Ireland to Sydney By Any Means S01 complete (BBC, 2008)  (1280x720p HD, 50fps, soft Eng subs)

Adventurer Charley Boorman journeys from Ireland to Australia, using only local means of transport.

E01
Gritty adventurer Charley Boorman goes on one of his most daring journeys, covering three continents, 25 countries and over 20,000 miles from Ireland to Australia. /  / Charley gets off his bike and on to local means of transport, avoiding commercial airlines wherever possible to travel over land and sea on more than 100 different modes of transport, including container ships, dug-out canoes, solar cars and an elephant. /  / In the first episode, preparations are underway as Charley plans the three-month expedition. A few knock-backs, several training courses and some minor route alterations later, the three team members - Charley, producer Russ and cameraman Mungo - are ready. Starting from Charley's home in County Wicklow in Ireland, the trio rev the engines of three classic bikes before heading northwards for the shores of Kilkeel and the start of their adventure.

E02
Charley's adventure takes him from the shores of Calais to the shores of Bandar-e Abbas. First, he puts his newly-learnt sailing skills to use and successfully crosses the tempestuous English Channel in a sailing dinghy. /   / From Calais, Charley and the team navigate their way through France and Italy, across to Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, before pressing on through far western Asia from Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. The expedition hinges on whether they can enter Iran and make it to Dubai in time to catch a container ship to Mumbai. /   / Charley travels the distance on a vast array of transport, taking a luxury train to Venice, riding a Parisian city bicycle, wrestling with a sidecar motorcycle around a hairpin bend in Georgia, hitching a ride on a truck in Iran and onboard a sleeper train.  /   / On the way, he and the team are faced with numerous logistical obstacles including a vintage car with an empty fuel tank, an ex-Soviet jeep with dodgy brakes and a serious bureaucratic hurdle in order to get their visas into Iran.  /   / But Charley's passion for befriending all those around him and his notorious sense of humour means they also taste the flavours and meet the faces of this eclectic part of the world - from Cenk, the Turkish fixer who sings his Dolmus Blues, to a young Croat lady who tells the story of her father's capture and imprisonment in a concentration camp, and sharing hubbly bubbly with locals in a tea room in the Iranian desert.

E03
Charley and the team are separated from Dubai by the Persian Gulf, where a scheduled container ship will depart for India in a matter of days. Despite encountering pirate-infested waters, they reach India, where the team head straight for the streets of Mumbai to soak up the colours, smells and flavours. Before them is a journey on a cramped sleeper train to reach India's capital, Delhi. /  / Disaster strikes as one of the team gets seriously injured and has to drop out, with an emotional goodbye and a return to London for medical attention. /  / One man down but determined the expedition will continue, the team reach Varanasi, the holy town on the banks of the sacred river Ganges. Charley watches a traditional Arti ceremony and reflects on how much he is drawn to the incredible and varied country, and how much he is looking forward to the other wonderful places that lie ahead.

E04
Epic journey series, using as many forms of transport as possible. /  / After a spiritually enriching time in India it's time to head north towards Nepal. The next leg of the journey starts on tuk tuks, one of Boorman's favourite modes of transport. Charley and the team enjoy it so much that they decide to buy one.  /  / Leaving the chaos of the streets, Charley boards a train at Varanasi and is met at Gorakhpur by a tremendous downpour of rain. The team have an easy border crossing and find themselves in the comparatively peaceful land of Nepal, where they take a tractor, a multicoloured local bus and a dugout canoe all the way to the Royal Chitwan National Park.  /  / Charley bonds with an elephant that takes him through remote Nepali villages, before transferring to jeep and travelling over deep valleys and Indiana Jones-style suspension bridges. /  / Meanwhile in Kathmandu, the King is deposed, and the atmosphere in Nepal's capital is electric as it becomes a republic. Here the team seize the opportunity to go to Everest by helicopter on the 55th anniversary of a mountaineering conquest: the summit of the world's highest mountain. /  / Eventually making it into China, Charley and the team travel along the Xi Jiang River to Wuzhou on a cement barge. Now running behind schedule due to the swelling of the river, Charley hurries to Yangshuo to see the breathtaking scenery of limestone cliffs, and to ride over this remote and captivating part of the world in a hot air balloon.

E05
Now in far flung Vietnam, Charley joins thousands of local bikers on a Minsk motorcycle rally, and makes his way over to Halong Bay to see the beauty of the Thousand Islands and meet traditional pearl makers. However, it is not long before this peaceful excursion takes a turn for the worse - nerves are quickly on edge as the team, now onboard a very small speedboat on rough seas, are pounded by the water. A wave kills the small engine just as the boat swings in towards the rocks, but the team's loud screaming alerts a nearby fishing boat, who luckily manages to pull them out of danger just in time. /  / Charley gets back on track behind the wheel of a US military jeep to visit some of the most significant places from the Vietnam War, such as Vinh Moc and its infamous underground tunnel network, built by the villagers to escape the devastation. /  / In Laos and Cambodia, Charley experiences the wonders of the Mekong River on board a powerful rocket boat. Enjoying the largest waterfalls in South East Asia and then dirt biking his way around the countryside, he finally marvels at the 11th century ruins of Angkor Wat. /  / Traveling south through Thailand and Malaysia, Charley tries out an unfamiliar form of transport to cross to Singapore - wakeboarding. Successfully across and now on Nikoi Island, Charley is to board a small cargo boat that looks well beyond its sell-by-date. After some pre-departure prayers with the crew, it's not long before they are far out at sea and the second bout of boating bad luck strikes - the boat has sprung a leak, and is rapidly taking in water.

E06
Tension fills the air as the team's waterlogged cargo boat begins to sink; they are on their way to Borneo to help with a Unicef vaccination project. With the boat out of action they have to find another way. /   / Three hundred miles of lush rainforest later, Charley and the Unicef team arrive with the vaccines in a village up the Pawan River, deep in the heart of Kalimantan on Borneo. Having missed the one ferry that would take them to Bali, the team have no choice but to double back and fly to their destination. /   / From Bali, Charley embarks upon a series of boat journeys navigating his way across the Indonesian archipelago. From speedboats to hand built traditional phinisi boats and hugely overcrowded ferries, he makes his way to Kupang. /   / After a turbulent five-day crossing from Kupang on board a handmade boat, Charley and the team are delighted to finally hit the shores of Australia - the end of the journey is in sight! /   / Despite being on the right continent, there is a huge distance to cover across the outback. The team decide to take the most direct route to Sydney over the Snowy Mountains, but are thwarted by bad weather. Charley tests out all sorts of weird and wonderful forms of transport from campervans to camels and road graders to road trains. On the last leg into Sydney, Charley leads an epic biker convoy over the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. The trip that started life on the back of a boarding pass, that charted a journey from Ireland to Sydney using over a 100 means of transport in 102 days, is complete.

First broadcast:  September-October 2008
Duration:  1 hour per episode

Torrent dead? Request reseed at torrentgalaxy.org - or ask at elsonroa at tutanota.com