Author

As a sea-going hitchhiker, Neva Sullaway lived the story of Chasing Dreamtime well before her twenty-fifth birthday. After settling in Sydney, she soon became the Australian Women's Sailboarding Champion, a title she successfully defended for four consecutive years. She built a career as a writer and photojournalist, covering sailboarding events in Australia, Europe and the U.S., and wrote One with the Wind: A Guide to Sailboarding in Australia. During this time she also created a magazine for sailors, Freesail Australia, which became Australia's top-selling sailboarding magazine.

Returning to the U.S., Sullaway studied filmmaking, receiving first place for her short film, Woodcarver, at the San Francisco International Film Festival. She wrote Sailing in San Diego: A Pictorial History for the 1992/1995 America's Cup. She continues to write, edit and do photography for maritime publications.

Sullaway lives with her husband and two children in San Diego, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Brookview Pr (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970764928
• ISBN-13: 978-0970764928
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing tale of near-death turning to life, May 27, 2005

By 

L. Cloud (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chasing Dreamtime: A Sea-Going Hitchhiker's Journey Through Memory and Myth (Paperback)

It is amazing Sullaway lived to tell this tale and we, the readers, benefit by getting to tag along from the comfort of our couches. You don't have to be a sailor to be enthralled by this tale of a woman who runs away to find herself. Armchair explorers and true adventurers alike will appreciate this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting sea tale, May 1, 2005

By 

Reader (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing Dreamtime: A Sea-Going Hitchhiker's Journey Through Memory and Myth (Paperback)

an exciting, one of a kind journey in real time and dream time: sullaway weaves together her adventures in sailing the pacific with an internal journey through memory and self understanding. Highly recommended, whether you have even been on a sailboat or not!

5.0 out of 5 stars Chasing Dreamtime: A Seagoing Hitchhikers Journey Through Memory and Myth, April 10, 2007

By 

Richard W. Griggs "Localmo" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chasing Dreamtime: A Sea-Going Hitchhiker's Journey Through Memory and Myth (Paperback)

A tremendous read! I could personally relate to the journey. Would make a super movie!