A 1600 km journey on kayak

Let's face it, we don't usually know much about what's happening down under. Our perceptions are usually masked by ignorance. For instance when I took a flight to Sydney and the plane first landed in Aukland, New Zealand, I felt that I am already arrived. So when I got this news:

Trans-Tasman paddler Andrew McAuley is almost within sight of his goal of becoming the first person to paddle a kayak from Australia to New Zealand.

With around 100km to go, McAauley is expected to arrive in Milford Sound on New Zealand's South Island on Sunday after enduring numerous capsizings, rogue waves, the attention of sharks and the worst weather the Roaring 40s could throw up.

My first outsider's reaction was wondering whether or not it's a big deal. But the mention of rogue waves intrigued me, so I did some further searching and here is the geography of the story:















That's 1600 km route no one ever paddled a kayak across before. I also found the official site of this adventure and the description of the rogue wave he encountered, happened in the early days of the journey, from the journal his wife kept online on land:

A bit of excitement on the water, or rather IN the water today — Andrew was capsized by a huge wave, but nothing he or the boat couldn't handle. Apparently the only tragedy was that he didn't capture it on film!

I wish he could capture the huge wave also. Well being capsized by it, who can have a cool mind to think about taking pictures!? He will be completing his adventure on Sunday, his family is already there waiting. God speed, Andrew!