Two Blokes, a Kayak and a Bloody Big Country . . .
The challenge? Paddle a two-man kayak around Australia with a virtual stranger. As New York City native Eric Stiller and Bondi Beach local Tony Brown would discover, their attempt to circumnavigate the most beautiful but treacherous coastline in the world was to be a fascinating, frustrating, maddening, and at times hilarious clash of cultures.
You get an idea of how ill-matched the two adventurers are and, depending on where you are standing, the fundamental differences between the two cultures even before their trek begins. When Eric arrives at the airport with all his specialist kayaking gear, nervous about transporting it safely and getting he and Tony started on a strict training program and diet, to his horror he is greeted by Tony in a car full of his mates and rattling with empty beer cans. Instead of settling him in gently to his new abode, in what they see as a supreme compliment, and the best way to acclimatise him and see their country at its best, they take him straight to the nearest beachside pub - and proceed to do a pub crawl. The stage is set for a showdown . . .
At sea at last, they are swamped by huge waves and torrential rain, hampered by both nature and technology (and some human stupidity!), blown off course, baked by the boiling sun and chilled by sub-zero temperatures, battling blisters, loneliness and exhaustion - and sometimes each other - it would be the most demanding emotional and physical challenge either of them had ever attempted. In short, the adventure of a lifetime.
'Keep Australia On Your Left' is the story of a friendship forged - and sustained - under the most demanding circumstances. It is also the personal portrait of Eric Stiller's journey around a continent . . . and himself.
