Location: Town of 1770, Queensland
Weather: Broken cloud, occasional rain then sunshine. SW wind turning to the E. 24c
Best experience today: Dolphins joining us for the ride!!

I'm sitting here tonight on Lady Elliot island agasp at the fact that the Best Expedition in the World is actually underway. It's been a mammoth effort by my incredible team at TQ especially Kayleen, Bruce, Emma and Jess who have got the project underway and to this stage. Thank you all for your incredibly hard work!! I headed for the Town of 1770 at the beginning of last week and checked into the sumptuous Sunrise eco-resort courtesy of my friends David and Ron, to wake up each morning and see the sun rising literally out of the ocean was a real pleasure. The buildings here are out of this world with eco-design and architecture that's a great example of how we should all live. The view from the observation tower is pretty special too...to stand in my shoes follow the link here and you can get a superb 360 degree view!

The town was buzzing with the annual Captain Cook festival about to take place and we made our mission HQ the marina cafe right next to Neil and Katherine Mergard's awesome LARC - the amphibious vehicle you simply have to try one day. With a brief visit from the HMB Endeavour to the bay really gave the town the feel of 241 years previous when the original English adventurer Captain Cook arrived for the first time on Queensland's shores.

Why bus it, when you can LARC it to the Captain Cook Festival?

My mission was to retrace his path along the Great Barrier Reef starting here on the site where he came ashore. To get to Lady Elliot Island from the town involves a 85km paddle, pedal and sail due east on my Hobie Adventure Island kayak...and that's if the wind is behind me. To take on this challenge would be the first time it's ever been attempted so a pretty tough job in all! It would also mean a very early start if we were to get there before the sun disappeared from the sky for the day.... Roll-on 3am on Sunday 22nd May, the official start to the Best Expedition in the World. Mal Gray (Sunstate Hobie's owner and expedition partner), Peter Gash (great friend and owner of Lady Elliot island) and Sophee my first-mate and very brave media advisor all readied ourselves for the journey ahead. Wrapped up in thermal waterproofs, armed with torches, GPS and cameras we lined our kayaks up on the slipway, shook hands and bid a sad farewell to my parents. We'd be seeing them again in a few days time on the island, but who knows what could happen out on the ocean!

The 'Awesome Foursome' are all smiles, just before they kick off their 90+km kayak to Lady Elliot Island.

The partial full moon still in the sky was perfect to light our way down the creek towards the ocean, I led the flotilla (that's two kayaks and the support catamaran Sunshine) through the navigation markers and out across the sand bar into the rather large open ocean. To be perfectly honest I've never done anything like this before and two practice sessions in Moreton Bay really don't equate to being enough experience to take this sort of thing on...but that's what I love about personal challenges. The almost total darkness all around was incredible, the sound of the wind and waves were all we had as the hull of the kayak sliced through the water with our sail making full use of the south westerly wind from the land. We were humming along at 10kph and loving it! As I turned to look behind me the navigation lights from Sunshine and the other kayak stood out brightly against the darkness. Within an hour the lights of the town had disappeared and it was just us all alone, and a whole lot of salt water. By 6am the sunrise to the east was adding some colour and definition to the adventure, suddenly we could see just how big the waves were out here - 3 metre swells were launching us up and over the crests of the waves with steep drop-offs to follow. We were whipping along and loving it. This is what it was all supposed to be about....adventure.

There's not a lot to see out there though; the difference in the clouds, an approaching storm, sunrise out of the ocean and then a small pod of dolphins came along to join us - jumping and dancing out of the vast blue ocean. Somehow they had found us out here and it really felt like our guardian angels joining us to keep us safe. By midday the clouds had parted and the wind had started to change, blowing more into our faces from the east. Not ideal for paddling, pedalling or sailing. Our progress slowed and suddenly the 40kms still to go seemed an age away. The legs were starting to feel the burn, the food in my stomach was too little and my water supply was running low. Time to call upon the support boat. Paul, Jay and Danni are the superb crew who will help to make this adventure possible. They come with a wealth of expertise, ocean knowledge and marine biology experience - together we will bring you the story of the Great Barrier Reef. Lunch had been prepared the night before but in waves this size sandwiches get particularly wet. Lesson Number One. Trying to raft up against the support boat was as big a nightmare. The motion of the ocean meant it was impossible to get close enough to transfer anything across so a line was thrown across with a watertight container to deliver the fresh supplies - and they were well needed I can tell you. Lesson Number Two. With still around half the distance to go and the hours of daylight slipping away we decided to make a call on how we'd play the remaining part of the journey - this was never meant to be an endurance event or record we were setting, merely a voyage between locations. We dropped two tow-lines from Sunshine, secured them to the kayaks and for the next two hours pulled them as far north east as we could go, gaining advantage over the wind that would allow us to sail the final leg into the island.

Suddenly over the towering waves the lighthouse on the island was spotted giving us around 15kms to go to our destination - we were going to make it! Peter and I had stayed aboard the kayaks to steer them through the waves but our kayak-mates joined us as we set sail for the final time, beating a good course all the way to beach by the lighthouse. We'd made it after 14 hours on the water and what a superb welcome we had from the groups staying there - cheese, biscuits, fresh fruit and a cold beer! P.S. - a special thanks to Mal from Sunstate Hobie's contacts - Pete, Bruce and Trevor who trailered the kayaks up the coast for us!!! And also to Kieron at the 1770 airstrip who helped out too! True Aussie support and generosity :) Leg One completed - the toughest, longest of the entire adventure.