The Sun-Herald

Last week I was one of a lucky few to spend a day with fearless explorer, adventurer and eco-warrior Mike Horne aboard his sustainable yacht, Pangaea.

Mike and his crew had docked in Sydney for three days just next door to the Sun-Herald offices in Pyrmont, to kick off a recruitment drive for participants in his current four-year global expedition aboard Pangaea. Mike selects talented young people to join him in his mission to explore the farthest reaches of the natural world and discover ways to help the environment.

So far, teenagers from several countries - including China, France and South Africa - have made it through Mike's rigorous selection process, but there hasn't been a single Australian applicant. "I can't understand it," he says. "Australians have a love for the outdoors and the ocean."

The adventure has taken Mike and his young helpers to Antarctica, where they measured snow layers, and will head through the South China Sea and into Asia, where they will hit dry land for a while and explore the Himalayas.

Mike also plans to walk part of the trip at the bottom of the ocean wearing lead boats and a diving belt while he charts the levels of man-made debris in the oceans. Don't be surprised - this is the man who swam the length of the Amazon, circumnavigated the Arctic Circle and took his two daughters for a walk to the North Pole when they were under 12. One celebrated her 11th birthday at the polar ice caps there.

What impressed me most about Mike was that unlike many explorers and adventurers I've met, he's driven by a desire to embrace nature rather than to conquer it. "I have been humbled so many times by nature," he told me. "I come back home each time feeling smaller than when I left."

Here's Mike below decks in Pangaea explaining how she's built from bamboo, scrap wood and Aluminium and manufactures all her own water using an on-board desalination system.

You can track Pangaea's progress and apply to join Mike's amazing expedition at his website.

Days later I took to the seas again, this time up in the Whitsundays. I flew there on board Virgin Blue's inaugural Sydney to Hamilton Island service with a colourful posse of showbiz faces, other journalists and travel industry people.

As we made our final descent towards the 1852m Hamo runway I was alarmed to see fire trucks waiting on the tarmac. I watch Aircrash Investigation and know what this means. But there was no emergency - just a ceremonial hose sluicing to mark the historical landing.

Here's Deni Hines, Tania Zaetta, Mike Goldman, Melissa Hoyer and Bianca Dye shortly after touching down on Hamo.

We packed a lot of fun into a 24-hour trip, sailing around the island, dropping into the serene surrounds of Qualia resort and celebrating Independence Day with local tourism execs and the mayor of the Whitsundays, Mike Brunker, who's pictured here paying a restrained tribute to Michael Jackson with the help of Mike Goldman.

In stark contrast, I'm off to Melbourne this weekend. You can be sure there won't be crotch dancing, sunny beaches, 26 degree temperatures or anything at all that looks like this: