Author: Grant ‘Axe’ Rawlinson

Hello folks! Enjoy episode 7 of the Rowing from Home to Home video diaries – lovingly and professionally put together by our very own kiwi film producer Alistair Harding.  As you can probably tell, Alistair does this for a living and if you are after professional video production, don’t hesitate to contact him! This episode…

Axe here and I am so happy to say that finally our beautiful little donkey is safe and sound in Cullen Bay Marina. I will write more detail later about the last few days of the expedition however after finally arriving at the entrance to Cullen Bay Marina there were 24 hours of ‘issues’ to…

And so Simpson’s Donkey has made it all the way to Darwin, Australia! Even as the weather gods attempted to keep them away for a few minutes longer by sending in some strong winds to keep Axe and Charlie anchored a few hundred meters offshore, in the end they were never going to be denied…

New ETA- 11.30am-12pm at Cullen Bay Marina ferry wharf, Darwin, Australia Ladies and gentlemen!!! Simpson’s Donkey is within sight of Darwin, Australia!!! After leaving Singapore on January 3 and making its way through Indonesia and East Timor, and in the process becoming the first rowing boat to make its way across the Java, Bali, Flores…

Hi Guys,  Before we launch into sharing Captain ‘Axe’ Rawlinson and 1st Mate Charlie Smith’s update for Day 76, we would like to share with you all that their arrival to Darwin is very close!! As we share this latest blog it looks like the guys will arrive at Cullen Bay Marina tomorrow (Tuesday 21st…

Hello from the cabin of Simpson’s Donkey on day 74. We are currently 74nm from Cape Fourcry on the Tiwi Islands. We had another tough evening last night. After hauling in the anchor yesterday morning we stole 12nm of distance with some favorably light winds until around 1900hrs, when the wind turned to the south…

DAY 73 – UPDATE FROM AXE ABOARD SIMPSON’S DONKEY – An emotional roller coaster Hello from the cabin of Simpson’s Donkey on the evening of day 73. As I write this, I can hear the rhythmic sound of Charlie on the oars as he pounds out his last one hour shift of the day before…

Day 71 update from the Timor Sea We are sending this from the Timor sea, position 100nm south east of Timor Leste and around 150nm off Cape Fourcry on the Tiwi Islands. Conditions have been variable during the last three days of the crossing with head winds from the South West slowing our progress to…

SNAP COMPETITION TIME! – WHEN WILL SIMPSON’S DONKEY HIT DARWIN?! So the latest is this… Overnight the guys crossed the 2000 nautical miles mark (that’s 3861 kilomtres) and are currently in the thick of the Timor Sea approaching the Troubadour Shoals which are a bit of a landmark in this part of the world. Before…

As you read this we will have just rounded the north eastern tip of Timor Leste Island, and officially left South East Asia.  After 68 days of human powered effort we have rowed Simpson’s Donkey through the Singapore, Indonesia and Timor Leste Island chains and now enter the Timor Sea for a 260nm crossing to…

UPDATE FROM EXPEDITION HQ: So today we can confirm something those of you who have been following the GPS tracker might have already suspected. That Axe and Charlie have erred on the side of caution and decided to pull into Dili, the capital city of East Timor, before attacking the Timor Sea and the final…

Ok people, it’s time again for some messages of support for Axe and Charlie. As they approach the Timor Sea, the elements have turned against them… Read below for details… Every message counts- let’s be the wind that pushes them home! UPDATE FROM AXE ON SIMPSON’S DONKEY: “It’s too hot and we are too tired…

You may have wondered whether the guys had decided to head to Papua New Guinea rather than Darwin, or quite where they are going? To be honest Grant and Charlie are probably thinking the exact same right now! For the last few hours they have had the para anchor out and were trying to get…

Ahoy from Simpsons donkey! We are just five days into the second segment of the journey having crossed the Lombok strait and jumped straight back into boat life. Being back onboard and underway again is a liberating feeling, as the longer we felt on land the further we seemed away from our objective as we…

Hello all from Simpson’s Donkey. The past three days have been interesting, our departure from Bali on day 40 saw us immediately enter the Lombok Strait.  A massive 20nm stretch of fierce water that did not disappoint!  Once in the middle of the Strait a massive North Easterly setting current stream fought against a 10knot…

SIMPSONS DONKEY HQ update from Dave Field: You may be wondering if the guys made it across the shipping lanes, came unstuck or became a submarine and popped up on the tracker at a later time? Rest assured all is well on the Donkey, it is just a technical fault on the SPOT Tracker service…

Well we are still here in Bali – sitting on a very windy Amed beach on the north-east tip of Bali. To cut a long story short – we need a port clearance from the local harbor master to leave Bali, and he is concerned about the weather and strong winds which are forecast at…