Tag Archives: India Adventure

Gearing Up For India

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Filming the UNICEF Sahara Trek in 2010

As you’ll know from my last post, I had a great time in London and I’ve returned to Melbourne with lots of excitement about our India Adventure. This has been tempered by the inevitable anecdotes from people about how crazy the roads are in India – not to mention tales of near-misses or crashes in cars and on bikes that seem to be par for the course in that part of the world. So I’m approaching our roadtrip with a healthy mix of anticipation and trepidation – well it is an adventure, after all!

After get-togethers with Charley and UNICEF in the UK, I’ve realised there’s actually quite a lot of prep – not to mention fundraising! – to do in the next few months. So I’m making the most of a long weekend here in Oz to start hatching plans for wrangling gear for the trip and getting support from companies who may be able to help me out with the things that we need.

Right now I’m compiling a kit list – potential equipment, including camera (video and stills), tripods, GoProsⓇ and so on for filming and otherwise documenting the adventure. During my rendezvous with Charley, we compared notes about various filming techniques and ideas – including using Spot Tracker GPS or similar on the trip, so that people can follow our journey as it unfolds on the ground in India.

It’s always a trade-off between taking enough gear to properly cover the event and not getting bogged down with stacks of fancy kit. I’ll be stowing it all in the back of an old Ambassador, which isn’t renowned for its huge luggage space, so I’ll need to be clever about what I end up taking.

Setting up for a shot of Team UNICEF tackling a steep ridge in Morocco (as my trusty porter Mohamed looks on!)

Plus, there are particular challenges on this trip that didn’t come up when I filmed our last UNICEF adventure in the Sahara Desert. On that trip, with everyone trekking on foot within a relatively short distance, it wasn’t too tricky to film – I could see the entire group and catch up with particular individuals and happenings at any given moment. This time, we’ll be a convoy of cars and motorbikes potentially strung out over a fair distance (albeit contained by a leader vehicle, sweepers, support crew etc) – and, of course, moving vehicles always require particular tricks and techniques when it comes to filming. I just need to make sure I’ve got a plan of action and the kit to cover it all, so I don’t miss all the good stuff!

So, lots to plan – but it’s all good. Half the fun of any adventure is the preparation, eh? 🙂

London Calling

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Union Jacks flying over Covent Garden Market – London’s awash with them right now!

Well it’s been an exciting week here in London! With just seven days in the UK capital, it’s been a whirlwind visit combining catching up with old friends, soaking up some of the pre-Jubilee vibe, and having meetings to kick off plans for my upcoming India Adventure with Charley Boorman and UNICEF – which I’ve already dubbed Long Way Across India!

It was great to meet Alyrene and Francesca at the UNICEF UK HQ in Farringdon this week. I’m liaising with them on how I’ll cover the India trip, and we got very excited talking about possibilities for filming, photographing, blogging and Tweeting at various stages of the adventure. As I heard more about what the trip would involve – the challenging terrain across Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, details about how the Royal Enfield bikes and Ambassador cars will handle on the road, and the wide variety of people who will make up the team – I felt myself getting that familiar buzz: the buzz of a new adventure just beginning!

That buzz grew still more when I met up with the lovely Charley Boorman at his SW London home. At the kitchen table, over a nice cup of tea and biscuits (thank you Ollie!), we started hatching plans for filming the adventure. We agreed that we really want to capture everything that happens as fully as we possibly can, not just for those taking part but for everyone who’s sponsoring and supporting our trip and will be keen to see how it unfolds. Although it’s still six months away, there’s a lot to think about in terms of logistics and equipment and it was great to get Charley’s input at this early stage and feel his enthusiasm about the trip itself.

As my London stint comes to an end, I’ve just been over to Stanfords Travel Bookshop in Long Acre and stocked up on a little light reading for my long plane journey back to Melbourne – road maps and books about South India that I know will render my excitement complete.

The trip may still be six months away, but preparation is half the fun of it and there’s lots to do. So stay tuned for more very soon about our preps and other news about the adventure.