I feel enchanted by this unexpected emotional journey from the top of Alaska to the tip of Patagonia.

Australian Matty Hannon is a surfer, a real Aussie salt of the Earth dude with beard and blonde hair and a love of nature. He gets a motorbike made to fit his surfboards and sets off from Alaska, planning to ride all the way down the Pacific West Coast of the Americas, surfing along the way until he reaches the tip of Patagonia.

It’s a beautiful premise, giving us nature, the community of surfers, and a travel log through some fascinating countries and indigenous cultures. It doesn’t all go as planned though and some of the detours are propitious and others not so much. One of the good unlooked for surprises is a surfer he meets in North America, Heather, who he falls in love with. She unexpectedly joins him for his journey and it has all the bittersweet realities of any relationship when you’re on the road.

Through their eyes we see the beauty of nature, and they talk about how the different indigenous communities personify nature as a being that must be respected. We see how alien this is to urban cultures in the United States, the dangers of monocultures and also where big business has started to sequester and destroy the forests in South America.

At one point in Chile they realise that riding motorbikes keeps them from nature and so they swap their bikes for four horses. This brings a fair amount of gentle humour as they are forced to learn how to work alongside these living beings.

What makes it so watchable is that Hannon obviously had an idea of this as a film from the start and is constantly documenting the journey, including the small intimate interactions between himself and the people he meets along the way and, of course, Heather. It makes it so much more than a travel log, particularly as you see the two travellers learn, grow and change along the way.

It’s ultimately a heartwarming and moving story that may make you want to sell all your belongings and explore the world before you die.