Australia by Inline Skate: Stellar Transmedia Launches joetrek.com to Track Epic Journey; Site to Feature Updates, Photos, Blog of Year-Long Trip.

BOULDER, Colo. -- Adventure and travel publisher Stellar Transmedia has lent its support to an unusual journey: a solo effort to circle Australia by inline skate.

A Web site created by Stellar, www.joetrek.com, will follow Joe Rehana of Crested Butte, Colo., as he attempts to inline skate the near-circumference of Australia, an approximately 10,000-mile trek setting out from Sydney and heading north to Townsville. Following Route One Rehana will pass through towns and cities such as Mt. Isa, Tennant Creek, HallsCreek, Broome, Carnarvon, Geraldton, Perth, Albany, Esperance, Ceduna, Port Lincoln, Adelaide, Melbourne, and finish back in Sydney approximately ten months later. If completed, it will be the longest trip ever by someone on inline skates. Rehana has been given the green light from the Guinness Book of World Records to make his attempt an official effort to break the current record.

In addition to the Web site, the JoeTrek adventure can also be viewed as a featured webumentary on Stellar's destination website, www.stellarmag.com. Rehana will use Stellar technology to easily publish his dispatches from the road, including a "blog-style" journal as well as photo and video galleries. Stellarmag.com provides similar technology for free to its community member base.

"JoeTrek is an opportunity to combine the pursuit of photojournalism with the desire to journey through our world in a unique manner that will bring about excellent stories and images to our online world," says Rehana. Though an unsupported effort, Rehana will be completely on his own, the trip has been partially sponsored by Chariot Carriers, manufacturer of the jogger/trailer Rehana uses to carry his supplies, and K2 Skates, an inline skate maker. Additional sponsorships are still available and information about how to support Rehana's effort can be found on the Web site.

Rehana is no stranger to solo, unsupported long-distance treks. At 19, he completed his first trip, a 1,000-mile bike ride from his hometown of Carterville, Ill., to Virginia Beach, Va. Since then, he's hiked the entire 2,135-mile Appalachian Trail, the 1,500-mile Grande Ranndonne Cinq in Europe and attempted his first inline skating trek in Europe shortly thereafter. In the summer of 1993, Rehana left Santa Monica, Calif., on a pair of inline skates, pushing his gear in a three-wheeled, modified baby jogger headed for the East Coast. He arrived in Virginia Beach, Va., three months, 3,080 miles, 112 skate wheels, and many blisters later, on August 7, 1993, four days before his 24th birthday.

For the Australia adventure, Rehana will use the same set up to carry clothing, food, camping supplies and, of course, a laptop computer to keep a log of his trip.

In between treks, Rehana completed a five-year tour as a journalist in the U.S. Navy, and relocated to Crested Butte where he created a Web site focused on the area's lifestyle and events.

About Stellar Transmedia

Stellar is a multimedia company covering the lifestyle of adventure sports, active travel, and the environment. Stellar provides related services for the general public and for corporate clients. Stellar webumentaries spotlight exceptional adventures from around the globe, and feature video, words, and photography that allow viewers to vicariously experience the journey, and interact with trip participants and other web-viewers. Webumentaries are featured and archived on www.stellarmag.com and also have their own websites. For more information, visit www.stellarmag.com.