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October 15, 2001

HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION ARRIVAL INTO DARWIN, AUSTRALIA

* * * MEDIA RELEASE - 15/10/01 * * *

Around the World Adventurer, Jason Lewis and team of 6 other cyclists are set to pedal into Darwin, Australia this Friday, the 19th October, after a grueling 88 day, 4,600 km ride through the Australian Outback using off-road tracks only. Their arrival will signify the completion of the Australian section of an epic 12 year attempt by Lewis to become the first person for circumnavigate the world using only human power.

**BACKGROUND**
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, British born Lewis (34yrs) has traveled 42,000kms - over half way around the planet - without assistance from either motors or the wind; pedaling a one-of-a-kind pedal boat across the world's oceans, bicycling and rollerblading over land. On August 18th 2000, Lewis became the first in history to pedal across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco in the US to Port Douglas, Australia - 178 days and 13,000 kms. In 1994, original pedal partner Steve Smith (now retired from the expedition) and Lewis completed the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic by pedal power, and a year later Lewis completed the first unsupported crossing of the USA by roller blades.

**AUSTRALIAN ROUTE**
The Australian section started on the 24th July at the mouth of the Starcke River on the Cape York peninsular, North Queensland. The route then led the cyclists initially through the rainforest region of the Great Dividing Range then through the cattle station country of north Queensland to Mt. Isa. From there the team crossed the Simpson Desert to Alice Springs before turning north up the Tanami Track to Victoria River Downs and then up to Darwin, passing through pastoral leases and aboriginal land all the way.

The team has had quite a few dramas along the way, including being chased by various wild animals such as feral pigs, a Taipan (Australia’s most poisonous snake) in Queensland and a 13ft crocodile in the Flora River, Northern Territory! Lewis also managed to tread on a King Brown snake without being bitten while walking back to camp one night. One of the team members – Mike Roney - also sustained a fractured collarbone from a bad fall in the Simpson Desert. And in the past few weeks they have all been contending with the delights of 105 degree heat, leaches and hundreds of burrowing flies, a few of which have found their way under the eyelids and up into the sinuses of available noses.

A film crew shooting for a documentary series commissioned by The Discovery Channel has been following the team across Australia, capturing the team’s adventures at first hand.

“One of the most common thing we’ve heard on this trip when asking for clarification of directions from local people has been “You’ll never make it through that way. Not on push bikes. You’re mad - you’ll never make it!” It’s the same thing I’ve been hearing people day ever since Steve and I first started planning the expedition back in 1992. But I have to confess to being surprised to hear it out here in the outback. People are tough out here all right, but not as tough as the early pioneers that colonized this continent 150 years ago. And the cross section of the country that we’ve just cycled through is really harsh, unforgiving country. I reckon those early settlers must have been hard as nails!” Jason Lewis

**CLASSROOM LINK**
Every day the team has been joined by thousands of students and teachers both in Australia and around the world via the Internet as their latest reports and learning resources have been beamed back via satellite phone. Check out the website www.goals.com for more details.

**FUTURE**
On reaching Darwin Lewis plans on pedalling the pedal boat to East Timor, then kayaking the Indonesian chain of islands to Malaysia, subject of course to the political climate in the light of the recent events precipitated in New York on the 11th September. Next the expedition will bicycle through Thailand, Laos into China then hike south over the Himalayas into India. From this point, a 2,200-mile crossing of the Indian Ocean to East Africa is planned. The adventure will continue through North Africa and Europe to finish at the Greenwich Meridian Line sometime in 2006, it's original starting point. It will have taken a total of 12 years to complete the circumnavigation.

**DARWIN ARRIVAL DETAILS**
Time – 09.00 hrs, Friday 19th October
Place – Mindil Beach, Liveris Rd (off Maria Drive), Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
(call 0427 485 219 the same morning for directions)

Daily updates can be found at www.goals.com/expedition360/

For Live interviews or more information call our satphone:
+872 76 238 5166
(011 from US, 00 from Europe or 0011 from Australia>

For more information:
www.goals.com/expedition360/
t: (61) 7 40 53 4313
e: expedition_360@yahoo.com

Expedition photos available through our UK press office. Contact Jim Carey:
t: (44) 7944 310 591
e: x360@squall.co.uk

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Trip Sponsors – Amrel Systems, Inc. AUSLIG (Australia's national mapping agency), BOB trailers, Camelbak, Canondale Bikes, Icom Radio, Great Outdoors, Kawasaki, Klepper, John Swire & Sons Pty Limited, KNC Marketing, Magellan Systems, Mitsubishi Trucks Australia, Pelican Products, Primus Stoves, Pur Recovery Engineering, Roho Inc, Shimano, Silva Compasses, Vogon International

Posted by jason at October 15, 2001 3:01 AM