This week's guest speaker, Kevin Clark gave a most interesting, humorous and educational presentation.
Born in South Africa, educated in Architecture at Cape Town University, he and a friend Jurgen were encouraged to travel to Europe and Asia to see and experience the ancient architecture of these distant lands. They headed to London, bought a 1958 Matchless motor-cycle, attached a cargo carrying sidecar and set off. This was 1964 with no GPS, no cellphones, no sponsors. Many of the roads they travelled were nothing but dirt tracks but 31,500kms later, they made it back to UK.
Initially they travelled through Europe. They visited many magnificent cathedrals and castles on the way but when they reached Mesopotamia and Turkey, they were blown away by the magnificence of the ancient buildings. The mosques were outstanding, many designed by Mimar Sinan, the founding father of Ottoman architecture.
They then travelled through the Arab Kurd hostilities and political instabilities. They also encountered many examples of Arab courtesy and hospitality, including two nights hosted by the Iraqi Army in a fort after unintentionally riding through a check-point without stopping. Crossing the desert in Syria, they encountered only 3 people in 3 days. The motorbike needed constant attention to keep it going and it only just made it back to London.
Kevin showed us many superb photographs of the trip, accompanied by numerous humorous sketches he made of the people and places visited.
Kevin is a fellow of the NZ Institute of Architects and an award winning musician.
His presentation was something completely different and was enjoyed by all present.