.: richard philips I was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1981. I am the oldest of four siblings and have three sisters. I was educated at the Wynberg Boys’ School and matriculated in 1998. From there, I went on to study a Bachelor of Business Science at UCT. After university, I went with a group of friends to work on the Aspen ski slopes in Colorado for four months. At the beginning of 2004, myself and two friends moved to Edinburgh in search of some more varied work experience and travel opportunities. I started out doing menial admin and call centre work before falling into a software testing role. This is the line of work I’ve stuck with and I now hope to take my experience back to South Africa. During 2005, I met Heather through a mutual friend. We dated long distance between London and Edinburgh and then Cape Town and Edinburgh until December 2006 and were then married in Cape Town. We returned to Edinburgh in 2007 to complete the saving and planning for this trip.

.: heather philips Also born in Cape Town, in 1980, I am the total opposite of Richard – the youngest of four siblings. I was educated at Wynberg Girls’ School (which is just down the road from Wynberg Boys) and matriculated in 1998. Ironically, Richard and I met in Norwich, UK, while I was on a 2 year working visa – even though we grew up suburbs apart! I've always enjoyed the outdoors, hiking and camping etc... but I'd never done as much outdoors stuff as I have since meeting Richard. His final 'test' before proposing to me was dragging me up Truitjies kraal in the Cederberg after having no coffee that morning. Needless to say, I passed the test - whining the whole way up. I pretty much married into the idea of this trip. Richard had always had this crazy notion to drive from Edinburgh to Cape Town, and I went along with it – I guess on some level thinking it would never happen. But here we are, 3 years later and it's finally happening!

.: gerhard geldenhuis Born in a sunny Free State town in South Africa, Gerrard decided to see the world and travel afar before succumbing to old age and thus ended up in the UK, somewhere late in 2005. By that he certainly did not imply that London or the UK was the centre of the universe, merely a convenient springboard and good source of income. This not being enough of an adventure or too much of the same thing he subsequently ended up in Edinburgh early in 2008 where he met Richard and Heather. Not needing much to fuel his adventurous spirit - the fire for true adventure was lit after meeting Richard. Ever since then, Gerrard has been making plans to fit the trip into all of the other priority and time seeking activities, work and study being two big ones. Luckily the economic downturn could not have come at a better time and has proved to be the ideal impetus to take a break from work for 3 months, while the world sorts itself out and Gerrard worries about flat tyres and finding food for the night. As a bonus Gerrard will have finished his first year in Geology and plans to collect at least half a ton of rock samples and to fill 20 field note books with rock folding and fault descriptions.

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