Adventurer attempts to paddle from Australia to New Zealand

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian adventurer has emarked on a dangerous bid to become the first kayaker to paddle 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from his country to New Zealand. After customs officials stamped his passport and family and friends said their goodbyes, Andrew McAuley, 39, left early from Fortescue in south-eastern Tasmania on a risky journey that was expected to take a month.

Having spent five years planning his tenacious trip across the Tasman sea, McAuley shrugged off strong pleas by marine police to abort an attempt they described as "inherently dangerous and high-risk". "What you do with a trip like this is really try to minimise that danger as much as possible by taking absolutely every precaution," McAuley told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on...