THE PLAN
“An ordinary bloke that still continues doing the extraordinary – having successfully completed my 3,700km solo run from Melbourne to Darwin, I’m now expanding my horizons – a 15,000km solo run around Australia – ‘Melbourne to Melbourne’ – taking about 345 days (and lots of photos and videos).

I believe this is a world first! Although almost a dozen people have done it, no one on record has yet run solo around Australia. (solo, as in no back-up crew to assist each day).
The custom-made buggy Intrepid II, will hold 80-100kgs of food and supplies. (this will include 60 litres of water in the more remote areas).

Help me raise funds for these worthy charity organizations:
– Beyond Blue
– The Royal Flying Doctors Service
– The GO Foundation
– The Smith Family”

UPDATE
“As I sit here in Tennant Creek, with the Intrepid II broken, it is with a heavy heart but a sound mind that I bring an end to my Run Around Australia

After almost 5500kms and more than four months on the road, my body and spirit were wavering to the point where I knew the daily grind of the entire 15000km challenge was not sustainable.

There are so many emotions running through my head. I am exhausted. I am relieved. I am proud. The list goes on.

I am proud because I had a go. In life, I’d rather have had a go than not. I knew this was an enormous challenge and truly believed I could do it but things didn’t turn out that way.

Not achieving my goals is a far more acceptable to me than not even trying in the first place. If there’s one thing I hope people can take away from my efforts, it’s that we all owe it to ourselves to get out and have a crack at whatever it is that we are passionate about. Just give it a go.

I want to thank my wife, Morag, for supporting me and my ‘crazy’ dream. Your love and belief in me is beyond description. To my daughter Meredith, her partner Peter, family and friends – I couldn’t have done this without you. The four charities I have supported – thanks for believing in me. I hope I have contributed positively to your goals in some way. To those that helped me in offering services, financial support, a meal, a bed to sleep in – thank you, thank you, thank you.

To the hundreds of people, most of whom I’ve never met, that offered kind and inspirational words of support on social media and out on the road, I thank you with all of my heart. The incredibly generous financial contributions to each of the charities I supported are greatly appreciated.

Here’s a few stats from the Run (a third of the way) Around Australia:
– I ran 5401.66kms (including 35,300m of elevation or 4x Mt Everest)
– The highest elevation covered in a day was 1,286m
– I was on the road for 131 days total (inc. 13 rest/non-running days)
– There were 79 days of marathon distance or more (15x 60+kms / 39x 50+kms)
– The longest day was 69.4kms
– I lost 11kgs in all
– I gained some friends for life

Finally, I’m heading home on Monday .. to plan the next adventure ???????????? @ Tennant Creek, Northern Territory”