Just three people have successfully kayaked Australia's coastline. The pioneer was Paul Caffyn, of Greymouth, who completed a 17,400km journey in 361 days (257 paddling) in 1982. Freya Hoffmeister of Germany was the second in 2009, and claims the fastest circumnavigation for a 13,790km journey in 322 days (245 paddling). She took a "short cut" across the top of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
British-born Mr Trueman, an IT support worker, was the third, taking 16 months to complete his epic journey between April 2010 and July last year.
One of the things his wife Sharyn and daughters Brittany and Ella did while he was out paddling was visit Wanaka. This week he made good his promise to visit the resort with them.
Mr Trueman is no stranger to adventure and since he left school has spent most of his years climbing, trekking and adventuring. He took up paddling because of arthritis in his knees and in 2006 was part of the three-man team which paddled 800km along the Antarctic Peninsula.
When Mr Trueman set out he had no desire to compete against the times set by Mr Caffyn or Ms Hoffmeister. He got off to a bad start, in any case, suffering heat exhaustion on the first day paddling out from Broome.
"That was my hardest day ... It was still the rainy season. I thought it would be the end of the rainy season by then and I had never paddled in the rainy season. It was really humid and that was what got me ... It was a huge lesson." At the end of his second day, he abandoned his kayak and returned to Broome for medical treatment. Within hours, he felt better and was able to pick up the journey.
Mr Trueman has many stories, including one about his two-day battle with rudder-biting sharks.
The Otago Canoe and Kayak club will host Mr Trueman's presentation at the Institute of Sport and Adventure Theatre, at Otago Polytechnic on Friday night.
