1000HourDay.com [visit 2005 site]

Hey everyone!

Astoundingly, a full year has almost passed since our last update, and with so much going on, Clark and I thought it was about time to fill you all in:

As mentioned last year: "My partner Jess and I have just got a little 29-foot junk-rig yacht over in Halifax, on Canada's east coast, and we've re-named it 'Teleport' and are now saving hard to fly over there and start sailing her home, via the Northwest Passage, Alaska, Siberia, Kamchatka etc.." Well – guess what? Jess and I fly to Canada next Friday for 2 and a half months to kick it off! We've got a cool website up and running at www.YachtTeleport.com which we'll keep updated with news and photos just like Clark and I did for Victoria Island, so go to www.YachtTeleport.com now and subscribe to get the little email alerts! Considering that Jess has never sailed before, and neither of us have even seen the yacht we've bought, sailing Teleport home to Australia via the world's wildest and most amazing places is going to be interesting to say the least! =)


Clark, having finally graduated from Uni (Well done mate! Better late than never! Haha. I accept full responsibility there.) is embarking on his next expedition very soon as well. After spending many months shivering in the arctic with me on the 1000 Hour Day expeditions, he's excited to be heading to a much warmer climate - Papua New Guinea! The plan is for him and his expedition partner 'Johnno' to travel down PNG's longest river - the 'Sepik' - from source to sea (a distance of about 1,200 km), in Sep/Oct this year. They'll fly into a remote airstrip in the PNG highlands and hike through the jungle to find the source of the river. They'll then follow the trickle of water, carrying all their equipment with them, until the river gets deep and wide enough to puff-up and launch their... inflatable kayak! In this they hope to survive the initial 100 km (or so) of white water as the river descends from the highlands, and when it levels out and slows down they'll then acquire a dugout canoe from one of the villages dotting the river (or build one themselves) and make their way down the remaining 1,100km (or so) in that, until they hit the sea! It should take about two months. (But then again, that's what we said at the start of Vic Is, all those years ago!) You can follow their progress at www.Sepik2010.com

Looming expeditions aside, I have finally FINISHED WRITING THE BOOK about our crossing of Victoria Island!!! Not-surprisingly it's entitled 'The 1000 Hour Day' and (packed full of over 50 awesome photos, cool diagrams, maps and almost 350 pages of excitement) will be published by Murdoch Books in Australia, early November. It's going to be their 'lead title' for Christmas this year, and will be advertised on the back of busses and all! The book launch is to be at Gleebooks in Sydney on the evening of Wednesday 10th November if anyone wants to come along! Famous Aussie adventurer/entrepreneur Dick Smith kindly wrote us a quote for the cover: "An amazing tale of real adventure and genuine exploration in the modern era - unexplored regions, fearless animals, no support crew, disaster, excitement – the lot!" And if you'd like to click here and put your name down for it, I'll let you know the moment you can buy it (we'll be selling it first online here too), and for those on this early-interest list, Clark and I'll also autograph your copy and give you free delivery (within Australia)! Don't miss out! =) To whet your appetite, the Book page on this site shows what the cover looks like, and even has a crazily exciting excerpt from the book there for you to read!

As for the documentary film – it's been a slow work in progress for some time now. The big time killer is sourcing funds, and we are super keen to simply get stuck into the editing process. We're still a little short of funding but have got a few of tricks still left up our sleeves. If you happen to know/be a network producer or anyone that would be interested in funding the rest of the doco, we'd love to hear from you – it's going to be an epic tale of adventure!

Clark and I have just agreed to let you all in on a little secret actually – if you click here you can preview the draft version of the 3-minute trailer/teaser video for the doco (which doubles as a teaser for the book too I guess!) Take a look – it's pretty cool!

Over the last year, my 1 day photography courses have been spreading like wildfire and I now run them all around Australia and in New Zealand just about every Saturday and Sunday with Jess, and have also expanded into running photo safaris to Tasmania and excitingly, Kenya for 2 weeks in January! Take a squiz at www.ChrisBray.net for all that. In between doco work and PNG prep, Clark too is climbing out of arctic debt working at the ABC studios in Sydney, in the high-octane world of selecting, editing and scripting world news into 90-second video bulletins, which you can see here.

As usual, no rest for the wicked! =)

Hope you're all well, and ready to follow our next adventures!

Our live expedition updates are written on our tiny ASUS Eee PC 900 laptops, and sent via Iridium 9505A satellite phones from Landwide Satellite Solutions, using email compression software xGate from Global mareine Networks! Thanks guys - it's the perfect set up!