Expedition Earth: 7 continents - 3 years - 350,000km

Kiwi's Bridget Thackwray and Topher RIchwhite, came up with the idea of driving their way round the world. They purchased a car and launched "Expedition Earth" with the aim to promote environmental issues as well as the teams and organizations that work to resolve them as they travelled 7 continents in 3 years driving over 350,000km in their Jeep Wrangler.

On the 8th of April 2018, my partner Topher and I began a 3-year overland expedition from the northernmost drivable point in America’s, Deadhorse, Alaska. It was -30C inside the car where we had spent the last 3 nights sleeping in our survival suits and sleeping bags. Our friends and families back home knew very little about our big plan, so we launched our Instagram page, announcing ‘Expedition Earth’ and our journey around the world. It was when we turned the cars ignition to begin our 7 continent adventure that we realized our battery had frozen along with our water, food and cooking gas. It was not the start we had imagined.

6 months earlier, Topher and I were on our second date, picnicking out the back of his car in -5C somewhere near the foot hills of Mt Cook. It was during that day that we bonded over our mutual love for exploration travel. We talked about a road that never ended and a car that could take us anywhere. That night, we shook hands in Topher’s kitchen and made a promise to each other that we would one day drive the world together.

The next day we put pen to paper and drew what would become the route map we are still driving today. In fact, I remember showing Topher a picture of a frozen fur yurt somewhere in the Russian Arctic Circle, which we have now two years later, just returned home from due to Covid-19. We spent days and nights dreaming about the places we could visit, but really there was very little planning. Paralysis by analysis is something that Topher learnt from his music days in the UK, so he agreed this was something we could both overthink. We love the slogan ‘Just do it’.