PAPUA NEW GUINEA
EXPEDITION
AN UNMOTORISED CROSSING
9th March 2014
Pre-departure post
Now while Patrick and I were both working we struggled to keep up with all the admin between us so we understand how much is involved and are very grateful for her help. This role comes with a lot of responsibility and Kat is the perfect choice – it is reassuring knowing we have her sorting us out from back in UK if anything were to go wrong. As we have said from the start and throughout all these blogs this expedition would not be happening without the support of others. No more so than from our girlfriends. For the last two years we have been planning this both Olivia and Kat have been nothing but supportive, and as we leave today nothing has changed. This support has made this whole thing a lot easier. As you can imagine being away for 3-6 months with only a text every night and the odd call is quite a strain on a relationship. Now although they would both prefer us not to be trekking through the remote jungle they understand how important this is to us and have helped us wherever possible throughout. We know how lucky we are to have such understanding, supportive and amazing girlfriends and will miss them greatly while we are away. As they say – ‘Behind every great man is a successful woman’.
So, off we go! Keep in touch via this blog, our Facebook page and Twitter feed (all accessible from the top of this page!), keep the donations to Childfund pouring in as this will help morale high knowing we are closer to our target. And don’t forget you can get in touch with the team by sending a free text from the website.
Wish us luck! Rich and Patch
So here we are. Two years since Patrick came up with the idea to cross Papua New Guinea, today we leave.
In the last few months the team have organised their medical insurance. Obviously undertaking such an expedition it is essential to have medical care that gets us from the jungle to the hospital if things were to go wrong.
Ingle International will be covering the team during their time in Papua New Guinea and we are really happy to know we have such a great company supporting us.
As you all know one of the aims from the expedition is to make a video documentary. For this to be possible we have to make sure our kit is maintained throughout – which in a wet jungle is a hard task. Enter Peter Brogden. Peter who operates his company ‘Just’, managed to fit us into his busy schedule and showed us how to clean our sensors on the camera. He was an extremely good teacher making it as simple as possible and was very patient – more so with me rather than Patrick, I’m not that hot at navigating round the inside of a camera! So now when we are in the middle of the jungle and notice a smudge on our sensor, we now know how to clean it and ensure a decent documentary can still be made.
A question which has been asked a few times is how and if the blogs are going to be updated while we are away. Joining the team are our girlfriends Kat Bitterli and Olivia Sadler. Kat and Olivia will be writing the blogs after we have relayed the information via satellite phone while we are away updating you on our location, events and all things that occur. Kat is also the main point of contact while we are away. She will be answering and replying to all PNG Expeditions emails, keeping our families in touch, and is the go-to person if things go wrong.