GERMAN KAYAKER IN EPIC JOURNEY AROUND AUSTRALIA

February 12: A former German beauty contestant is attempting to become only the second person in history to circumnavigate Australia in a kayak.

Freya Hoffmeister, a 35-year-old mother from the German town of Husum, on the North Sea (near Kiel) is due to paddle through Sydney Harbour on Friday evening (February 13).

The adventure-paddler will leave Bulli at 7am tomorrow morning and is expected to arrive at Manly Wharf at 6pm and she is expected to be joined by a flotilla of paddlers, welcoming her into

She will then continue her trek north from Manly's Shelley Beach (near Fairy Bower) at 7am on Saturday morning.

Freya set out from Melbourne on January 14 in an attempt to paddle around the country, unsupported - a total of 15,000km.

The journey around the Australian coast is regarded as one of, if not the most challenging trips in the world of sea kayaking.

If she completes the trip she will become the first woman and only the second person after her good friend and mentor, New Zealander Paul Caffyn, who completed the trek in 1982.

Caffyn, a coal exploration and mining geologist from the West Coast of New Zealand, completed the circumnavigation in 361 days.

The 1.90cm former gymnast-cum-body-builder-cum-adventure kayaker is expected to beach her kayak at Manly Wharf before setting off from Manly for the long and arduous journey north.

Freya is a member of "Team Epic" which includes noted South African kayakers Oscar and Herman Chalupsky, Australia's Olympic gold medallist Clint Robinson,  Dual US Olympic kayak champion Greg Barton and Australia's ocean racing kayak kings Tim Jacobs and David Kissane.

"Freya's mission is to circumnavigate Australia unsupported and do it in under a year," said Epic Kayaks Australia's, Tony King.

"This is one of the most dangerous adventure paddles in the world. She will encounter everything from sharks and whales, to jellyfish, huge surf breaks, crocodiles, huge tide movements, heat, lack of water and just conquering the elements."

EPIC has provided Freya with an 18X Touring Kayak and paddles and she is paddling a production model, or "off the shelf" model of this kayak. EPIC is about to import her expedition kayaks specially tailored for the trip. Suffice to say she has already gone 1200km in the production boat.

Freya Hoffmeister web site is http://qajaqunderground.com/.