Andrew McAuley is a dedicated rockclimber, mountaineer and sea kayaker with many expeditions   to his credit in far-flung and remote corners of the globe. He has hard ascents of mountains in the Himalaya, Patagonia, Europe and New Zealand under his belt.

Andrew’s interest in sea kayaking was fuelled during a mountaineering expedition to Patagonia in the late 1990’s. With his close friend and talented climbing partner, German/Brazilian Carsten Birckhahn, Andrew made the first ascent of the storm-lashed East Tower of the Grupo la Paz mountain range.  The pair then escaped the terrible weather to take their girlfriends on a kayaking adventure in the Chilean fiords. They discovered the great thing about paddling is that you can still get a lot done in pouring rain and in strong winds (at least if the wind is from the right direction!).

Andrew has a habit of exploring his personal limits and in recent years he’s done this with sea kayaking. Andrew has completed three crossings of Australia’s notorious Bass Strait, including the first ever direct, non-stop crossing in 35 hours. This was a committing 220km solo paddle across some of Australia’s most treacherous waters. While it was pushing the limit at the time, Andrew took it one step further recently with an incredible 530km crossing of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which took almost seven days – sleeping in his kayak on a rough ocean each night. This extreme test of endurance ended on the morning of the seventh day, when Andrew landed at Yirrkala, an Aboriginal community on the Gove Peninsula in Australia’s eastern Arnhem Land. Andrew’s resume will soon include innovative polar sledging expeditions.
  
Andrew is available for corporate speaking engagements, and provides inspirational presentations about his adventures. The feedback regarding these presentations has been outstanding. If you’d like an inspiring speaker to provide an insight into an extraordinary life for your next corporate function, visit Andrew’s speaking page for more information.