ELECTRIC EYE

See: one half of the CONVICTS family (the “A-Team”) decided the other half of the CONVICTS family (the “B-Team”) would be better of staying in America to freeze all winter while they (said “A-Team”) gallivanted around Australia in next-generation electric Audi e-trons on what could accurately be described as a journey through paradise.

So what we’re saying is: the next time our boss wants a really top-flight installment of The Cure regarding an all-time road trip with world class creatives down Australia’s obscenely beautiful eastern coast, he’s going to have to do a little roster shuffling. And not only that.

The A-Team had the gall to invite a more talented, qualified Australian writer along on the trip instead of yours truly. Her name is Sarah Bristow and she is a legend on the page. Brace for jealousy. Then read on below about our (and by “our” mean “their”) roadtrip with Woody Gooch, the wanderlusting 27-year old Australian photographer who returned home with a new eye for the wonders in his backyard.

“What better way to get acquainted with Australia than hitting the bitumen? A chance to immerse yourself among a landscape rich in variety and fluent in wide open spaces, where red vast deserts gather alongside reefs, dense rainforest, and peaks peppered with snow. A concept long embraced by residents of our island home, a road trip is a far more leisurely (and often cheaper) alternative than finding flights. And in keeping with an increasingly green-focused population, a road trip by electric car is today attainable, the likes of the Audi e-tron catered to by the Chargefox facilities scattered along the coast and Inland.

And so an ambitious road trip begins, with Woody captaining the ship. One that meanders down the eastern seaboard, immersing itself in the coast, the country, and even a sprinkling of snow. It’s from Woody’s hometown of the Sunshine Coast that his journey kicks off.”

Mountains, rainforests, surfing, beaches, road trips, Australians and so on are low-key our favorite things. Even worse, Woody and the gang did a bunch of legendary things with a bunch of legends along the way. For instance, they explored Rainbow Beach with the free surfer Josie Prendergast, went diving with Shark Girl Madison Stewart, ate hand-caught dinner with chefs David Moyle and Mark LaBrooy in Northern Rivers, drove cattle with modern-day cowboy Nick Kirshner in the Snowy Mountains.

Or, as Sarah summarizes, “it was an ambitious adventure that saw us take in more than 3500 kilometres in just 10 days. A marathon effort down the east coast showcasing the unique diversity of Australia’s landscape, and proving all the while that an electric car like the e-tron can survive (and thrive) the way.”

Fortunately for we little people, CONVICTS produced an incredible short film along the way. Called Electric Eye, it explores the natural intersection of local travel, inclusive road-tripping and sustainability. More importantly, it’s a piece of high-voltage road poetry that’s packed with damn near too much beauty to register all at once.