It’s hard to fathom a mirror stretched further than the eye can see, yet here we are.
To a shipwreck survivor, six months at sea is a lifetime. To an offshore worker it’s another day at the office. It all comes down to circumstances. For Jackson Coffey, it means bringing his most ambitious project to life.
The former professional surfer is no stranger to living in close quarters with family. The Coffeys are famous for traversing Australia in a bus, chasing swell. That’s good prep, but not quite the same, as spending over 180 days on a 6.6m boat with your dad. The Coffeys turned an epic journey coastal journey into 35 episodes on Youtube (full playlist here), and the positive response prompted Jackson to re-release the footage as a 2 hour film. We asked him a few questions about the experience and what comes next.
Where did the idea spring from?
We really wanted to do something different, and dad came to me one day and just said, “Why don't we take the boat from Tweed Heads to the tip (Cape York)?
And I said to him, “Why don't we take it from Tweed to Broome?” The only reason I wanted to take it to Broome was because my car and my tinny was there. May as well go the whole way instead of going half! And that was the idea behind the trip.
What sort of planning and logistics goes into something like this?
We kind of just go for it, but obviously there's things you have to plan and outlay. The main thing before the trip was getting the boat in the position that it was capable of pulling something like this off. Once we left, we'd plan two weeks at a time. We left Tweed and, it was like, “All right, let's get to Moreton (Island).”
We got to Moreton, hung out there for a few days and then the next spot was “All right, how do we get to Seventeen Seventy?” and we made our way there. All the people we met up with along the way, I've only (already known) one of them on the entire trip and that was Casey at Seventeen Seventy. The rest we messaged on Instagram or bumped into. In the future, we'll continue to do that. It seems to work for us.
What’s key to making the expedition work without sacrificing a relationship?
Living in small quarters on the boat wasn't a difficult thing for us. Dad's brought us up in an unusual way where we have grown up in caravans and buses and tents and troopies. Travelling around the country as a family has been our life. This was more difficult than any other thing we've done before, purely because of the boat size. A lot of that trip was in croc country, so it was difficult to get time off the boat.
I think the best way is to give each other space when you can see someone's not happy or struggling with something. Talk it out, get through it. We had a goal to make it there alive and if you're fighting and not getting along, it's just not going to work.
Lining up the take off is tricky at this spot, but you never need to worry about anyone dropping in.
You got a bit of surfing in. Find any new spots?
We didn't get to do a lot but that day we had on the Great Barrier Reef the water was like as if I was surfing on top of the reef. I've travelled around the world chasing waves, and I haven't experienced water that clear before. We've found heaps of waves already, and I haven't filmed very many of them. I try not to talk about them too much because I'm going to very remote places and I don't want to ruin them for other people. If I did name a wave, I’d probably call it ‘Having A Crack’.
I had one board, the Squidish, and it's by Andrew Mooney at Serpent Sleds. He's just an absolute charging animal. It's a real good all-rounder for small ways, bigger waves, and really suited my surfing.
How About the Fishing?
The biggest fish that we caught was a Barramundi. I don't think I'll ever beat that fish. That thing was an absolute giant. And then dad's big Red Emperor, that was just an incredible fish that we got. They're the two that really stand out.
I thought it was going to be the main goal on the trip, but in the end, it was something we did throughout the day. It was quite difficult because we're kind of just surviving.
Tonight’s menu: sashimi. Sadly, the galley was all out of soy sauce.
What’s Next For You Guys?
The plan is to finish the lap! I've just had shoulder surgery. I dislocated my shoulder about 15 times on the trip and I just had a reconstruction. I'm out of action for a few months, but in the meantime, we're doing the trail craft up, making it better.
Hopefully we’ll be done in about a year and a half and then we've done a full lap of the country and documented it the whole way. I think it's going to be an awesome thing to accomplish and when I get back, I want to write a book on it and all sorts of things.
You won’t know until you go. The Coffeys have made it halfway, with plenty more to see and do before the journey is complete.
The number of jaw dropping moments must be too numerous to mention, but try give us your highlights
A favourite moment was when we hit the Barrier Reef at the very start. That was a feeling of “We're doing something good here. This is going to work. We're capable of this.” That was a very special part of the trip, where it became a reality. We weren't sure if we could do it when we left.
The Kimberley for boating is a very special place because you have waterfalls and it's just amazing for exactly what we were doing. That does make it quite easy to get off and shower. There's fishing and there's hills to hide behind (from) the wind and I do have a special place in my heart for the Kimberley and that is up there with the best parts of the trip.
The next thing that sticks out is we were staying at Turtle Creek Eco Lodge. We had an amazing time and it was a really good break. We were walking through the croc waters and dad caught his first Barramundi and the boys just took us in open arms. That was something that I'd seen Malcolm Douglas do a long time ago and an experience not many people get. And catching that Barramundi, that was a dream fish for me. I love catching big fish. I'll never forget that moment.
The most incredible thing we saw was probably the Morning Glory clouds as we were going across the Gulf. We didn't even know what that was as we were going under it.
They're the parts of the trip where I’m like “How is Australia?”
This country is just insane.
Finding a parking spot out the wind is much easier when you get away from the crowds.
Watch Jackson’s film here.