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Speaker 1: Oh, Hello, Happy New Year. Thank you for joining us

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Speaker 1: on the body and soul podcast called Healthy Ish. I

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Speaker 1: am your host of Felicity Harley. To celebrate well all

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Speaker 1: things New year summer, we are dropping our top Healthyish

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Speaker 1: episodes from last year. Now, listeners, this is the last

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Speaker 1: week we are doing this, so I hope you enjoy

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Speaker 1: this chat. This one was with Bonnie Hancock. She's a

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Speaker 1: former world champion iron woman who had a dream of

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Speaker 1: becoming the youngest and fastest person to circumnavigate Australia on

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Speaker 1: a ski paddle well two hundred and fifty four days,

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Speaker 1: twelve seven hundred kilometers, sea sickness and many other things. Later,

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Speaker 1: Bonnie joined us to share more stories of her adventures,

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Speaker 1: listening to extra Healthyish as well, where she talks about

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Speaker 1: the most terrifying ordeal of her adventure. You can search

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Speaker 1: for Extra Healthy wherever you get your podcasts. Last time

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Speaker 1: you were here, you were about to paddle, and now

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Speaker 1: you've done it.

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Speaker 2: Oh I was I remember speaking to you in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one, a couple of months before I set off

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Speaker 2: on my little ocean ski to paddle around Australia.

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Speaker 3: I am back on dry land.

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Speaker 2: I can move my fingers again, I can move my

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Speaker 2: back the boulging.

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Speaker 3: This sagone, so we're good.

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Speaker 1: And can I just point out it wasn't a little paddle.

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Speaker 1: He's just said little paddle. It was a mega paddle.

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Speaker 1: Just give us a quick rundown of the amazing feat

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Speaker 1: that you achieved.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: It certainly wasn't little, and it didn't feel like that

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Speaker 2: by the end. But yeah, December twenty twenty one, I

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Speaker 2: set off from basically my backyard on the Gold Coast

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Speaker 2: at Mermaid Beach and I did a big clockwise loop

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Speaker 2: around Australia. So it was twelve hundred seven twelve thousand,

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Speaker 2: seven hundred kilometers I should say. I managed to break

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Speaker 2: the world record by two and a half months, so

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Speaker 2: I had to get back in less than ten and

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Speaker 2: a half months to break that record. So I became

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Speaker 2: the fastest person male or female to puddle around Australia

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Speaker 2: and also the youngest, so was absolutely thrilled.

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Speaker 1: Not just one your few? Was it three? I read

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Speaker 1: three records? Or just two? What was the third one?

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Speaker 2: Officially it was two, so definitely the fast youngest, which

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Speaker 2: is an interesting little fact. Guinness World Records don't officially

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Speaker 2: acknowledge the youngest anymore, because apparently there were so many

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Speaker 2: children doing all sorts of crazy things to get records,

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Speaker 2: they've now taken away the youngest to do so. But

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Speaker 2: I also broke the record for the furthest distance puddled

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Speaker 2: in twenty four hours five females, so I meant puddled

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Speaker 2: two hundred and thirty five kilometers in twenty four painful hours.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, picked up like one too well done.

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Speaker 1: What was the highlight of the whole trip, I.

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Speaker 2: Think sort of probably two aspecs is Mother Nature and

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Speaker 2: experiencing the beauties and the I mean the terrifying beauty

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Speaker 2: too of mother nature. Being one hundred kilometers out to

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Speaker 2: sea and being told by your skipper that there's a

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Speaker 2: storm coming and that you need to paddle as fast

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Speaker 2: as you can so that you can get to safety.

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Speaker 3: There.

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Speaker 2: There's something terrifying about that, but also so empowering when

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Speaker 2: you step up to that challenge and get it done,

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Speaker 2: and you know you a couple of times I broke

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Speaker 2: that twenty four hour record to basically get to safety,

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Speaker 2: but also the beautiful Australian wildlife and being surrounded by

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Speaker 2: dolphins in the middle of the ocean, having seals play

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Speaker 2: beside me, you know, hump back wales back down the

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Speaker 2: east coast of Queensland. I think Mother Nature and out

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Speaker 2: our fascinating wildlife here in Australia, which is just like

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Speaker 2: nowhere else in the world.

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Speaker 1: Did you have a favorite spot around Australia that you

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Speaker 1: paddled through or passed?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and lucky that one's quite an easy one. Something

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Speaker 2: unexpected is Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, so right at

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Speaker 2: the top of Western Australia, white sand, turquoise waters. I

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Speaker 2: remember seeing twenty five turtles in one day of paddling,

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Speaker 2: you know, and in that part of the country, I

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Speaker 2: was quite close to shore, so I was actually making

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Speaker 2: my way up the coast with a jet ski as opposed.

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Speaker 3: To when I had a catamaran.

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Speaker 2: In most of the sections of Australia, I was again

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Speaker 2: up to five hundred kilometers out to see, mainly one

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Speaker 2: hundred kilometers out. So to being close to shore and

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Speaker 2: appreciate that beautiful part of the world was incredible.

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Speaker 1: Now, aside from the bid, you obviously put yourself in

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Speaker 1: some very close call life threatening situations, encountering sharks, swells,

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Speaker 1: high as buildings, sharp rocks and cliff faces near runnings

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Speaker 1: with my support boat. I'm ready this from your book,

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Speaker 1: by the way, and sea sickness so severe it had

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Speaker 1: left me double over for most of the day, unable

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Speaker 1: to stop the vomiting. What was the worst of this? This,

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Speaker 1: this all sounds awful.

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Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, I'm so excited to share all of.

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Speaker 3: This in the book, which is out at the end

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Speaker 3: of January.

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Speaker 2: I you know, there are moments where I people often

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Speaker 2: asked were their moments you wanted to quit almost every

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Speaker 2: day for the last two months because I was pushing

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Speaker 2: back into headwinds around twenty knots, so that's like a

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Speaker 2: big fan being, you know, blown in front of your

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Speaker 2: face and you're trying to force your body through that.

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Speaker 2: I had a great white shark encounter in Western Australia.

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Speaker 2: I had three crocodiles come near me and the kimberle

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Speaker 2: at the top of the country, and that was nighttime

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Speaker 2: when my support crew spotted them with torches out to

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Speaker 2: the side of the boat. So there was terrifying, terrifying encounters.

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Speaker 2: And you know when the Great Australian Bye, I chose

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Speaker 2: to cut straight across as opposed to hugging the coastline.

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Speaker 2: I saved a thousand kilometers by doing that. But those

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Speaker 2: swells were five to six meters out there.

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Speaker 3: They were huge.

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Speaker 2: My catamaran will drop out of sight and when you're

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Speaker 2: out there, you can't see land. You're you know, you're

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Speaker 2: way offshore, so that catamaran is a lifeline.

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Speaker 3: It was terrifying in parts.

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Speaker 1: How did you get through that? What's the mindset when

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Speaker 1: you look down and say, see crocodiles or a shark,

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Speaker 1: or you're looking up and seeing these ridiculously high waves,

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Speaker 1: tall waves totally.

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Speaker 3: Well.

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Speaker 2: The funny thing was the story when with the Great

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Speaker 2: White Shark. I actually had Taylor Swift playing in my headphone,

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Speaker 2: so I had no idea. Came up and my support

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Speaker 2: crew saw the big fin and it dive underneath, and

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Speaker 2: I'm bopping away to Taylor's Swift and they're calling me

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Speaker 2: into the boat, and eventually I came into the boat

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Speaker 2: and they said get on board right now. That I

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Speaker 2: was explaining to someone the other day that the music

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Speaker 2: in your ears is so important because you choose that

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Speaker 2: backdrop to your suffering, so you know whether you've got

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Speaker 2: to get in the water with crocodiles and you turn

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Speaker 2: on the rap music to get you going. It's sort

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Speaker 2: of the same thing like when we take on a

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Speaker 2: hard session here, except you're in life threatening situations. And

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Speaker 2: we did so much research with marine biologists and meteorologists

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Speaker 2: about the lines to take. We stayed a long way

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Speaker 2: offshore in the Northern Territory to try and avoid the

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Speaker 2: populated areas with crocodiles, so there was eighteen months of

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Speaker 2: research involved. I was paddling as fast as I possibly

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Speaker 2: could to keep my speed up and try and avoid

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Speaker 2: the crocodiles.

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Speaker 3: So there was a lot of research.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it's still a

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Speaker 2: calculated risk and I would rely on my team and

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Speaker 2: often I would tell them, don't talk about paddling when

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Speaker 2: I come on board. Let's do childhood stories, jokes and riddles,

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Speaker 2: and let's just keep it lighthearted because it was so

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Speaker 2: intense in the water. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Good advice. Now for anyone listening who's thinking I want

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Speaker 1: to attempt something big, Okay, not a paddle around Australia.

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Speaker 1: I'm talking like an ocean swim or a five k

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Speaker 1: run or I mean you've got this, you know in

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Speaker 1: your book there's a line that says, I wonder if

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Speaker 1: I could do that. I mean, you thought that to

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Speaker 1: yourself way before you actually pad around Australia. What's your

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Speaker 1: advice for anyone wanting to attempt their own amazing feat?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely?

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Speaker 2: And I love speaking to audiences and in writing this book,

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Speaker 2: it's targeted at everyone. It's targeted at people who haven't

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Speaker 2: necessarily been in the ocean their whole life or even

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Speaker 2: ever seen this key. Let alone picked one up. Start small.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to. Let's take the twenty four hour record.

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Speaker 2: I did two hundred and thirty five kilometers. You don't

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Speaker 2: look at that whole day and go, I'm going to

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Speaker 2: paddle two hundred and thirty five.

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Speaker 3: You work through each kilometer at the time. And it's

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Speaker 3: the same with a goal.

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Speaker 2: If someone wants to run five columns as they go,

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Speaker 2: you don't set out and run that five kilometers straight up.

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Speaker 2: You might do one kilometer of running, one kilometer of walking,

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Speaker 2: and slowly build up to that five kilometers. When I

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Speaker 2: started this paddle, I don't think I was equip to

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Speaker 2: take on the Great Australian Bye and cut five hundred

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Speaker 2: kilometers out. But two months in of building resilience physically

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Speaker 2: and mentally. I was able to do that which no

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Speaker 2: one's done before, and I think that's it. We place

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Speaker 2: limitations on ourselves. We think that they're there, and we

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Speaker 2: think they exist, and once we break them, it's just

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Speaker 2: sort of like, why did I ever think I couldn't

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Speaker 2: do that?

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Speaker 3: And I know with this.

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Speaker 2: Paddle, my biggest fear was the regret of not having

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Speaker 2: done it. And I thought, even if I set out

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Speaker 2: and fail and don't make it, I'd have known where.

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Speaker 3: I've gotten to. I'd rather do that than not try.

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Speaker 2: So don't be afraid of failure because we often think

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Speaker 2: people are judging us, but people are too distracted with

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Speaker 2: what's going on there life often.

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Speaker 1: Oh Bonnie, you're an inspiration. Thank you for coming back

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Speaker 1: on Healthy Ish. Thanks for listening to this interview as

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Speaker 1: part of our summer series. Also, just a heads up

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Speaker 1: if you do listen to our sister podcast Extra healthy Ish.

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Speaker 1: As of next week, we will only be publishing this

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Speaker 1: podcast healthy Ish, but in a longer format and on

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Speaker 1: Mondays and Wednesdays only. If you have any feedback, we'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can DM me at Felicity

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Speaker 1: Harley of course, Body and Soul is across social media

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Speaker 1: as well. Catch us at bodyansoul dot com dot au

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Speaker 1: and until tomorrow, enjoy the summer and stay healthy ish