Three young Australians started an overland journey that took them 50,000 km all the way from Istanbul, through Africa and back to Australia, on quad bikes. The trip took them through the Libya desert for three days and they travelled through the snow of Lesotho, visiting more than thirty six countries.
Jamie Kenyon has dreamed of taking a long journey and saved up for five years, his friend Val De Simoni also wanted to take a trip and came up with the idea of the 50,000 km round trip on quad bikes. Another friend thought the idea exciting but joined it, and the Quad Squad plan came together. The boys got the idea for using ATVs when realizing that the Guinness Book of World Record attempt for travelling the longest distance on a quad was 27,100 km, set by two Dutch men and this is what they wanted to beat.
The Australians contacted Oxfam Australia and made the trip to fund raise from some of the Oxfam projects in South Africa. The trip began in Istanbul in August 2010 and the trio made their way through Turkey, Greece and numerous other European countries. Sadly during their trip Val was run off the road in Malawi and despite being airlifted to hospital he passed away. A month later the friends returned to finish the dream they had started taking their friends ashes with them to scatter. The pair said that the journey and the tragedy has taught them not to give up no matter what happens in life, as life is all about realising your dreams.