An Adventure
Team Columbus – London to Sydney via Russia
Cameron Gillespie (ON 2003) & James Gillespie (ON 2001) along with their Brother Myles, Father Peter and Cam’s Girlfriend Morgan, have recently commenced a rally that sees them drive from London to Russia. As if this wasn’t a challenge enough, they have added to the difficulty of the adventure by both driving to Sydney once completed and driving a 30-year-old London Sightseeing bus called Stephen.
Taking in over 20 countries, the journey will take them across the English Channel to France before heading across Europe to The Czech Republic and onto Romania before heading south into Turkey and across into Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. From there they head through Iran, all of the ‘Stans’ and into Mongolia before reaching the finish line in Russia about 7 weeks after setting off.
From there the bus (with a couple of less people) will head around Russia to Vladivostok before Stephen is then sent on his own to Perth on a ship. From Perth, the crew will meet Stephen and head north around the ‘top-end’, stopping in Broome, Darwin, Cape York, Cairns, Brisbane and eventually Sydney.
This whole trip is in aid of two charities; Cool Earth – A rainforest saving charity that buys land to prevent the destruction of Rainforests and the natural habitats of countless species from PNG to South America, And the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. The latter is very close to the heart of the Gillespie’s as Cam & James’ Grandfather Stephen died of Prostate cancer in 2010; hence the bus has been named in his honour.
So, as Newington Old Boys and friends of Newington College, they’d love to let you know about their journey and if anyone wants to see how they are getting on as they take on their 4-month journey from the UK back to Australia, they have a website: www.teamcolumbus.co.uk and are posting to social media: teamcolumbus2018
They are also kindly asking for any support for their charities as they make the trip home and links to their charities pages can be found on their website: https://www.teamcolumbus.co.uk/our-charities
Here are some pics of the bus and the route they are taking and if any of you would like to get in touch with Cam or James or the team, their email is hello@teamcolumbus.co.uk.
