Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa adventurers Huw Kingston and Laurence Mote, who passed through the central North Island in late July, are still in search of a yacht for their Cook Strait crossing.
Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa adventurers Huw Kingston and Laurence Mote, who passed through the central North Island in late July, are still in search of a yacht for their Cook Strait crossing.
Australian activist Huw Kingston and ex-New Zealand representative mountain biker Laurence Mote have not yet secured a sailing yacht for their crossing of Cook Strait.
They are more than halfway through Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa - a 4000km journey of the length of New Zealand via foot, cycling, skiing and sailingto raise funds for children affected by the climate crisis.
Kingston said despite national publicity, they had not yet been able to secure a yacht.
“There doesn’t seem to be many keen people keen to do winter crossings of Cook Strait with two blokes and bikes and trailers,” Kingston said.
Kingston is an experienced adventurer and long-time ambassador for the nonprofit organisation Save the Children. He has undertaken many extreme distance journeys for Save the Children, including Alpine Odyssey, a similar 700km traverse of Australia’s Alps, and Mediterr Année – a year-long circumnavigation of the Mediterranean.
He is accompanied by long-time friend Laurence Mote, a former elite mountain biker. In 2013, Mote suffered a severe anaphylactic shock reaction to a bee sting, causing cardiac arrest and subsequently a stroke. Mote is now legally blind but, after extensive rehabilitation, remains determined to pursue many of the outdoor activities he enjoyed before the accident.
The goal of Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa is to raise $75,000 in donations for a pilot project by Save the Children to provide climate-resilient classrooms to the children of Vanuatu. The Pacific Island nation has been one of the hardest hit globally by the climate crisis, with its highest point 1879m above sea level.
This cause is close to Kingston’s heart as he had a chance to visit Vanuatu in November. He met some of the students who successfully brought a landmark case to the International Court of Justice, which last week ruled access to a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” as a human right and may hold states that infringe on this right internationally accountable.
“When you see what education can do by the very fact that these students at University of the South Pacific took this court case to the highest [court] of the land, in the world, because they had a good education in Vanuatu - education is a massively important thing to offer every child,” Kingston said.
Alpine Odyssey Aotearoa adventurers Huw Kingston and Laurence Mote, who passed through the central North Island in late July, are still in search of a yacht for their Cook Strait crossing.
The duo stayed in Mataroa near Taihape last week before visiting Mataroa Primary School to tell students about their journey. The pair said one of the highlights of their expedition so far had been meeting people and appreciating their hospitality.
“We are blessed to have had the most magnificent welcomes, the most amazing people taking us in, looking after us, some planned, some unplanned. You know, travelling with a purpose, I think really does open doors,” Kingston said.
Now less than two days away from completing their trip through the North Island, the pair is uncertain if they will be able to gain access to a yacht by Saturday morning. If unable to source a boat, they will be forced to abandon their planned sailing route and depart on the Bluebridge ferry.
“We won’t give up until we’re at Wellington,” Kingston said.
