Route Map
Our interactive map of our world record breaking expedition. You can zoom into each and every day of this epic trip.
Reflections. The Pacific Ocean
Prison? Student Halls? Isolation Unit? Man I am confused. Either way, feels like the big man has popped me on the naughty step to think about what I have done. For someone who used to panic in search for entertainment if the next train on the London Underground was over 3 minutes away, sticking me on a ship for two and half weeks smells to me to like one social experiment too far. I do however only have myself to blame and I dragged poor Amy into it. We have almost done a month on ships now, crossing both the Tasman and Pacific, and I would love to report that though meeting my mind head on has been difficult, it is certainty something everybody should do.
Day 173 : Space Age
2011, space age right ? Why on earth are we not circumnavigating the world on a hover board? In some ways I feel a little let down by the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World. By 2011 it was suggested you could pretty much pop to the moon for a long weekend. Saying that, our little adventure would not be possible without the internet, the monster innovation that no-one predicted. The mere scale of our challenge has required correspondence with a ridiculous number of people in locations far and wide all over the world.
Follow That Fire Engine on Kiwi News
After a couple of weeks on a cargo ship, the team are met by a news team in Auckland. Tired and exhausted but ready to go !!
16th December.
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Day 164 : No Room At The Inn
JUST PLAIN SILLY : Why go down river rapids on a raft, that would be far too straight forward. Grab a piece of plastic and chuck yourself down there, that makes makes far more sense. For 2 hours this morning we smashed our way down the Kaituna river, one by one taking it in turns to enter washing machine after washing machine. Exhausting stuff but proper comedy. Not sure if Kate and Amy had much fun for the latter sections as each of the rapid bashings took their toll. Battered and bruised but a great way to start any day …
Leaving stinking Rotorula behind, we heading up the coast towards Whangamata. Jamie has done a world class job as the Route Master General for stage 6. It has been flawless especially during the busiest period in New Zealand, the Christmas holidays. It has been showcase of just how incredible and exciting this superb country is. World class mountains, glaciers, beaches and lakes. With this back drop a ridiculous number of activities to thrill yourself silly. With all this in mind, the big man really let himself down today …. and so did NZ. Jamie and wifey Kate were both overly excited about the Giant Kiwi. Their description of this “attraction”was met with much mocking from me as I have been burnt before with the “big banana” in Australia. To keep Jamie and Kate happy we decided to stop off at the epic Giant Kiwi. From the road it was obvious that yet again, the giant pointless stuff in Australia and New Zealand was a bit silly. Read more →
Day 160 : You better watch out ..
After a big old day of driving yesterday, rest was on all our minds. No chance! After finally getting to bed at gone midnight it seemed almost pointless going to sleep as my alarm clock was set to silly o’clock (4.15am)!! But why I hear you ask… to swim with dolphins on Christmas Eve of course!
High Point: Swimming with hundreds of dolphins. It’s not often in life you get to do something so incredibly special on Christmas Eve, and we lapped it up realising how lucky we were. It is extreme sensory overload as hundreds of the excitable fellas jump and circle the divers.
Noisy Point: The only way to keep the dolphins entertained is to make as many ridiculous noises as possible. I sang Christmas carols in a very nigh pitched voice, which the dolphins seemed to like.
Risk enjoyment level: 1/10 (Jamie is dominating at the moment and making far too much noise about it)
Random Christmas celebration: We swung by the local fire station in Abel Tasman to say hello. Confused friendly faces as they thought we were some sort of surprise for their Christmas party
Hina lands Lloyds of London donation
On 15th December, Hina Gandhi and Fuad accepted a cheque for £1,000 at the Lloyd’s Market Charity Awards. Each year Lloyds of London invites individuals to apply for a £1,000 award for their chosen charity. Hina, a good friend of Amy’s, didn’t hesitate to nominate Follow That Fire Engine. Hina has been extremely supportive since she learned about the FTFE concept, she said “I was keen to support them with this fantastic idea and I took on a ‘behind the scenes role’ in support of marketing and administration (and generally advising/helping with anything Amy asked me to turn my hand to!). I have been able to apply my marketing skills and creative thinking to support them at various stages.” Read more →
Day 154 : The Beautiful South
High Point : The best roads for a very long time
Low Point : Losing at Risk to Chris and Amy
No Point : Spending far too long trying to tune the radio to listen to the cricket but not being able to find a station
Ridiculous Alarm Clock : 5:45am
Christmas Feeling : 1 out of 10
Lack of Sleep : 3 nights in a row with only 4 hours sleep
Days 147-151 : Like ships in the night
High Point : Scoring 100% on the karaoke machine (those things never lie)
Low Point : Never really getting my sea legs
Favourite Deck : 5
Favourite Side of the Boat : Starboard
Number of times we eat rice each day : 3
Caffeine intake in 9 days : 1 cup of tea
Find of the week : box of broken biscuits on the bridge
Error of the week : only finding out on the penultimate day that tea (with cake) is served at 3pm Read more →
So far we have raised GBP £120,000
