Just in case you have not been following his progress, check out Shaun Quincey's website www.TasmanTrespasser.com - he is currently rowing solo across the notorious Tasman sea from Australia to New Zealand.
His Dad, Collin, did it first, in the late 70's and now Collin is following in his Dad's footsteps. He is about a third of the way across and has a remarkable attitude, GO SHAUN! Also, he is twittering his experiences and I read that he just bumped into a whale that was way bigger than his boat - what a nutter!

Happy New year, well happy 2 months into the year anyway. The first part of the Year started rather relaxingly for me. I took a holiday to Bali and Lombok in Indonesia which was awesome. Not because I got to climb any volcanos or go trekking through Jungle, but because I got to spend two weeks with my girlfriend, sitting by the pool with a cocktail in hand. It was my first real holiday in years.

Holidays aside, I've been busy with my hands in a few pies. Work on getting the 1000 Hour Day doco funded is progressing well and as you can see I've given my website a bit of a spring clean. Feel free to click the link at the top of the page to subscribe to this blog via email.

I wrote a little piece for Australian Geographic last week which was fun. It was a 'tip and tricks' sort of thing for filming in the field. You can read it here.

Its been a while since my last update but i'll do my best to fill you in on the last month.

Well, since finishing Uni, my life has been split between saving money, trying to find a 'real' film job and get the Victoria Island documentary up and running (amongst festive season stuff!) and out of the usual stuff I have two bits of news to report.

1) I may be going into space
2) Our doco is now officially supported by Andrew Denton's production company 'Zapruder's Other Films'.

Shall I leave it at that? Or do i need to explain myself?... OK I shall explain away

During my various job hunting sessions, looking for some film work now that I've got a film degree and all, i occasionally stumble upon audition requests. For example, the Ch 7 show that I was a finalist to be on until they pulled the plug on the show (see previous blog entry). It seems I also applied for another show which is a world wide competition to send two people into space as civilian astronauts. Anyway, long story short - i am a contestant, which means i will at least be in the first episode. Fingers crossed i make it through each and every episode until i'm in orbit! At the moment all the details are very vague, so don't hold your breath that this will eventuate into anything, but holy cow, how amazing would it be to be a fully fledged astronaut! Apparently more details will be sent my way post xmas and filming starts May next year. Will definitely keep you updated with that one.

Now onto the doco side of things. Distracted Media have partnered with Zapruders Other Films to work together on the documentary about Chris and my crossing of Victoria Island, tentatively called The Crossing. Very cool stuff considering Zapruders have a zillion awards under their belt. Now we're playing with the big boys! Will keep you posted on any progress with the doco - the ball has started rolling!

To infinity and beyond...

Hi all, 

A lot has been happening over the last month and a lot more in the next coming months. I thought I'd send a quick update to keep you posted.

A couple of weeks ago I managed to somehow get through to the final round of interviews for a new TV show for Channel 7. In a nutshell it would have involved me flying all over the World filming travel stories and the possibility of winnning a large cash prize at the end of the season. The day I was to find out if was the "Chosen One" however, the channel decided to pull the plug on the show - talk about an anti-climax!

I've also FINALY finished my degree this last week. Its been five years in the making, and many adventures/deferred semesters later - i'm officially a media and communications graduate with a film major!!!

Last weekend I paddled 100km down the Hawkesbury river just north of Sydney as part of the annual Hawkesbury Canoe Classic. For some stupid reason, I decided to do it in the aluminium kayak I built for my 1000hourday expedition in 2005. It was like trying to paddle a landcruiser! Anyway - needless to say, Chris (who'm also paddled in his arctic kayak) and I got disqualified 12 km from the finish line after 19 hours of paddling. Apparently all the other paddlers finished a few hours previous  and we were well past the cut-off time. Either way it was a fun night (did i mention it was a night time paddle?) and despite falling asleep once or twice mid paddle and waking up in the reeds I had a great time. Next year though Chris and I might do it in normal kayaks. Thanks to everyone who gave us donations for the bone marrow charity and especially to AQUAPAC, SKINS and AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC for helping us out also.\

Lastely, I'm planning a trip to Indonesia with my girlfriend Bea in Jan - does anyone have any secret spots they would like to share?

Over the last few months there has been some good progress with the 1000 Hour Day documentary, affectionately named "The Crossing" for now. Julien Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi from Distracted Media have been fantastic in working on getting funding for the doco and sorting through the countless hours of footage I took during the 2005 and 2008 expeditions. Earlier in the week they had a screening at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney with some trailers of their up and coming films (including The Crossing) as well as two short films. The night was a hit and the trailer was well received. I'll post a link to the trailer once we get ourselves sorted out.

Last Sunday I ran in the Sydney running festival to finish my first marathon. 42 kilometres and 4 1/2 hours later I finished - not the fastest time in the world but i'm happy to finally confront my fear of running. Yes funny any adventurer not liking something simple like running. Anyway, all went well and apart from a few sore joints and muscles i'm one happy explorer. Next task is to train for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic a 111 km kayak race down the Hawkesbury river just North of Sydney. It is going to be an awesome race under the full moon in October. Although since i'll be doing the race in my 2005 PAC (Paddleable Amphibious Cart) with Chris Bray we will probably take about 24 hours instead of the usual 9 or 10 in a normal kayak. Either way, its going to be awesome!

Late October this year, my mate Chris and I are both entering the 'Hawkesbury Classic' which is an annual 111 km marathon canoe race overnight down the Hawkesbury River. Apart from having a bit of 'fun', the aim is to raise money for the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation to 'give hope to people suffering from diseases treatable by bone marrow and adult stem cell transplants'. It's open to kayaks as well as canoes, and so for the fun of it, Chris and I are dragging out our 2005-expedition PACs from under the house. We're going to enter the race in those orange, home-made aluminium wheeled kayaks that we lived out of across the first 300km of Victoria Island. As they already have Australian Geographic logos conveniently on the sides, AG have kindly agreed to pay our entry fee, but we need to raise at least $200 each for the charity.

"What's this twist with your Antarctic expedition Clark?" I hear you say... Well we are revealing this twist soon, but not just yet.

I can however, tell you that training has begun. Because Jonesy, Cass and I have not worked together as a complete team before, and seeing as we'll be working together for the next couple of years on the Antarctic Expedition, we have made it a big priority to train together as much as possible from an early stage. Nothing like a bit of pain and suffering for team bonding hey! 

Included in this training regime is a Marathon at the end of next month and a 111 km kayak race in Oct. Good fun! Also, a big welcome to AQUAPAC on becoming my newest sponsor. These guys make some awesome waterproof cases which Chris and I used for our iPod whilst in the Arctic and what i use during my kayak training on Sydney Harbor. Thanks guys.

Stay tuned for the next BIG trip to be revealed soon....

Clark

Well its been around 10 months since returning from the depths of Victoria Island and expedition life in general so I thought i'd give a brief rundown with what i've been up to and what my plans are for the future. 

As soon as Chris and I stepped back on Aussie soil, i pretty much went straight back into training and fundraising because I had only 7 months before I was due to row across the Indian Ocean with my mate Ryan Storey. Well... for those of you who have been following my progress know that we had a few setbacks which we weren't able to recover from and thus the Indian has been put aside (for now!). So.... now that I wasn't going to be spending the first half of the year in a little row boat on my way to Africa, I thought I'd move to Sydney and re-enroll back at University to finally finish that bloody film degree. It's a three year degree and when I finish in November this year it will have been six years in the making for me! I guess thats what happens when you try to mix adventure with University.

So, right now i'm living like you're average Joe. I'm a poor student paying rent and in debt from the aborted Indian row. I'm currently working with wiz-bang producer/editor Julien Harvey to get funding for the Victoria Island documentary and have secured the rights to all the teams footage from the Indian Ocean rowing race 2009 and plan on making a documentary for that when they all get back on dry land. This race is still in action and the fastest teams are just crossing half way now - check it out .

I've just started hiring an enclosure for my kayak right at Point Piper in Sydney Harbour down the road from my apartment so will be enjoying some nice early morning kayaks around the harbor and past the heads this Winter!
I'm also taking advantage of this seemingly normal year to wedge my foot in the door of the film industry and get some film experience. Know anybody who needs a crazy cameraman? 

Chris Bray and I have also started applying to speaking bureaus to kick start our brand spanking new keynote presentation packages. Oh... i've also got another trip in the making so stay tuned for that one.... a little hint, its not going to be as warm as the Indian Ocean.... soon all will be revealed, this one will be a doozy!
Do you like my dork photo below, from now on its only kayaking or cycling to get places around the city!

So who's been following the Indian Ocean Rowing Race this year? Well I know I have, since I can't be in it, I may as well watch obsessively as those little dots make their way across my computer screen. 

If your like me, you'll start out going "OK cool look at them out there in the Indian Ocean", then the next day you'll check again to see whats happened since you last looked, then a few hours later that day you'll check again, and before you know it you're clicking refresh every hour to see what the latest is. To give you a brief run down, the race started 23 days ago with 10 teams departing Geraldton, Western Australia - Four teams of four, four teams of two and two solo rowers. Within the first day, one of the solo rowers pulled out with steering problems and a pair boat pulled out because of broken ribs from a rogue wave. The next day saw the only Aussie entry, a team of four from W.A. pull out because they were leaking water into their aft cabin. A few days later saw a very strong team of two pull out because of equipment problems and they lost their para anchor. Nine days into the race an eight man crew departed Gerladton with the aim of making a speed record crossing of the Indian - they are now coming in at fours place after catching up and overtaking some of the other teams. 

So, including the eight man boat there are now seven teams left in the race. Compare this to the 30 or so in the Atlantic rowing races and it becomes clear that this is not so much a race, but a crossing with the hope to make it all the way. 

In the team of fours - the only girl team is in the lead, showing all the guys how its done.

The solo rower was just behind them until a day ago when the pairs boats finally caught up and... well - you can check it out on the race website to see how the teams are progressing and read the updates live from the Indian.

Please if you do visit the site - make sure you send a message to the teams because I know just how motivating it is for them to receive these messages. Even send a dirty joke or two if you like - i'm sure they'll appreciate it.