One of the forerunners in this field for the independent traveller was the legendary ‘BIT’ Travel Guide, which covered grass-roots info on the hippy route from India to Australia. From their birth in 1970 as half a dozen stapled together sheets with 1 staple and no cover, the guides grew to over a hundred pages of advice on everything from herbal remedies to squatting rights. It gained almost cult status with backpackers constantly sending in letters on their travels and tribulations and became known as the ‘Bible of the East.’