Cas and Jonesy are an Australian duo known for being explorers, endurance athletes, motivational speakers, as well as a writer and documentary producer respectively. Their given names are James John Castrission (born 14 March 1982) and Justin Roderick Jones (born 20 June 1983). In 2008 they

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

ed 3318 km across the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

from Australia to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, becoming the first to do so. On 26 January 2012, Castrission and Jones completed the first unsupported polar expedition from the edge of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

and back without mechanical assistance. After 89 days they made it back to the coast, having skied 2275 km while towing sleds full of supplies. They arrived alongside

Aleksander Gamme Aleksander Gamme (born July 23, 1976) is a Norwegian adventurer, polar explorer, researcher, author and public speaker. In 2007, he climbed Mount Everest with Stian Voldmo. While he was there he worked on an interactive teaching project "Hamar ti ...

who had waited for them so they could all finish together.

Early life

Castrission was born in Sydney, the eldest of three children to parents John and Vivienne. Both sets of grandparents migrated to Australia from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

after

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was educated at

Knox Grammar School , motto_translation = The Manly Thing Is Being Done , established = , founder = John Gilmore, William McIlrath, Robert Gillespie and Andrew Reid , type = Independent school, Independe ...

and then attended The

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

where he undertook a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance & Accounting). He is married to his wife Mia and has a son. They reside in Blackheath, Blue Mountains. Jones was born 20 June 1983 the youngest of three children to parents Rod and Chintra Jones. He lived in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

until he was 11, before attending boarding school at The Kings School Sydney. He later moved to Knox Grammar School. Jones completed his tertiary education at The

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

where he studied a Bachelor of Science (Honors Physiology). He currently resides in Tasmania with his wife Lauren and two daughters, Morgan and Dylan. Castrission and Jones met when they were 15 and 16 respectively. Castrission 's family was Jones's home family in Sydney, assigned to him while he attended boarding school. They became friends, sharing a common love of the outdoors. They participated in cadets together and upon leaving school, they began attempting a number of bushwalks and

expeditions together, while working separately in various roles. Castrission worked at

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

as an accountant, then management Consultant (2003–2007). Jones worked as a research assistance in a science laboratory (2004– 2007) and various pubs in Sydney. In 2007, Castrission and Jones decided to work full-time on their plans to kayak across the

. Since then, they have published books, filmed documentaries and given public speaking seminars based on their frequent expeditions.

Endurance events

Crossing the Ditch

As Cas & Jonesy they became the first people to cross the

from Australia to

in a kayak. They set off from

Forster, New South Wales Forster is a coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Mid-Coast Council LGA, about 308 km north-north-east of Sydney. It is immediately adjacent to its twin, Tuncurry, which is the smaller of the tw ...

on 13 November 2007 and arrived at Ngamotu Beach in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. Th ...

on 13 January 2008, taking a total of 60 days, 20 hours and 50 minutes for crossing. Cas and Jonesy travelled in a double kayak named Lot 41, custom designed by Rob Feloy. They transmitted podcasts and photographs during the trip.

Crossing the Ice

On 26 January 2012, Cas & Jonesy succeeded in skiing from the edge of

to the

and back without assistance. It took 89 days and 2275 km of skiing, in what was the longest unsupported polar expedition of all time (the pair also finished along with Norwegian adventurer Aleksander Gamme, who had waited for them). Pulling everything they needed on a sled behind them and facing temperatures as low as – 40 C, they endured frostbite, crevasses, equipment failure and food deprivation. The pair had almost no skiing experience before their expedition and spent months researching and consulting with experts from all over the world. They trained in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and in

, acclimatizing themselves to the extreme cold they would experience during the adventure. The Australian adventurers are the youngest team to ever reach the South Pole.

Okefenokee Swamp

In 2013, Cas and Jonesy completed the world's first on-foot segment crossing of the

Okefenokee swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee ...

, the largest blackwater swamp in North America. The pair were filming a pilot for

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

titled "Surviving Wild America", in which they retraced a 9-mile trail that had not been used in 40 years. They slept in hammocks above the swamp, travelled in blow up rafts and experienced numerous encounters with

alligators An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additionall ...

, cotton mouth snakes and black bears

Bass Strait

The pair completed an unsupported Eastern route crossing in 9 days, travelling 340 km by kayak in 2006. The

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Bo ...

is the sea strait which separates

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

from the Australian mainland.

Murray River

Cas & Jonesy completed the world's first traverse of the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

, Australia's longest river, by kayak. They spent 49 days in 2001 and 2002 travelling a total of 2,560 km, raising $9,500 for the annual fundraiser Kayak for Kids.

Media

Published in January 2010, the book '' Crossing the Ditch'' tells the story of Cas and Jonesy's adventure across the Tasman, paddling more than 2000 km kayak from Australia to New Zealand. ''Extreme South'' was written by Castrission following the couple's South Pole excursion and was published in July 2012. In the documentary ''Crossing The Ditch'' (aka 62 Days at Sea), Jones uses footage recorded during Cas and Jonesy's crossing of the

to tell the story of their kayak journey from Australia to

. The documentary features interviews from both adventurers. In his second documentary, ''Crossing the Ice'', Jones uses recorded footage and interviews to tell the story of the pair's journey over 1,140 km to the

and back again, and the quest to become the first humans to achieve the feat unassisted.

Charities

Cas and Jonesy, under the Cultural Gifts Act, donated all the expedition equipment from their two major expeditions to museums in Sydney. In 2010, the

Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a federally operated maritime museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. After considering the idea of establishing a maritime museum, the federal government announced that a national maritime museum wou ...

acquired and showcased equipment from their ' Crossing the Ditch' expedition, and as of 2018 it remains part of the collection. The

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...

accepted the equipment from their 'Crossing the Ice' expedition, and as of 2018 items are on display in the Expeditions section.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cas and Jonesy Kayaking Tasman Sea Canoeing in Australia 2007 in Australia 2008 in New Zealand