“In the 1960s and 1970s tens of thousands of young Australians headed overseas on “the big adventure”. Some ended up in “Kangaroo Valley” in London drinking vast quantities of Fosters and being immortalised by Barry Humphries in the form of the innocent abroad, Bazza McKenzie. Others took various hippie trails and, although they little knew what they were doing, went on a complex journey of self-discovery. So why have we never had a really good account of these wild adventures which, with a bit of luck, were always stories about sex and drugs and rock’n’roll. I suspect the problem was Hunter S. Thompson. When someone writes a book like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the bar is set so high … and imitation is a fatal flaw. This omission has now been corrected. In “Bom Bom” Mark Tesoriero has written the best, and most fascinating, account of a remarkable adventure and a remarkable life. Here, told in an easy conversational style without pretension and without any attempt at “gonzo” style writing, is the story of a young Sydney man who headed out with a friend to experience the hippie trail. Here is the story of sailing from Australia to London; enjoying London in the early 1970s when the “Sixties” were still swinging; and of planning to travel across Europe, the Middle East and Asia when it was still possible to travel through Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a story of friendships made; of loves and dalliances along the way; and of adventures in the eternal quest for good drugs and lots of fun. Don’t underestimate it: this is an important book. It is a slice of life, experienced with great joy and intensity, which many experienced but very few have written about with such clear-eyed honesty. Mark Tesoriero makes a mockery of that old cliché that “If you remember the ‘60s, you weren’t really there”. He remembers everything … and he definitely was there.”

Bruce Elder