Robert to PNG

Hi everyone my name’s Robert Schultz.

I’m 37 and half way through the final year of an Environmental Design Degree at the University of Tasmania in Australia, majoring in Furniture Design. I have a passion for nature whether it’s hiking, camping or fishing I just love being in the wilderness. You can read more about my life up until this point on my facebook page.

I’ve been planning this adventure of a life time since August 2011, it will see myself and a mate travel from Cape York at the very top of Australia in two collapsible kayaks through the Torres Strait Islands to Papua New Guinea, then flying to the Eastern provence of Papua New Guinea before continueing on in the kayaks to the final destination of Kokopo at the Eastern end of New Britain Island. The trip will take 5 months and we’ll cover over 2000km in the kayaks. This area of the world is famed for some of the best sports fishing you can find any where as well as some of the best reef dive sites and numerous World War Two wrecks, but it has a lot more then that, isolated villages, active volcanoes, rugged beauty, crystal clear water, uninhabited tropical islands to explore, not to mention the wildlife.

As you may be able to tell I am extremely excited about this adventure and I want to be able to share this excitement and adventure with everyone who has ever had a dream or who is adventurous at heart.

It's my hope that this adventure will inspire young and old to follow their dreams.

What I Need & What You Get 

My funding target is $400,000 which seems a lot, but before I receive any money Indiegogo take out their small fee and I then have to pay around 48% tax, leaving me with under $200,000. The costs for an adventure of this kind add up for instance as we will be traveling by light plane during parts of this adventure there was only one option and that was to use collapsible kayaks which are more stable (sea worthy) and can hold a greater load then a hard body kayak but these kayaks are quite expensive. As it is my intention to give the supporters of this adventure the best experience possible there are also the running costs of the website I intend to have created, including paying an IT professional to create and manage the site as well as all the camera’s, laptop, satellite communications gear, and roll up solar panels to keep the whole lot running every day of this adventure. I am not an elite athlete and have little experience at kayaking, but this is part of the adventure of undergoing training and that anyone can do anything if they have the heart to go after it. You’ll be able to find a full break down of equipment and where all the money is to be spent before and during the adventure on my facebook page.

What’s in it for you?

When you contribute to funding this adventure you will receive a user name and password to a website that will be launched shortly after the funding target has been reached. On this website you’ll be able to follow every step of this adventure from the planning, testing of equipment and all the training, through to the trip itself, I'll be writting a daily blog, have regualar live video feeds, regular photo and video uploads, a google earth link so you can track my exact location every day of the 5 month adventure, as well as a chat room so you can chat with other adventure minded people from around the world. At the end of the adventure I’ll have all the footage that was filmed, edited into a full length show or series of shows that will only be available for download from this members only web site.

One more thing.

When you contribute you will go into a draw and at the end of the adventure everything used in the trip will be given away to the contributers, that’s the camera’s, fishing gear, camping gear, laptop, and of course the kayaks and alot more stuff, check out my facebook for a full list of all the gear.

For every $5 you pledge you will receive an entry for the end of trip give away, obviously the more you contribute the more entries you will receive and the better your odds of winning one or more item from this adventure you helped make possible.

If I don’t reach my target of $400,000 by the end date of the campaign those who have contributed will not have to pay and I will receive nothing. I could have selected an option where I could receive any money raised even if I did not reach my target, but my dream and passion is for this adventure and not for money and I also would not be able to deliever to my contributors what I am promising if I don’t receive this full amount, so it’s all or nothing.

Another way you can also help with this campaign.

If you believe in this dream as I do and think it would be an amazing experience to be part of it by following it online, help me get the word out and make this dream a reality, tell your friends about it and anyone else you meet. You can also help get me featured on Indiegogo by using the share tool on my Indiegogo campaign page.

Thanks everyone, I hope you get on-board this adventure with me.

Reading this and thinking it sounds cool is not enough, I need you to contribute to make it possibe.