Abstract
This text is the story of Clyde Macfarlane's Australian gap-year. Clyde is a 23 British anthropology graduate. He wrote this after his backpacking experience in Tasmania for the travel section of the famous British newspaper "The guardian". He went there in order to see the big trees and escape the heat. At the beginning of his trip, he met with TK a Canadian biologist who had been living in the Florentine camp for two years. Actually, the main theme of the article is not only this exceptional trip in Australia, but also the ecological dimension of the exploitation of the forest, which is thereby threatened. We can wonder now, how a singular backpacking experience like Clyde's one, could make us feel concerned by some important environmental issues? We will first see that Clyde had expected to see the big trees but that, finally, he discovered an endangered forest of giant trees. Then, in a second part, we will agree on the fact that a gap year could be really rewarding.
To begin, Clyde Macfarlane decided to spend his gap-year in Australia. After a few months there, he tried to join the Upper Florentine Valley in Tasmania in an attempt to see the giant trees. Indeed, Clyde is a gaper, he tells us he was "on a year out in Australia" when he decided to change course for Tasmania. Tasmania is an island where he wanted to "escape the heat" and "see the big trees", because contrary to Australia, this is "home to a vast virgin forest", where the climate is very wet. Actually, Clyde is a real adventurer: he was progressing, walking in a hostile environment. This first paragraph shows perfectly in which state of mind the narrator is: he is full of determination and freedom. He is going to enter a huge virgin forest, which is so thrilling.
