Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Brando Yelavich Continues His Epic Journey To Become The First Person To Walk The Entire New Zealand Coastline...

A few days ago I had the delight of catching up with my young friend Brando on the Mahia Peninsula. Wildboy is the name he's using these days but since I met him on day two of his epic adventure to walk the entire New Zealand coastline, this remarkable young person has become an inspirational man.
His parents Todd and Donella have every reason to be immensely proud of their son with his attention deficit disorder and his dyslexia for achieving what nobody has ever achieved.
Many have talked about it but Brando is walking the talk and when he reaches Cape Reinga in early August he'll deserve every accolade that comes his way.
He will have conquered his first Everest.
He's got others in mind, like writing a book, continuing to inspire others, being the first person to climb a mountain on the moon and getting a car.
He jokes he's fed up with walking.
As you might well imagine he's had some wonderful adventures on his journey, catching his first Hapuka at Ngawi with my friend Malcolm was one, living off the land has been an incredible experience and he's met many amazing people.
Some like Tarsh from Dunedin have gone to great lengths to travel part of the way with him.
Right now she's walking with him from Mahia up the coast to Gisborne on the East Cape. You can follow Brando every step of the way too and on that matter, so far he reckons he's made over seven and a half million steps on the five thousand eight hundred kilometers already walked.
It was great to see him but I'm glad I'm not carrying his pack.
It's so heavy I could hardly lift it.
I'll catch up with him again before Cape Reinga.
And yes Brando. Life is good...


















8 comments:

  1. Great write up Keith. And you are right He is a wonderful young Man. I looked through all his photos last night and they tell an amazing journey. He is amazing.

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  2. Happy and beautiful young man.I have ADD .I bet is not on neds.Neds won't let him dream.Mam oh Man he dreamed big.Glad his parents let him live his dream.Live .

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  3. It was an honour to meet you, Brando,....what an inspiring way to enter adult life. You will have so much to offer other young people through what you are achieving. I will be passing your story along to my two grandsons, one of whom has dyslexia.

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  4. I met Brando early in his journey. What amazing experiences he will have had and what a story he will be able to write.

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  5. Brando your an inspirational man, more young people should learn from this lead.
    And yes "Life is Good"
    Hats off all round!

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  6. Inspiring, touching, remarkable! God bless him!

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  7. Wow I wish my boys had that kind of spirit

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  8. Thanks Keith. I keep saying it but it truly is the most amazing adventure. He needs a motto that says "make it happen" you can't just leave the dreams as dreams. There are only a small number of people that actually "make it happen". This just might be the theme for my year 8s leavers speech, using Brando,s adventure as an example. Pip.

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