November 2009

Challenge Yourself.

Make the most of new gadgets and gear to push your dreams

WORDS ANNE LOH

Australian Geographic Young Adventurers of the Year Justin Jones and James Castrission are going on tour to tell the public how they accomplished a world-first feat – crossing the Tasman in a kayak. We get our oar in first.

You can fly Jetstar across the Tasman, why did you decide to kayak instead?
The idea came up on Day 31 of a kayaking expedition that we were doing down the entire length of the Murray River (2,560km) in 2001. James made a flippant comment that it would be pretty cool to paddle this sort of distance, but on the open ocean… how about the Tasman? We didn’t move on the idea for three years but the seed had been planted.

What does it mean to be adventurers in this day and age?
Sharing the experience with people back home. Technology has gotten to the point were we send photos and podcasts back to mainstream society and have live tracking on the web. It’s been pretty cool to be able to write a book and produce a documentary about our journey: Crossing the Ditch.

Tell us about that unusual kayak built for you.
We designed it for rough Tasman conditions. She is 9m long, 1.1m at her widest, and carried all the equipment that we needed in order to survive. We built a little cabin on the back of her (about the size of two coffins stacked on top of each other) to allow us to get out of the massive storms we were going to face. Fully loaded with us, she weighed close to a tonne.

How did you prepare yourselves physically for the crossing?
In the 18 months leading up to the expedition we trained on average 30 hours each week. This involved kayaking (obviously!), gym work, cross-training, tramping, cycling, running and a few sessions with the Australian Army where they put us through severe sleep and food deprivation training.

What’s Justin and James’ next big adventure?
We’re now in the throes of planning an Antarctic sled-hauling expedition. In two years’ time, we’re going down to the ice and hauling our equipment and food 1,200km to the South Pole. There’s a big twist to what we’re doing down there that will make it a very interesting expedition for people to follow!

World Expeditions and The North Face are presenting Justin and James in a multi-city Australian tour encompassing Sydney (17 Nov), Melbourne (20 Nov) and Brisbane (24 Nov); tickets at AU$19.50. Call 1300 720 000.

WORK OUT

Hold on Tight
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Knock ’em Out
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