Kijana (37 page)

Of course I could rattle off a list of things I wished I had done differently, but it kind of ruins the point of what the journey was about. Things were done the way they were and it was all part of what was in store for us. I now know more about who I am, as distinct from who I wanted to be. I have fond memories of very close friends, with whom I feel proud to have shared the most important journey of my life.

I thought I was leading the journey, but in fact it was leading us, and I am thankful for where it took us.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank the following individuals and organisations, without who Kijana would not have been possible.

John Allin

Maria Anderson

Michael Barrett

Damien Bear

Eliza Bellmaine

Jayne Bendroph

Bruce Bird

Lawrence Blair

Tracy Brady

Gerry Bryant & crew

Siobhan Caffery

Jon Carnegie

Sam Cavanagh

Katie Cavanagh

Tony Chew

Blanche Clark

Paul Currie

Samantha Currie

Dan Davies

John Devers

Peter Devers

Anna Dusek

David Eades

Nicolette Fendon

Lewis Ferrier

Darren Finkelstein

Michelle Field

Neil Flavel

Amelia Ford

Gayili & family

Ed Gannon

Jenny Geddes

Peter Godfrey

Michael Green

Phil Gregory

The Harris family

Yappa Helen

Geoff Henderson

Sue Hines

Rick Jackson

Bev Knight

Maya Knight

Holly Kramer

Jules Lund

Beau Martin

Kon Martin

Louise Martin

Dave McKeogh

Dave Meredith

Lyn Moore

Tracie Olcha

Steve & Julie O'Sullivan

Rebecca Park

Richard Parkin

Jenny Pullan

Paulos Ranti & family

Tim Reid

Chip Richards

Martin Richmond

John Rolland

Lisa Saad

Carly Schmidt

Josh Schmidt

Lesley Schmidt

Michael Schoell

Flip Shelton

Michael Shultz

Susie Stott

Barry Streete

Nick Theofilakos

Mika Tran

Sam & Gabby Valderrama

Myrna Van Pelt

Fabio Versace

Rowena Vilar

Wadu

Pauline Webster

Melissa Whiltshire

Joanna White

Ralph White

Noel Wright

Gary Woodyard

Mandawuy Yunupingu

Sponsors

The Alfred Hospital

Apple Computers

Design Wyse

Environment Australia

Go4 Web Design

Herald Sun

Mars

Mercury Marine

Nike

NRMA

Sandringham Yacht Club

Sony

Tag Heuer

Telstra

TXU

William Angliss

Special thanks

AGFA Film

Australian National Maritime Museum

Beyond Capricorn crew

Birds Bees Trees & Things

Cameron's Metaland

Chroma Media

Cummings Flavel

Deakin University

Doquille Perret Meade

Filmplus

GME Electrophone

Igloo Design

Lightstream Films

Lizard Island staff

Lonely Planet

Mission Aviation Fellowship

Morgans Hotel

Newcastle Fire Services

Novotel

Plan International

Reach Youth

RDF

Royal Australian Navy

Snowgum

Victorian Government

Working Dog

The indigenous and local people

of Australia & Indonesia who

took us in and gave us food

and friendship.

PHOTOGRAPH AND ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

Map by Guy Holt Illustration and Design

Illustrated section
Diagram by
Herald Sun

Illustrated section
(top)
Photograph by Lawrence Blair

All other photographs are from the author's private collection

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jesse Martin was destined for adventure. Born in Munich in 1981 while his parents were travelling through Europe in a kombi van, he spent his early years in the beautiful Daintree rainforest of north Queensland. By the time he was fourteen he had sailed a thousand kilometres along Australia's tropical coast on a flimsy catamaran and had trekked through South-East Asia and the Aboriginal communities of Central Australia. At sixteen he kayaked through remote islands of Papua New Guinea and then crewed on a yacht that sailed from Belize to Tahiti. In 1998 at the age of seventeen, Jesse set off from Melbourne on his record-breaking solo sail around the world.

 

After returning from Kijana, Jesse established an adventure sailing charter business in late 2004, cruising the islands of Papua New Guinea in a 38-foot Polynesian catamaran. For more information, visit <
www.jessemartin.net
>