Icy toes and road trains couldn't stop Conrad Pattinson sending Australia a message.
Conrad Pattinson wants to shake up Australia’s long love affair with their polluting cars.
“It blows my mind to see people get into their cars for a short trip,” says the Sydneysider.
He’s on a mission to prove there’s a better way - so one spring day in 2022, he travelled to Perth, put on his best pair of thongs and pointed his e-bike east, across the continent towards home.
“I’m not an athlete or a fitness freak,” Conrad says. “The whole point of the trip was to show that if I can cross Australia on an e-bike wearing thongs, anyone can step out of their comfort zone.”
For the next 20 days, he clocked up around 200km a day. Icy cold toes were a hazard, as were fierce headwinds, constant roadkill to dodge and some white knuckle encounters with road trains.
But 3,970km later, Conrad, who co-owns electric bike company Vamos, says his adventure has made him more committed than ever to a clean energy future in which Australia’s exceptional places and creatures can thrive.
“I’ve travelled overseas a lot and there’s a reason why I still live in Australia. It’s spectacular. Lots of moments on the trip, like standing on the cliffs looking over the Great Australian Bight, made me think again how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful country.”
Along the way Conrad spoke to Australians from all walks of life, and was inspired by how many cheered him on and wanted to share their own concerns about climate change.
His e-bike odyssey has also raised almost $20,000 for ACF, including $80 from two strangers in a pie shop on the Victorian-New South Wales border who emptied their wallets after hearing his story.
Conrad is now working on a documentary about his trip and the daily choices we can all make about how we move around our neighbourhoods.
“This is about the future of Australia and how we source our energy,” he says. “If I can do this trip, everyone should think twice about getting in their car next time to drive to the shops.”
