Crossing The Ditch

Crossing The Ditch

Our journey across the Tasman was frightening at times. Sharks tearing at our hull, 30-foot waves crashing over our kayak, and the possibility that the stern of the boat might be ripped away; these were all very real fears. Who were we to take on the Tasman Sea? But the little kid inside me screamed, 'Go on, mate, give it a go.' James Castrission, from Crossing the Ditch. No one had ever successfully navigated the Tasman by kayak from Australia to New Zealand. Andrew McAuley had come close just months earlier - tragically, though, not near enough to save his life. But two young Australians, James Castrission and Justin Jones, reached the sand at New Plymouth - and a place in history - on 13 January 2008, 62 days after they'd set off from Forster on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. They were sunburnt, bearded, underweight, physically and mentally wasted ...and, most of all, happy to be alive.