A 70-year-old Australian who travelled from Sri Lanka to Wimbledon in a tiny Fiat minivan in the 1960's is searching for his long-lost travel companion.

Bruce Thomas, of Perth, western Australia, met Londoner Stuart Harper when they were both working on geological mapping projects in the Australian outback in 1967.

Two years' later the pair embarked on a transatlantic adventure which Mr Thomas documented with Nikon F Photomic and Nikkormat FTn cameras.

More than 200 extraordinary photos from their trip have been published on Mr Thomas' Flickr account, with the story of their trip told in the captions.

Sri Lankan elephants, barefoot 'hippie chicks' in Nepal, farm labourers in Turkey and Italian soldiers in Milan are among the pictures of 1969 life captured by Mr Thomas.

In one series of photos, the car is shown being manhandled across the beach by enthusiastic Indians in Rameswaram after it arrived by ferry from Sri Lanka.

Pictures from their journey through Nepal show some of the original barefoot hippes.

Mr Thomas said: "They were simply adventurous young people, the antecedents of today's backpackers, who were taking advantage of the peaceful conditions and open borders of the time to explore a strange and exotic world."

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Their journey continued over six months through Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium before the pair made the crossing to the UK, still in their minivan.

The final photo in Mr Thomas' photo documentary shows the battered Fiat after arriving in Worple Road, Wimbledon, where Mr Harper remained for a number of years working at Russell's Photographers - the old camera store near Wimbledon Station.

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Mr Thomas believes his travelling companion may still be living in the Merton area.

Mr Thomas posted the photos on a Flickr account two years ago after re-reading the travel diary he kept of his journey.

He said: "I decided to scan and post some of the 1,800 photos I took on my trip, and was astonished at the response from viewers who sent many complimentary comments.

"My thoughts then turned to Stuart and sharing them with him. Since he would now be around 80 years old, if we were to re-connect, it had better be sooner than later."

Do you know Stuart Harper? Comment below, or email louisa.clarence@london.newsquest.co.uk.