Traveller, writer and actor Charley Boorman reckons there aren't dangerous places, just dangerous governments, writes DAN BATEMAN

A strange twist of fate saw adventurer Charley Boorman experiencing his own Deliverance-style moment while filming his latest TV series, Right to the Edge, in Papua New Guinea.

The son of director John Boorman appeared in his father’s 1972 ode to the American South, Deliverance, starring as Jon Voight’s son.

The film famously told the story of a quartet of friends travelling down a river, who met some quite unfriendly locals.

Thirty-seven years later, riding motorbikes through the wobbly roaded Papua New Guinean highlands, Boorman and his film crew stumbled upon a flooded river.

The crew had just passed through a roadblock crammed with large menacing men wielding machetes, who would not let them through without a hefty bribe.

The crew weren’t really in the mood for waiting around. But what happened next was what Boorman, who has travelled extensively across the world in the past five years, refers to as an "oh sh--" moment.

"We had to wait five or six hours for the river to come down. More and more people started turning up and they all started drinking and it all started to get a bit slightly out of control," Boorman said.

"At one stage, people were getting the machetes out and starting to shout, pushing and shoving kind of thing. We were just sitting back going, ‘oh, f--- – here we go’.

"You just keep smiling and say ‘what’s the problem?’ and sort of talk them down."

Thankfully, with hundreds of thousands of kilometres under his belt (a majority travelled on the back on a motorbike), trouble has been in short supply for the Wimbleton native.

Boorman says it is more of a case of bad politicians, not the country’s people, which earned some destinations their "no-go" tags.

"The thing that I’ve noticed is, no matter what you say to people, when you tell them you are going to go off to Papua New Guinea or Africa or stuff, they say ‘oh, that’s a really dangerous, dodgy place’," Charley said.

"I think from all the times I’ve done that, there aren’t very many dodgy places.

"It’s only dodgy governments. The people of these places are lovely. Never be afraid to go somewhere and just get out there and do it."

For Right to the Edge, Boorman and good friend Russ Malkin decided to travel by any means possible from Sydney to Tokyo.

The 8000km, four-month journey was completed in August, and had the travel writer jumping on-board all kinds of transport methods, from quad bikes to hovercrafts.

The North Queensland leg of his trip was, of course, completed in the most quintessentially Aussie method of travel – the ute.

"I arrived in Cairns in the classic Australian ute; we had a lovely ride up. The roads are all pretty clear in Australia. Even the dirt roads are good," Boorman said.

"Compared to Papua New Guinea and other places, they are like billiard tables.

"Be thankful for what you’ve got, because most of the world’s got pretty sh-- roads."

It was in the Far North Queensland town of Mt Molloy that Charley became acquainted with a cafe that serves famously humungous hamburgers.

The cafe left such an indelible impression on the Brit that he named an entire chapter after it in the TV series’ accompanying book.

"They’re pretty big burgers, as well. I couldn’t finish it," he said.

Boorman’s famous travelling companion, Hollywood superstar Ewan McGregor, could not tag along on this particular adventure due to filming commitments.

The pair, who met on the set of 1997 flick The Serpent’s Kiss, had travelled through three continents and 15 countries, from London to New York, for the series Long Way Round, which spawned a best-selling DVD, book and CD soundtrack.

When Boorman returns home to the UK, he said he would start planning his next grand adventure.

He is remaining tightlipped on the details of the trip – he’s far too superstitious and doesn’t want to jinx himself – only hinting that it, too, will involve motorbikes.

"It’s funny how in two or three months, you’re desperate to get off travelling again," Boorman said.

"It’s a drug, really, travelling."

Right to the Edge, published by Little Brown is out now.

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