Glenn and Lorraine Keating

So it’s officially two months before departure and that means one thing, time for an update.

We made the decision to send our Boeing tandem Jet Ski trailer in for some modifications that will allow us to carry some of our gear on it when the skis are in the water, it just made no sense for the support vehicle to be towing an empty trailer all the way around the country.  This will make life significantly easier for the support crew as they won’t have to lift gear up on to the roof each day and should also mean that the trailer tows a lot better. It will also reduce stress on our aluminum roof rack on the corrugated roads up North.  Boeing has done their best to ease the financial pain with these mods and as ever it is greatly appreciated.

Once the trailer is complete it will be time to install and test the long-range fuel tanks.  We are running short of time and Joe from Sydney Watercraft Centre has thrown his weight behind the project and will cover the cost of the labour to plumb the tanks in for us, he’s also covering the cost of getting them painted as well as doing our 50 hour services whilst he’s at it.  The saving to us is massive so a big thanks to Joe.  With time being what it is, it’s looking like we will have to do the bulk of the fuel range testing as we head up the East Coast once the journey proper has commenced, we really need to know accurate fuel range figures by the time we get to Cairns when fuel availability becomes more difficult.

We have just spent a week on the Central Coast and it was fantastic to get out on the skis everyday and really give our selves a bit of a beating out in the open water with trips to Terrigal and Manly and the confidence on the skis is improving each and every day.  We were hoping to have our tanks installed for this week but it wasn’t to be.  It also gave us a chance to test out our camping set-up over more than just a night or two and we had the managed to fine tune a few things during this time.  We also had our support crew for the Sydney to Brisbane leg join us for couple of days and it was great to take them out on jet skis for the first time.

One of our many persistent emails landed on the right desk and we ended up getting interviewed on Sydney’s 2GB with Chris Smith, the interview also went to air on their the sister station in Brisbane, 4BC I believe.  It went fairly well with Chris regularly questioning our sanity which is to be expected!  Clearly he felt we were interesting enough and he has booked us in for another interview the day before we leave during his 12-3pm timeslot.  It’s important that we make it entertaining as the audience that it presents our project to is invaluable for our fund raising efforts.  This applies to the whole project really.

Our website is getting closer to the point where it will just have to have up to date content added as we travel and with the site itself having thousands of hits a month now rather than hundreds it’s important that we get it loaded with as much information as possible and again in an entertaining and interactive style.  We will be testing GPS tracking systems in the next couple of weeks that will feed directly to the website and have decided to go for three units that will provide the live feed whenever the team is moving, so there will be one on each of the skis and one on the support vehicle.  We feel the addition of a tracking unit on the support vehicle will broaden the appeal of the whole project by making it of interest to the large 4WD community that’s out there.

Our social media campaign is ramping up as we get to the business end of the preparations and we have now added Instagram and Twitter to our existing Facebook and YouTube campaigns.  Facebook is still the primary tool used to get the message out there and in the last week our ‘posts reach’ has been in excess of 4,000 and our ‘likes’ are steadily climbing towards the 500 mark.  We clearly have a long way to go with our audience reach but we are quietly confidant we can hit all of the marks we have set ourselves within the considered time frames.

We have a had a whole range of businesses come onboard over the last 4 weeks and while we are yet to secure the much sought after multi national to pay all of our considerable expenses plus wages it’s nice to have these smaller business jump on board and back our home grown project, at the same showing their customers that they have belief in their products ability to survive and perform under what will be a rigorous field test.  We will be working our arses off to ensure we give them good value for their investment, no matter how large or small.

We currently have on board the following businesses with a couple more due to commit in the next week or so…

Langlands Building Group

Crewsaver

Sydney Watercraft Centre

Broadstitches Embroidery & Garment Printing

Happy Camper Gourmet

Nature Power Products

D-Flector Stone Guards

Excite Safety Training

Superior Off Road 4WD

Adventure Cams

Boeing Trailers

Peggy Pegs

Racers Edge

All Occasion Cruises

Red Balloon

These businesses have contributed in different ways and with differing levels in terms of financial commitment but they are all equally as important and appreciated to us.

Our latest addition on the sponsors front is Peggy Pegs and I need to single them out here because they have made an amazingly generous pledge to our fund raising challenge.  Every order that is generated via the Terra Australis-Girt by Sea project will see them donate 10% of the sale value to our Cancer Council fund raising account.  This will be run for the entire duration of our journey and we are sure it will make a huge difference to those who need it the most.  Well done to guys from Peggy Pegs.

We were also lucky enough to be the special guests on board Langlands Building Groups 52 Foot Riviera Fly Bridge cruiser on Australia day.  They invited a range of suppliers and clients on board providing a fully catered day on the water for the day’s activities.  Their generous guest donated $1300.00 for cause.  So a heart felt thanks to all of the generous people on board.

We have also had Excite Training join the fold and as accredited Jet Ski trainers for Surf Lifesaving their experience in surf conditions will be invaluable.  We will be doing a surf course with the guys over the coming weeks and really excited at the prospect of learning some new skills.  They have also made the offer of First Aid training courses available for our support crew.

We have our ‘Bon Voyage’ party planned for the 12^th March on board the All Occasion Cruises vessel Lady Bella.  She has a capacity of 480pax and has two licensed bars over three levels.  Tickets for the day are $40 with $5 going to Cancer Council, the price includes finger foods and two live bands.  There have been a limited number of tickets put aside for sponsors so if you’re interested in coming along let us know as soon as possible.  If you miss out on the freebies you can always purchase a bunch for your staff, family and friends and help us hit our fund raising target.

We have a meeting planned for later in the week with an independent Public Relations man who has effectively offered his services Pro Bono to get our project to the level that it deserves.  He has worked as a staffer for Express Newspapers, Associated (the Daily Mail group) and News International (The Sun) as show business editor, head of news, news editor, chief feature writer, picture editor and a few more positions besides. Often juggling huge editorial budgets. Prior to that he was a Foreign Correspondent with Press Assocation-Reuters and latterly worked on every continent in undercover roles. Dodgy places like Moscow, Zimbabwe, China, India, Dubai, and Palestine.

He’s also opened and run two successful media agencies and covered a couple of wars. For the last three years he has been based in Australia and has just received a permanent residency/work visa. He is now an accredited correspondent/columnist for telegraph.co.uk, Sport 360 (UAE) and also worked for Sydney outfits including ninemsn and The Weather Channel and conducted several PR campaigns.  Clearly he is going to be a good man to have in our corner and we look forward to the benefits he can bring the project, our sponsors and of course, Cancer Council.

We got out to the Aqua X Jet Ski racing at Sans Souci over the weekend and it was an excellent chance to meet some of the people from Yamaha and OZPWC.com magazine.  The weather was glorious and we even had the chance to dust the camera off, which was fun.  Looking forward to getting to the next round if time permits, might even have to enter.

We are currently negotiating with several companies to secure a raffle prize of significant value.  Tickets will be sold by ourselves, our support crew and possibly even some of our sponsors and support network for the duration of our journey.  The raffle will be drawn at the conclusion of our journey and will be sure to be a major asset in our fund raising ventures.

Some new merchandise has been ordered, things like neoprene stubby coolers, T-shirts and caps.  These will be available front the crew during the journey and also via our E-commerce portal on the website.  A predetermined amount for each item will be forwarded to the fund raising account.

We’ll leave it at that for now and thanks to all of you for your amazing support and words of wisdom over the many many months of preparation for this adventure.

Stay tuned at http://www.terraaustralisgirtbysea.com.au/