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Are we there yet? Are we there yet??

Ben Southall — Mon, 16 May 2011 11:50:19 +0000

Breathe in, breathe out, and exert a massive, “Pheeeew!” I’ve finally made it to 1770 – the launchpad for the Best Expedition in the World!!!

It’s merely a cricket’s lifetime away now. Next Saturday, while the Captain Cook Festival is in full swing, the crew and I will be kicking-starting our epic voyage of discovery. We can hardly wait!

But, I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. I might have escaped my CBD office, but there’s still a bit to get through while I’m ‘waiting in the stalls’.

International and domestic media are travelling to 1770 over the coming days to investigate, write up, and film Best Expedition related stories.

The similarities between Captain Cook and myself have been particularly enticing for the media. Click here to read the Courier Mail article.

Not only will I be following Cook’s route up the Queensland coast, I’m just as much of an adventure-hungry Pom as he was! I just happened to swap his HMB Endeavour for a state of the art Hobie Kayak, and his telescope for an ocean of modern marine technology.

Just to make sure I can pull this 21st Century challenge off, I’ll be doing some serious Hobie and ‘tech training’ this week. I want to make sure I know what I’m doing and have contingencies in place before I hit the open water.

I’m fairly sure I’ve packed everything the crew and I will need (and stuff we really don’t need). Solar showers, board games, expedition mascots, DVDs, Saya skincare, laptops, 4-months worth of clothing and enough dive gear to sink a ship – I’ve brought the lot…and then some. This is not back packing, this is not flash packing, this is the Best Expedition in the World!

Fingers crossed, everything will fit on the Sunsail support vessel, “Sunshine “, which is currently passing Yeppoon and on it’s way south. I visited Sunshine in the Whitsundays several days ago and kitted her out with a complex interweb of technology – slightly overwhelming stuff, but vital in order for me to run bestexpeditionintheworld.com from the middle of the Great Barrier Reef.

Mum and Dad have also been learning how to master new media technologies. They arrived in Brisbane last week to kick off their ‘Queensland Road Trip‘, which they have started photo-documenting and blogging about on the Best Expedition website. These ‘Grey Nomads’ will undoubtedly get up to some serious fun and mischief over the next few months. I look forward to catching up with them at different points along the coast and hearing ALL of the goss.

Between catch up points, my folks will be able to follow my progress (from May 21st) by taking the odd peak at the live tracking page of this website, courtesy of Yellowbrick. It will update my position every 15 minutes on a Google Map, and feature photo videos, photos, 360° panoramas, and blogs in exactly the same place they were created. Check it out here and join me on the adventure of a lifetime – the Best Expedition in the World!

Yours Expeditionally,

Ben

Sharks, fatigue and kayaking – awesome

Ben Southall — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:07:52 +0000

My kayaking partner and good friend Eddie Safarik recently completed the first crossing from Fraser Island to Lady Elliot Island in the Capricornia group, 95kms away, with two friends Gaz and Paul.

The guys are an inspiration when it comes to the idea of out-there adventure and a great source of motivation towards my ‘next big idea’ that will be happening in 2011.

Have a listen to the interview here:

Eddie’s interview

South Africa – images from my holiday….

Ben Southall — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:02:09 +0000

From Port Edward in the south, to a few days in Durban, recovery in the Drakensberg to a microlight flight over KZN.

Not a bad place to be hey?

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The work of my friend Tom Bartlett…..genius

Ben Southall — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:53:20 +0000

There’s a very good friend of mine called Tom who has lots of time on his hands to create such legendary classics as this….enjoy and thank you Mr Bartlett.

Bre goes on a mission….

Ben Southall — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:22:00 +0000

On Sunday Bre and the filmcrew from Beyond TV headed south from Brisbane to the Gold Coast where they’ll spend the week visiting Movie World, Sea World and generally having as much fun as they possibly can. They’ll be filming her every movement as she trains with some of the world’s best stunt men and women, driving cars, diving with sharks, cracking whips and mingling with the stars from down there who’ve done it for years.

When she’s down there she’ll be staying with one of our great friend’s, Alex Stratigos, whose family live there and have very kindly offered to put her up for a few days. Alex is down in Sydney still and sometime soon will actually get her ass up this way to visit…hint, hint!

While she’s away I’m heading off to the Fantasea Reefworld pontoon to spend a couple of days there and a night enjoying the Reefsleep, find out more here. Wish she could have been here to do it with me though as it’ll be strange being under the stars, floating on the Great Barrier Reef without her there to enjoy it with me….

Hurry back my girl, there’s a huge adventure going on and I want you here with me to enjoy it! Have fun down there and be safe.

Ben

Father’s Day in the UK

Ben Southall — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:16:54 +0000

So when asked about the things I’d miss about the UK it appears I have to play my cards close to my chest for fear of reprisal by the tabloid newspapers both here and in Australia!

I’ll be totally honest and say that I’m going to miss my family though, especially my two nephews and my niece and they’ll be so much bigger when I get home! We all went out for a farewell lunch on Father’s Day at my favourite local haunt, The Trooper Inn.