Afritrex - Project News
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING AFRITREX, posted on 21 Jun 2009 by Ben SouthallMy first Australian dive, and I loved it!, posted on 10 May 2009 by Ben Southall
The final few days before departure...., posted on 29 Apr 2009 by Ben Southall
Finally the sun shone over Easter!!, posted on 15 Apr 2009 by Ben Southall
WOW....I'M OFF TO AUSTRALIA AS ONE OF THE FINAL 16!!!, posted on 05 Apr 2009 by Ben Southall
AWESOME A PERSONAL BEST!!!, posted on 30 Mar 2009 by Ben Southall
And so now we just sit and wait I suppose!!!!, posted on 23 Mar 2009 by Ben Southall
The Best Job in the World…., posted on 03 Mar 2009 by Ben Southall
AFRITREX IS OVER...., posted on 02 Jan 2009 by Ben Southall
Libya is gone!! We're waiting for a boat now!!, posted on 26 Dec 2008 by Ben Southall
The dirt has ended, the tarmac is back..., posted on 04 Dec 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE NINE COMPLETED....., posted on 26 Nov 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE EIGHT COMPLETED!!, posted on 30 Oct 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE SEVEN COMPLETED.....ON TOP OF AFRICA!!, posted on 16 Oct 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE SIX COMPLETED!!, posted on 30 Sep 2008 by Ben Southall
RWANDAN RUNNING....., posted on 21 Sep 2008 by Ben Southall
A Land Rover advrt from Africa....for your amusement!, posted on 09 Sep 2008 by Ben Southall
LOGISTICS AND PLANNING....., posted on 23 Aug 2008 by Ben Southall
8th AUGUST UPDATE, posted on 08 Aug 2008 by Ben Southall
Heading north...., posted on 31 Jul 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE FIVE COMPLETED!!, posted on 18 Jul 2008 by Ben Southall
VC180 UPDATE, posted on 04 Jul 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE FOUR COMPLETED!!!!, posted on 16 Jun 2008 by Ben Southall
SO HERE WE GO......., posted on 12 Jun 2008 by Ben Southall
THE COMRADES IS UPON ME........, posted on 09 Jun 2008 by Ben Southall
THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA IS CONQUERED……, posted on 02 Jun 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE THREE COMPLETED!, posted on 30 Apr 2008 by Ben Southall
WE'RE OFF AGAIN!!!, posted on 09 Apr 2008 by Ben Southall
A WEEK AND WE’RE OFF…….., posted on 03 Apr 2008 by Ben Southall
TWO BECAME ONE....., posted on 26 Mar 2008 by Ben Southall
THINGS ARE CHANGING...., posted on 13 Mar 2008 by Ben Southall
WE'VE NOW GOT TO MALI!!, posted on 27 Feb 2008 by Ben Southall
The SAHARA HAS BEEN CROSSED, WELCOME TO SENEGAL!, posted on 10 Feb 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE TWO COMPLETED!!, posted on 27 Jan 2008 by Ben Southall
CHALLENGE ONE COMPLETED...., posted on 22 Jan 2008 by Ben Southall
MOROCCO UNTIL THE END OF JAN...., posted on 06 Jan 2008 by Ben Southall
AFRITREX IS ON THE ROAD, posted on 02 Jan 2008 by Ben Southall
IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN...., posted on 23 Dec 2007 by Ben Southall
READ ON IF YOU'VE RECEIVED A POSTCARD FROM US!!, posted on 28 Nov 2007 by Ben Southall
SNOWDONIA WEEKEND REPORT, posted on 30 Oct 2007 by Ben Southall
UPDATE W/E 14TH OCTOBER 2007, posted on 14 Oct 2007 by Ben Southall
LOGO'S ARE ON...., posted on 23 Sep 2007 by Ben Southall
WINDSOR HALF MARATHON CANCELLED, posted on 20 Sep 2007 by Ben Southall
SO HOW DO WE STAY HEALTHY WHILST ON THE ROAD?, posted on 06 Sep 2007 by Ben Southall
ONE OF OUR SUNDAY PRACTICE RUNS...., posted on 22 Aug 2007 by Ben Southall
NIGHT TIME SHOTS, posted on 14 Aug 2007 by Ben Southall
So now the training really starts!, posted on 06 Aug 2007 by Ben Southall
Petersfield Post article, posted on 26 Jul 2007 by Ben Southall
Hotel Afritrex is now ready to accept guests...., posted on 15 Jul 2007 by Ben Southall
Fitting our home, posted on 01 Jul 2007 by Ben Southall
Let the project commence...., posted on 04 Jun 2007 by Ben Southall
COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS, posted on 20 Nov 2007 by Ben Southall
And so now we just sit and wait I suppose!!!!
After the chaos and the madess of last week with my promotion stunt, the BBC filming what seemed like every aspect of my life and the incredible day the four fnalists had when we met Glenn and his team from Hamilton Island and Tourism Queensland it feels as though the dust has started to settle on this part of the campaign for now.
The cut-off date for any further PR was last night, Friday 27th March and instead of thinking about The Best Job in The World for just a day my thoughts turned to Afritrex once more and a presentation to my village on the events of 2008 which temporarily had taken a back seat in my mind.
The annual AGM for the Ropley Society is a well known event on the village and I had been invited to deliver a speech on my fundraising activites as a warm-up for the main event. My expedition had been covered by the parish magazine and I wrote an article for it, which appeared bi-monthly throughout the journey, and gave details of the talk I was to give that evening.
And quite a response it produced too; an event which normally draws around 20 people had them arriving from 7pm and as the last of the chairs were pulled from the store the total number had swelled to around 150...YIKES I wasn't prepared for this!
In the midst of all the BJITW shennanigans I'd only found time to select around 200 images out of the 10,000 I had from Afritrex the night before leaving me no time to prepare any sort of script or notes....so I'd just go do it I thought and it went really well!
Having been given 40mins I was concious of the clock ticking (well I would have been if my watch strap hadn't broken the night before giving me no reference at all!) and tried to summarise a year and the 10 challenges into something to fit my allocated slot....and I did fairly well by ending up with an hour of unprepared chat and banter which the crowd seemed to enjoy.
My first real venture into the world of public speaking was a success and I loved it. I'm talking to the three charities I raised money for at the moment trying to organise a date when I can visit them to make a similar presentation so they more be more to offer!
Counting down the days until the big Final 10 are announced on April 2nd at 11.00pm. If I'm unsuccessful then its onto the next project and Alaska to Chile is sounding mighy tempting right now......
Ben
A SHAMELESS BIT OF SELF PROMOTION!!
After a week of preparing and planning a PR stunt in London which would highlight to Tourism Queensland why I am the best candidate for the job, the dust has finally settled.
On Sunday 22nd March I arrived at the Old Ship in Hammersmith in glorious sunshine to start the day of setup and promotion for my push to make it through to the final 10 for the position of Best Job in the World.
For those of you who haven't heard about it visit:
Best Job in the World
On the day I was lucky enough to have the help of around 20 friends all there to hand out free daffodils and 'Vote for Ben' postcards on Mother's Day to catch the attention of the public, try to bring some awareness to my campaign and to prove to TQ that I can pull off an event which raises both their and my profile.
I'd been lucky enough to be donated numerous bottles of wine and champagne by The Mill Tavern in Haslemere, courtesy of Pierre-Loup DeCam and his son Tristan - a good friend of mine, and these made up the prizes for the Cork Bobbing contest which drew even more people into the small patch of grass where I'd chosen to setup the campaign.
I'd been lucky enough to be donated numerous bottles of wine and champagne by The Mill Tavern in Haslemere, courtesy of Pierre-Loup DeCam and his son Tristan - a good friend of mine, and these made up the prizes for the Cork Bobbing contest which drew even more people into the small patch of grass where I'd chosen to setup the campaign.
Once we'd handed all of the prizes out and everything had calmed down, it was time to honour my promise of a swim in the River Thames and I grabbed my lilo and made for the water's edge - convicnced I was about to catch something or end up in Essex with the strength of the tide.
I walked into the water, laid back on the lilo and enjoyed the unusual view as the crowds lined the banks cheering me on as I floated downstream passing rowers with jaws on the floor.....what on earth was this crazy man up to!!
After a swim and 500yds downstream I made for the bank and clambered up on to the footpath, dripping and stinking from the interestingly murky London water - not quite the same as the Great Barrier Reef!
I'd invited Glenn and the team from TQ down to witness my publicity event and he was there to meet me at the top of the walkway smiling with his family at the stunts and reactions this campaign was attracting! An unusual one which stuck in his mind I hoped!
The end result was a fun day down by the river which drew a huge amount of attention to my latest project, gave the local pub a few more punters and kept the sun-loving Londoners amused for an afternoon.
Ben
www.islandreefjob.com/bens
I walked into the water, laid back on the lilo and enjoyed the unusual view as the crowds lined the banks cheering me on as I floated downstream passing rowers with jaws on the floor.....what on earth was this crazy man up to!!
After a swim and 500yds downstream I made for the bank and clambered up on to the footpath, dripping and stinking from the interestingly murky London water - not quite the same as the Great Barrier Reef!
I'd invited Glenn and the team from TQ down to witness my publicity event and he was there to meet me at the top of the walkway smiling with his family at the stunts and reactions this campaign was attracting! An unusual one which stuck in his mind I hoped!
The end result was a fun day down by the river which drew a huge amount of attention to my latest project, gave the local pub a few more punters and kept the sun-loving Londoners amused for an afternoon.
Ben
www.islandreefjob.com/bens
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Posted on 23 Mar 2009 by Ben Southall
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