Littleton, CO, March 7, 2010 - Young Canadian filmmakers, Alex Heaslip and Patrick Shine have received their driving orders: "Go west, young men!" The two award-winning short-filmmakers will take charge of steering Geoff, the Van-Tastic Adventures van, on his final adventure, through the wilds of Western Australia.
Heaslip and Shine will turn their talents to capturing the wild and funny side of Western Australia, as the winners of the seventh and final leg of the WorldNomads.com Van-Tastic 30,000km, around-Australia Adventure, which began in Cairns in August, 2009. They will take the baton from NT team and fellow North Americans, Andrew Adams and Willie Concepción, in Darwin on May 6 and drop Geoff the van off in Perth – his final destination - on June 17.
Their task along the way is to 'road test’ the best of Western Australia’s holiday and adventure offerings - and share their adventures with the world via blogs and videos on the Van-Tastic Adventures website.
Tourism Western Australia, World Nomads and the Western Australia tourism industry have teamed up to provide Heaslip and Shine with a swag of adventures to report on during their trip.
Crossing into WA from the NT, the pair plan to drive the Gibb River Road through the Kimberley, taking as many adventurous sidetrips as they can manage. So far, the line-up includes paddling the Upper Ord River with Big Waters Kimberley Canoe Safaris; and flying by chopper over the rugged country featured in the movie Australia, en route to Broome, where a camel ride along the beach at sunset is almost compulsory.
They’ll head south to Ningaloo Reef to snorkel with whale sharks with Three Island Marine Charters and with manta rays at Coral Bay. They’ll head south to the state’s oldest wine region, the Swan Valley and end in Perth for some end-of trip adrenalin rushes, including a Fremantle Flyer helicopter ride and a tandem skydive with Skydive Express.
Heaslip and Shine attended film school together in Toronto, Canada. They’re award-winning filmmakers whose films have played at festivals in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. They’ve travelled extensively and have recently founded their own production company, working on corporate spots, short films and music videos. They won their free, six-week adventure – beating out entries from around the globe - on the basis of their application video.
The Van-Tastic Adventure has travelled through every Australian State and finishes in Perth on June 17, 2010. At the end of the trip, from July 2 to 25, the viewing public will vote for the best video produced during the year-long, 30,000 kilometre adventure – and the winning team will take home $10,000 cash.
To see how the first teams fared on their holiday of a lifetime and the latest blogs and video clips, visit: http://vantastic.worldnomads.com
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