He's the face of a couple of successful television travel programs, which spawned a series of follow-up books, and Charley Boorman could now easily claim to have one of the most interesting jobs in the world. The actor/presenter began it all with his first travelogue titled Long Way Round in which he travelled with his mate Ewan McGregor on a motorcycle from London to New York. In his latest expedition, Charley's on his own in Right to the Edge.

UT: You have an insatiable appetite for travel - what prompted you to take your most recent epic journey?

Having done By Any Means last year and ending up in Sydney I just love going through amazing countries and trying all the different modes of transport. Plus my love of riding bikes in such amazing places made me want to get out there and do it again.
 
UT: Did you encounter any major disasters, or highly amusing episodes, or meet anyone amazing while on the road this time?

The beauty about doing these trips is that there is always the possibility of a disaster. I was on the back of a 1960s flatbed Toyota truck in the middle of PNG trying to cross rivers with no bridges and we got to one river which was swollen and so we couldn’t cross it. We had to wait and as we waited it got darker and darker and more and more people turned up and people started drinking heavily. It started getting very rowdy and machetes and all sorts started coming out and people started shouting at one another across the river. They then turned on us because we were filming and started shouting that they were from PNG and could cut anyone’s head off and that they wanted compensation – at which point the truck driver told me to pick up a rock to protect myself; it was a very scary situation to be in. Luckily the river finally went down enough so that we could get away before it got too dangerous and out of hand.
 
UT: Which was your favourite place on this trip and why?

It is very difficult say what my favourite place was as each country has amazing moments where you turn a corner, see an amazing landscape and can’t believe where you are. But if I were pushed to make a choice I would say Papua New Guinea and the Philippines were the highlight simply because of the diversity of what we experienced. Crossing over from Australia to Papua New Guinea was like stepping back in time.
 
UT: What essential things did you take with you (apart from a film crew)?   

It's amazing how little you need when you travel and I pretty much spent the whole 3 months in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and flip flops but one of the things that was really good was a decent sleeping bag. It's worth its wait in gold and baby wipes for those awkward long drop toilet moments. Also a really good photographic camera with video capability – always good to document your holiday or adventure.
 
UT: Tell me a bit about the latest book, Right To the Edge: By Any Means - what can readers expect this time?

The books always have more in them than the TV show and it’s much more about what’s going on in my head.  And of course there is nothing like reading a good book on a long journey.
 
Where are you travelling to next and why?

It’s a bit early to say exactly what will be happening next year but we do have a project in the pipeline so hopefully I’ll be back on my bike soon - fingers crossed!