Way back at the start of 2014 - hell, almost a decade ago - Matty Hannon set off from Victoria with a wild idea: to travel the entire west coast of the Americas, from the top of Alaska to the bottom of Patagonia.

Swellnet connected with Matty in late 2015 when he penned a story for us. At the time, Matt was somewhere in the northern part of South America, having travelled through Canada, the US, Mex, and the Cenny American countries, surfing waves big and small, and having similar sized adventures too. He'd broken down (many times), met a girl, and also many locals. There were no horses, yet.

Matt's big adventure still had a year to go, not that there was an itinerary to follow. I know that because he returned to Oz, set up home on the north coast of NSW with the girl he met, and with all the footage he/they shot slowly began assembling it into a film.

Point being, the last time Matty appeared on Swellnet his story was unfinished and largely unknown.

Now, however, it's fashioned into a film, The Road To Patagonia, a surf/love/travel story with the tagline: A love story with a hoofbeat.

I can't describe the film any better than the press release does so let's take a read:

"But deep in the wilderness - alone with the wolves and the bears - the journeyer’s plans unexpectedly fall to pieces. After losing everything, and on the cusp of quitting he meets the girl of his dreams, a permaculture farmer named Heather Hillier who throws caution to the wind and sells her urban-farm to buy a bike of her own. Together riding south, the duo meet with Zapatista rebels, Amazonian shamans and Mapuche leaders whose salient words crack the adventurers’ cultural veneer, leaving them with existential questions.

"The 50,000km surfing odyssey becomes beautifully complicated by their decision to downshift from motorcycles to horseback, presenting a relational approach to the breathtaking landscapes and a host of challenges that ultimately become extremely rewarding."

After doing the rounds of the film festivals, and collecting some wreaths along the way, The Road To Patagonia will now embark on a national tour commencing, appropriately enough, on Valentines Day. See dates at the bottom of the page.

The dates of the film are as follows. Click here for more info and to buy tickets.