Jason Lewis began the human-powered trip nearly a decade ago

Jason Lewis, from Bridport in Dorset, and Steve Smith, from Wolverhampton, began their Expedition 360 from London in 1994 before they split up in Hawaii.

Now, after five years living thousands of miles apart, they are to tackle the next leg from Australia into Asia.

Mr Smith said the 3,200-mile trip would be the trip's "most hazardous stage".

Steve Smith has been working as a ferryman

During the trip, by pedal boat, kayak and bicycle, they could encounter sharks, sea snakes, salt water crocodiles and tigers, as well as pirates, and face the threat of disease.

Mr Smith, 37, who has been working as a ferryman in Devon, and Mr Lewis, also 37, will leave Darwin for Singapore in April in the �26,000 wooden pedal boat Moksha.

They face a 600-mile voyage to Kupang, Indonesia, before kayaking and mountain-biking along the Indonesian chain to Singapore.

The expedition will then return home overland through China, central Asia and Europe.

Mr Smith and Mr Lewis, who is currently working on a buffalo ranch in Colorado, discussed the logistics of the trip for three years before they hit the road by mountain bike.

Skating across America

After leaving London on 12 July, 1994, they crossed the Channel in the Moksha, before biking through Europe.

They then made the first east-west Atlantic crossing in the pedal-boat, landing in Florida after 4,500 miles and 111 days at sea.

Once ashore, Mr Lewis used inline skates to cross the US while Mr Smith made the trip by bicycle.

They then paired up again to pedal Moksha thousands of miles across the Pacific from San Francisco to Hawaii, where Mr Smith made the decision to leave to pursue other interests.

Mr Lewis completed the Pacific crossing in three more legs to reach the coast of Queensland, Australia.

He then led a party of cyclists across the outback, arriving in Darwin, northern Australia, in 2001.