In 2001, one of the worlds most accomplished climbers and adventurers, Jon Muir began a 2,500 kilometre odyssey to cross | dG1fX3J4SGRVVzZIOEU
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00:00G'day, I'm John Muir.
00:27I live in a log cabin at the foot of the mountains in southeastern Australia.
00:33I grew up near Sydney, where I first became obsessed with rock climbing and mountaineering.
00:39All I could think about was being in the mountains.
00:43I dropped out of school two years early because I wanted to climb Mount Everest.
00:49Eleven years later I fulfilled my boyhood dream and stood on the summit alone.
00:55And I said, yeah, it's John. And he said, where are you?
00:58And I said, I'm on the top. And he said, what?
01:01I said, I'm on the summit. And he said, you're on the summit?
01:04I said, yeah, I'm on the top.
01:10He's a remarkable rock climber. He's a very strong mountaineer.
01:15He's obviously very disciplined in mind.
01:18Not just focused, but kind of a rod of iron and discipline in his head.
01:24I've skied with John to both the North Pole and the South Pole.
01:28And I would describe him as a man with immense physical power, stamina and strength.
01:35He's incredibly calm in the face of adversity.
01:40We got out our defence equipment, which is flares and a gun.
01:44And once we had that organised, we then tried to scare it away.
01:49So when it sort of came in close, we went, boom!
01:53And it ran off.
01:56It's tempting to say he's a raving nutter.
02:00John's in a class of his own, I think.
02:03It's John here. Yeah, it is.
02:06And I'd just like to say it's outrageous up here on this plateau.
02:10And I've been in lots of outrageous places and this is up there with the best of them.
02:15He's done so much, and not just in the field of polar trekking,
02:18but also on the high mountains, on the oceans with sea kayaking, all sorts of things.
02:23And I think that makes him one of the most versatile adventurers on the face of the planet.
02:28I'm now about to set off on my greatest challenge in a very different part of the world.
02:34A solo and unsupported walk across the continent of Australia.
02:39I'll start my walk at Port Augusta
02:42and then head northward past the continent's two largest salt lakes.
02:46I then plan to cross Australia's three driest deserts.
02:50If all goes well, I'll follow the rivers north to Birktown,
02:542,500 kilometres or over 1,600 miles away.
02:59This is about the same distance as walking across Europe or the United States.
03:04But in traversing Australia, I'll cross just one sealed road
03:08and the population along my entire route is less than 100.
03:14I'm planning a lightweight expedition with just one cart, limited supplies
03:19and only one other team member, my Jack Russell, Seraphine.
03:25This trip has been 14 years in the planning.
03:28This will be my fourth attempt and Seraphine's second.
03:33The notion of setting out unsupported to cross Australia,
03:40when you say it at first, it seems like, oh, yeah, OK, well, that's OK.
03:44Then when you think about it a little more and realise that there is no support at all
03:51and he's completely got the notion of living off the land
03:56across desert after desert on his own
04:01it's pretty daunting.