An evening with travellers extraordinaire

Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite, pictured with their Jeep Gunther, have some extraordinary travel tales to tell. Photo / Expedition Earth

New Zealanders are known as inveterate travellers, but few can hold a candle to Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite.

They were just beginning the third leg of their 350,000km global excursion, which was to have taken them through Scandinavia, Russia, Central Asia, China, India, South-East Asia, Indonesia and Australia, then back to New Zealand, when Covid-19 forced them to return home.

Thackwray, originally from Mahinepua, was back at her old school, Springbank, in June, with all sorts of stories about her adventures with her partner Topher Richwhite and their Jeep called Gunther, and now they are about to entertain a wider audience, at the Turner Centre, on Friday February 19.

Since 2018 they have driven Gunther, through 78 countries, and it hasn't all been plain sailing. They've been held at gunpoint in Ethiopia, worked with the National Geographic Society, and broken down in -30 degrees Celsius on Bolivia's Death Road.

And if that is the world's coldest road, they have also driven the longest, most dangerous, highest, lowest and hottest.

The Turner Centre evening (7pm) will include a one-hour presentation, followed by questions and answers and a 'meet and greet' in the foyer.

Tickets ($15, of which $2 will be donated to WWF), are available at turnercentre.co.nz and at the box office.

Two tickets to be won

The Northland Age has one double pass to Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite's presentation at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on February 19 to give away.

To go into the draw, email editor@northlandage.co.nz by midday Friday (January 29) with your name, address and phone number, with Expedition Earth in the subject line.