The Lights Up Ahead

Its almost four months since my crash on the edge of the Strzelecki Desert, but unfortunately I am still stuck in Melbourne. I was cleared by the surgeon to restart the journey six weeks ago, but the state borders have remained closed ever since, and most of that time we have been confined to stay within 5km of home.

So, it will come as no surprise that I have had to postpone the expedition until next year. I now have two expeditions on hold due to the pandemic, The Andes, the Altiplano & the Atacama and BTC Across Australia. The window of opportunity to complete the South American expedition is from February to mid-April – there are six weeks still to do of that journey and I have a local team available. BTC Across Australia can only happen between May and October – there are two months left to do there and I am very fortunate that my support team is keen to resume from where we stopped. The priority however, as has been the case for the last few years, is Breaking the Cycle South Pole. This can only happen in the Antarctic summer, between mid-November and the end of January (2022/23).

At this stage I am aiming to do two of the three afore-mentioned expeditions next year. If I can find the backing for Antarctica, I will then choose to do one of the other two journeys. If I don’t find the funding, then I’d like to finish the Andes and Australian expeditions…and the Andes is really dependent on whether Australia opens its borders in time! So that’s my adaptable plan!

In the meantime, unable to work because the real tennis club is still closed, I have been keeping sane by keeping busy! I have decided that this is a good time to release the film I made with editor, Mikey Matthews during last year’s long Victorian lockdown called The Lights of Ladakh. The 50-minute film is about my 2018 Breaking the Cycle in Ladakh expedition – a 1200km cycle over some of the world’s highest mountain passes and a journey to bring light and education to 1100 year-old Ralakung village, the oldest and most remote village in the Zanskar region of the Indian Himalaya.

I am working in partnership with Adventure Entertainment to show the film. We’re aiming to premiere it on Thursday 23rd September (2 weeks time), packaged together with a pre-recorded Q&A and some bonus videos to finish with.  The Lights of Ladakh will be streaming worldwide for 2 weeks.

Here’s the link to find out more and watch the trailer: https://adventureplus.com/programs/the-lights-of-ladakh

Adventure Plus, the SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) platform for Adventure Entertainment, is like “Netflix for adventure films”. A portion of the $4.99 monthly subscription goes towards helping me cover the costs of what I do – expeditions, education and film projects. When you subscribe you’ll receive access to the rest of the extensive Adventure Plus catalogue for a month (or a year if you go for the $39.99 annual subscription).

I am delighted to report that The Lights of Ladakh event has proven to be a very attractive package for sponsor partners! The Presenting Partners are Battleface, Lazer Sport and Suunto, the Exclusive Gear Partner is Snowgum and the Supporting Partner is The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Australia.

For now, please SAVE THE DATE and I’d really appreciate it if you can help to SPREAD THE WORD (share the link above or click on the promotion in the side column).