Australian Geographic Sponsorship

This week I received some wonderful news:

I had been successful in my application for Australian Geographic Society Sponsorship.

For the uninitiated, Australian Geographic is a media company that, among other things, produce the endearing and enduring bi-monthly magazine bearing the same name. I have read ‘Aus Geo’ magazine intermittently since I was a child. The magazine features stories from across the nation, and around the world, about “nature, culture, people and places”. I remember as a kid being very excited to pour through a Nat Geo magazine, mostly for the pictures! They cater to a very wide audience, and feature well written and researched articles aimed at the interested everyman.

I have known about the Australian Geographic Society Sponsorship since I first dreamt up this wild adventure. So it brought me great joy when applications opened.

I was in with a chance!

I spent a fair bit of time on the application; you see this sponsorship isn’t just a story in the magazine and a bit of exposure, there’s money involved. Gasp!

I did a few calculations based on my meagre hourly rate as a boatbuilder, and pretty quickly realised it was worth taking a few days to finesse my application, hell, a few weeks would have been fine!

Anyway, so I set to work, unashamedly explaining my intentions, as well as writing a short biography. I had a ball trying to put into words my past 23 years.

I enjoyed it so much I decided to add it to the website: BIOGRAPHY

Anyway, some months later, which also happens to be last week, I got an exciting email from the Australian Geographic Society. They said a few words, including the following:

“with enthusiastic recommendations from the Adventure committee, the Board have decided to sponsor your project.”

Lucky me!

Interestingly, I received an email from AG asking if I would put a sticker of their logo on my boat. I hate this question, and fortunately it has only come up a handful of times. I politely explained my ‘no-sticker’ ethos and hoped they would be sympathetic.

They completely understood, and were more than happy to proceed without their logo on my boat. Phew.

Hats off to the Australian Geographic Society!

I am very excited to see where this partnership takes me, and am indebted to their kindness and goodwill.