Out now: Beyond Timbuktu: Journeys of Hope & Humanity
What if the world was far kinder and more connected than headlines lead us to believe? If smiles were passports to foreign lands?
From Albania to Zimbabwe – through over 150 countries, best-selling author Catherine DeVrye shares real-life stories beyond bias, borders and sightseeing. Trekking to Timbuktu, skiing in Lebanon, cycling through Lithuania, swimming off Yemen, dining with royalty in Bahrain or sharing pizza with Syrian refugees in Serbia – she discovers that most individuals are kinder than their governments; that more unites us than divides us, even in often maligned nations.
Media
Sydney Observer Cover story Adventure
Sydney Observer Cover story
Audience Reaction: Willoughby Literary Festival
Traveling Older – ABC Radio with Tony Wheeler, Lonely Planet founder
Adventure over ageism
Life mirrors nature. Some of it’s tragic but most of it’s magic!
Since the dawn of time there have always been (and probably will always be) the darkest of disasters in both Mother Nature and human nature. Thankfully, few of us will ever face tragedy that strikes with the strength and speeds of tornadoes and tsunamis; or with the ferocity of floods and forest fires. Yet, most […]
BEYOND TIMBUKTU: Stories for forthcoming book-July 2026
‘Beyond Timbuktu: Journeys of Hope & Humanity’…. Tony Wheeler-Founder Lonely Planet says: ‘Catherine may set out to go everywhere, but her explorations prove that with an open mind anywhere is as friendly as home’… Amid media bombardment of conflict, cowardice, disruption and disease, readers will welcome respite through an armchair journey to share pizza with […]
2020 Olympic Torch Hindsight to Rekindle Embers of Hope
It’s hard to believe twenty years have passed since I was honoured and humbled to carry the Olympic torch on the day of the opening ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympics; one of only 26 people before Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron in the stadium. I’d been privileged to attend the closing ceremonies when […]
Small world-Universal challenges
I’m just home from Africa, having avoided a coup in Ethiopia where the government closed down all Wi-Fi for 3 weeks; which gave me fresh material on disruption to address a leadership team event in Sydney this week. Every nation, organisation and individual faces different challenges in times of rapid change. Yet, did you know […]
Beyond 9-11 to Beyond Covid-19: Keep Hope Happening
On September 11, 2001, I addressed the World Airline Entertainment Association—at the Brisbane Convention Centre. The topic: ‘Change is Inevitable.-Learning from change is optional’. Only a few hours later, you can imagine the mood among the 1600 delegates from around the globe. I wondered then—as I do twenty years after—what we have learned? I felt […]