Series 1: Episode 8 – Giaan Rooney

[00:01]
Aussies are relocating from Capital Cities to Regional Australia in
record numbers.
[00:08]
We could give you all the stats about better house prices all the
jobs on offer and higher levels of happiness. But what’s better than
hearing from someone who’s made the move themselves.
[00:19]
Welcome to you moved where?
[00:22]
The podcast where we interview every day Aussies who have moved from
the city to the country.
[00:28]
I’m your host Bec Bignell a girl from Regional Australia who moved
to the city and then you guessed it back to Regional Australia. This
is you moved where?
[00:42]
For a young Sports loving kid from Gold Coast a gold medal was The
Ultimate Dream and still to this day the idea of chatting to an
actual Olympian is super intimidating unless it’s Gian Rooney a
proud member of the exclusive gold medal Club. Gianna is a household
name who is not only known for her amazing achievements in the pool,
but also as an esteemed Sports commentator and presenter
[01:07]
Despite the straight grid Giaan is the real deal. She’s so down to
earth you’d be mistaken in thinking she’s always had the country in
her blood.
[01:16]
except she hasn’t
[01:18]
Gianna is the first to admit that she couldn’t have come from a more
different background to her country born and bred husband Sam, but
he saw her roll up your sleeves get your hands dirty Potential from
their very first meeting a few years into their rustic romance and a
couple of kids later and Giaan and Sam have created an incredible
life for themselves on a Macadamia Farm in the northern Rivers
throwing themselves head first into the operations of a working farm
in an industry. They knew little about was a baptism of Fire.
[01:51]
Gian is to every bit the champion that one gold for her country.
She’s just channeled the gutsy go getting attitude from the straight
Lanes of a pool into wide open paddocks.
[02:05]
Gian Rooney you moved where? I moved to a little area called Corndale
in Northern New South Wales.
[02:17]
And you’ve lived in Brisbane the Gold Coast and Melbourne. What was
your childhood like in the Big Smoke?
[02:25]
I think actually I don’t have much recollection of Brisbane. I moved
from there when I was eight, but born in Brisbane grade one and two
in Brisbane and then moved to the Gold Coast to start grade three
down there and had a wonderful childhood but very much in Suburbia
never really thought about it much but we were free to roam in the
cold sack in the street my curfew every night was when the street
lights came on and that’s when I knew that I had to be inside
whereas, you know very much an outdoorsy active childhood and
absolutely loved that. So never thought anything about it
differently obviously swimming was a huge part of my my childhood
and my teenage years in my early 20s as well. So I was an elite
athlete from
[03:11]
15 years of age and so it was quite busy quite early. I have
absolutely loved every aspect of my life so far. I loved the Gold
Coast. I loved Melbourne, but by far my favorite now is is our
little plot of land in Northern New South Wales.
[03:29]
Yes, we’ve mentioned your work and we’ll get into that in a second
and your incredible career in swimming.
[03:35]
But you’ve really traveled all over the world you’ve lived in
different parts of Australia. Do you feel like you’ve ever had roots
or were you living a career oriented sort of transient life prior to
settling down.
[03:46]
I think I’ve been very lucky. Actually. I felt very connected to
everywhere that I’ve lived and I’ve it’s certainly never been a
short amount of time in any area. It’s been quite a significant
amount of time. In fact, you know everywhere I’ve been has felt like
home and I feel really fortunate for that because that’s the most
important thing to feel that you do belong where you are at that
given point and I feel like everywhere that we have lived has been
the right place for that time and component of my life. So so far so
good. Although we have to say I don’t think I’ll be moving from here
anytime soon.
[04:23]
Now I grew up in the bush and sport is
[04:26]
obviously like a big big part of the regional experience and I can
distinctly remember sitting around the brekki table. We had little
TV in the lounge room. And when the Commonwealth Games and the
Olympics were on we sat there and we were just transfixed everyone
got around it without question. The swimming was and I feel like
still is the best event that everyone just buzzed off, you know for
days. What was it like being part of that Golden Era of swimming in
Australia?
[04:57]
I think he nailed it by saying the Golden Era of swimming. I really
felt like
[05:03]
I feel so fortunate that I was a part of that time in in swimming
and not only in swimming but in terms of whereas where Australia’s
love affair with sport was at that time as well. And I mean 1998
Commonwealth Games was my first Australian swim team. And so it was
a veteran team it was it was an old team. It was a incredibly
connected supportive team just given the age of so many of our
athletes because the Sydney Olympics were only two years away. So we
had quite a number of extraordinary athletes. It probably would have
hung up the togs earlier if that lure of a home Olympics wasn’t
there. It’s every athletes Ultimate Dream to be able to compete at
the highest level in our sport in your own country and have your
family and friends in the stands and and be such a proud Australian.
So we had this incredible team where you know, I’m rooming with
Susie O’Neil. I’m you know, Haley Lewis made a comeback for those
olymp.
[06:03]
Kieren I’m sitting next to Kieren Perkins on the bus and Kieren Perkins
knows my name like it was just this extraordinary.
[06:11]
I’m so grateful for that time because as soon as I made my first
Australian team, which I wasn’t expected to do I was surrounded by
these people that I had had on my, you know posters on my wall at
home and they were not only as impressive as I hoped. They would be
they were these incredible athletes that I got to learn from and
watch first-hand what they did to become incredible, but they were
also really cool people as well. So all the sudden that first team
is like right now I know what this is all about. I don’t ever want
to not be a part of this team. So it was it was it was magical and
as I said, I feel so fortunate that I had what was it, you know, 10
11 years in that environment to not only develop myself as an
athlete but as a person as well
[07:01]
in 2004, you actually joined the statue you carved out a piece of
history for yourself winning a gold medal and world record time in
the
[07:11]
2004 Athens Olympics in the women’s four times 100 meter medley
relay. What did it feel like to stand on a Podium and have that
metal pulled over your neck with your teammates beside you and that
excited crowd of family and friends and all of the people who had
traveled internationally to see you. Can you describe that for me?
[07:32]
It is not only a career highlight. It’s one of my life highlights
and it’s it’s very difficult to actually explain the enormity of
that moment. But in some ways the older I get the more time that
passes between myself and that moment the more proud. I am of that
moment and the more that I understand the significance of it. So
even now talking to you about it. I’ve got goosebumps running up my
arm. And so that moment was just extraordinary. I got to share it
with three incredible women in Liesel Jones Patria Thomas and Jody
Henry and I think the story of that that moment really sums up that
whole experience for me because we were in the marshalling area that
that women’s realize that four by one medley real I was the very
final event of the Athens Olympic program swimming program. So we’re
the final lot of athletes in the swimming competition in the
marshalling area and I had an outer body experience when I looked
around and I saw that every other team was preparing as a team of
individuals.
[08:32]
One girl off stretching in the corner one listening to music one
out, you know talking to a coach. Whereas the four of us from
Australia was sitting there in the marketing area preparing as a
team and we were having the most random conversations. You can
possibly think of and what that showed me was there was no need to
talk tactics. There was no need to pump each other up. There was no
need to impress upon each other the enormity of the situation. We
had complete and utter faith that each member of that team was going
to do their job to the best of their ability and that’s exactly what
happened. You know, we I let off and I was probably the weakest leg
of those three women all of them now in individual gold medalists in
their own Strokes, so I knew that my job was probably the most
important because those girls had no issue. It was me that had to
step up for the team. And so I broke in Australian record. It was
the fastest I ever swam in the backstroke League to laid off and so
I’m so
[09:32]
Proud that that happened as well. I couldn’t have done anything more
and for it to happen and for the dream to happen that way meant that
I did have a moment of taking it all in but as I said
[09:42]
The older I get the more proud I am of that achievement and I think
that comes with also having kids and them getting to an age where
they understand that that’s pretty cool. And also probably just, you
know watching the younger guard come through of athletes of all
walks of life and them achieving their dreams at the Olympics and
going, you know, I think it sums it up probably in the statement
that you are never an excellent. You’re never a former Olympian.
[10:09]
You are always an Olympian. They can’t take it off you and so, you
know, lots of people make the mistake of saying oh former Olympian,
Gian Rooney or ex Olympian. I’m like, no. No, I’m not X you
can’t take it off me. I’m not former. The former world record
holder. You can be an ex-world record holder. You can’t be an ex or
former Olympian. You are always an Olympian and that’s a very
special Club to be a part of
[10:32]
I have never thought of it like that, but it’s a very very valid
point. So you’ve never come a household name and then you meet a
bloke from the bush.
[10:43]
Who doesn’t really know who you are Chopper pilot, the founder of
the herd online tells me through that chapter of your life.
[10:52]
Sam is hilarious, and he’s he’s
[10:56]
I mean our story is like a lot of those are quite amazing in some
ways where very opposite whereas in some ways. We’re very similar
probably stubborn determined. Once we put our mind to something
nothing’s going to get in the way similar in that respect. Whereas
Sam I say is a bit Peter panish in the fact that he has lived 18
different lifetimes by the time that I came on the scene. He was a
mustering chopper pilot when we met so we only dated for a few
months met through mutual friends in Melbourne. And as you said, he
had no idea what I did and I had really no idea what he did and we
dated for six months and then he had taken a job to fly out of
Catherine in the Northern Territory. So the next 12 months, we only
saw each other four times and it would require me going up there. It
was interesting to say the least he was looking at with all the
other
[11:56]
You know young mustering Pilots at that stage and the shared where
they lived like they even still had the plastic on the couch so that
they could literally just hose down the whole shed. They would take
lift the TV out and take it out and then hose down and that was
their cleaning up. So they cleaned up before I got there. They put
six foot five brown small part of the toilet the day before I got
there on my first visit it was it was you know, it was it was very
rustic to say that but Sam had very early on, you know, made sure
that we we fairly early on that. We were we were in love and we were
right for each other, but I came from a very different background
and I had no idea of country life. I had no idea of of farm life. I
had no idea of any of that and so he needed to make sure that I was
going to be able to deal with it. That’s for sure. So one of our
first dates early on was going calf marking and I thought that that
meant putting a tag in an ear of a calf. I had no idea that
[12:56]
Was castrating the young bulls and he was watching me the whole way
through because he hadn’t really given me any indication of what
that meant. He just needed to see my reaction and I was like, right
[13:09]
Okay, um not what I was expecting but I don’t want to also show this
bloke that I’m quite out of my death here, but I loved it and I was
interested in it and I want to know more and I want to learn more
and I want to be of use I don’t really want to be on a farm and just
you know aware that we’re on a farm and and not be useful. So that
doesn’t really I’m not that kind of person. So I feel like
constantly I’m like no no, don’t just just don’t just do something.
Show me what you’re doing. How do I do it like teach me how to do
it. So my skills of certainly increased over the last few years.
[13:46]
And you’ve decided in 2020 that you’re going to relocate have a tree
change on a Macadamia Farm. How did that happen
[13:54]
as I figured out in Salmon my life we things obviously happen
because they’re meant to be and quite often. We don’t plan them.
Really. We don’t we never expected to be full-time on a farm that
was not part of the plan. We’re on the Gold Coast. And the reason we
were back on the Gold Coast is because my job is all over the shop.
I have no routine. No set hours. No set days public holidays mean
nothing. It’s when there’s works there’s work. And so my parents are
on the Gold Coast, they’re both retired. So we move back from
Melbourne to the Gold Coast so that they could be our backup system
and they were brilliant at it. And then we very much were looking at
trying to find a cattle farm within two hours of us on the Gold
Coast where it was a weekend a holiday house, but it was
[14:46]
It had to be a working farm. It had to be able to pay for itself. We
very quickly realized that land we were trying to buy in the size of
land. We were trying to buy in the areas. We wanted to be in was a
little bit out of our price range. And so we came down to look at a
property that was going to auction and we just fell in love with
this area couldn’t afford it.
[15:09]
Drive down the driveway and very clever by the real estate agent.
There was a sign saying open for inspection this way and we thought
oh, we’re here. We’ll have a look. Why not.
[15:20]
And it was this little Maka farm and anyway, gorgeous little old,
you know, Queensland a kind of house on it and you know horse in The
Paddock and the kids fell in love and you know on the hills and it
was just Divine and we instantly fell in love and Sam was like, I
don’t know anything about Maca nuts, but surely it can’t be that
hard. So anyway, we bought that little place and it was it was 55
acres and just a small macca farm and we we spent the whole summer
of December, you know, 2020 through to 2021 here fell in love. No
one wanted to go home after holidays. We’re down every weekend. No
one wanted to go home on Sunday night. Everyone was just busting to
get back to the farm and then as it turned out the property next
door to our little farm came up for sale and it’s a proper maker
Farm. It used to be all the same Farm. There’s not even offense
between us it also had operating sheds.
[16:20]
Sheds and equipment and so we were like, right.
[16:24]
We have to obviously sell our place on the Gold Coast. We have to
move full-time if we’re going to do this. Are we doing this? Yep,
let’s do it. So it was a bit of an Impulse decision. But we knew
that we loved it so much down here. We knew that we could make it
work in that time. We had met the little Community unbelievably we’d
all so had friends through a mutual friend with kids the same age
who’d introduced us to the whole school community in that time. So
we felt like we were we were coming to an already established setup.
We’re fortunate that we both have off farm income. But you know, we
certainly understand and Sam as always understood that farm life.
There are many variables and a lot of them can often be out of your
controls. So that’s
[17:10]
something that I’ve learned very quickly.
[17:12]
It’s really interesting that you say that because obviously you’ve
got a career in film and TV and media and and then you’ve got these
farming life and I actually think there are more commonalities
between those two sort of ways of living than people would
recognize, you know, because like you say when you’re a contractor
there’s a lot of variables. You don’t have that consistency. You
don’t necessarily have consistent super same as with the farmer
people or so don’t realize you don’t get holiday pays a farmer which
you don’t get as contract or like there’s a lot of kind of, you know
intersections there at the same time as well. Obviously with the
Korea is extraordinary as yours, you have to travel not only sort of
Interstate but internationally and you’ve done an amazing job of
being able to juggle that life we Farm Life from the outside. It
looks seamless. Can you talk me through how you manage that?
[18:06]
I I think you spot on I feel very fortunate that I get such so many
different.
[18:12]
aspects to my life
[18:14]
And I think probably it goes back to swimming days very quickly as
an athlete. I loved racing by the end of it. I hated training and I
feel like if I could have raced or competed every weekend, I’d still
be 40 in trying to make this train swim team, but at that level top
level I only got to race twice a year. So I only got to do the part
that I loved in my sport twice a year and the red the rest was a
monotonous grind day in day out six to seven hours a day six days a
week 50 weeks of the year.
[18:46]
So it’s it was the monotony of swimming training. That was like
right. I don’t not quite sure what my life after something is going
to look like. I just know that I can’t do them monotonous thing
again. So I probably pretty quickly figured out that an office life
was not where I was headed or wasn’t going to fulfill me and I felt
very fortunate that just by where I was and I sponsored by Channel 9
for the last few years of when I swam and so moving into TV all the
sudden no two days were the same there was no routine. No monotony
Nothing Was the Same As It Ever Was Before very much having to learn
on the job think on your feet, but it was the same process that I
loved out of racing that I got particularly from doing live TV and
to speaking to large groups of people was this adrenaline rush this
focus on the job at hand the butterflies in my stomach the that
pressure filled moment, which I
[19:46]
Had excelled at in my sport. So therefore I knew that that was a
strength and when I found it in my job, if you like life after I was
like, well, that’s a comfort that a commonality that I take that I
was good at it over here so surely it should transfer to over here.
I still however many years later, you know retired in 2006 from the
sport of swimming so I’ve been out a long time but it’s why I love
my job so much because it still gives me those moments of of
butterflies in my stomach. It still gives me that feeling of you
know, excitement and adrenaline that I had from the component that I
loved in my sport. So
[20:25]
feel very
[20:26]
very grateful that that happens so organically and it’s also why I
love people I love hearing people’s stories. I love interviewing
athletes. I love lifting people up and so I get all of those
components in my job, but I do find it exhausting. The small talk is
part of my job and being on and being very I guess engaged is part
of my job and that can be exhausting the travel component. There’s
always a travel component that can be exhausting but then I get to
drive down my driveway my, you know, big tree-lined driveway and I
get home and we’re on 178 acres and can’t see a neighbor.
[21:07]
And I just feel like it recharges me it just instantly, you know, I
live two very separate lives in a way and one compliments the other
absolutely perfectly. So even though as I said, we didn’t devise
that that way we didn’t plan it that way. It’s actually the perfect
setup for me. I get to fulfill both sides of my personality with
where I live and how I work so I’m actually really grateful for that
that’s
[21:34]
amazing that you get that sense of balance and you can recharge
yourself feel your cup and then go back out. Look. I suppose the
perception of the northern rivers from other people’s point of view
is very much hippies and hymns worth. What do you what do you feel
of the community that you live in and in terms of the landscape and
the people how does that feel for you?
[21:57]
We it’s actually
[21:58]
a great question and one that I am I would love to talk about
because it was a community that got us here. I mentioned that we had
mutual friends. We got to know our previous owners really well that
lived on the property while they were setting up their next move. We
had a community ready to go when we moved to the farm that we felt
very close to and very fortunate about that. We felt like there was
it we didn’t have to try to hard. It was already in place. I
mentioned that we’d had trials and tribulations. I mean the northern
Rivers has had such a tough last 12 months. We had 25 minutes out of
Lismore.
[22:36]
Lismore as we know suffered not one but two disastrous floods at the
end of February and then the end of March last year. It was horrific
on a number of levels but also really leveling as well because here
we are we’re on a hill you have to come up a hill to get to our
place. We get flooded in our road coming into our area goes under we
get flooded in not a lot of the farm was affected. Our house was
dry. You know, we are so fortunate. So watching that all play out in
Lismore 25 minutes down the road and it really was all playing out
on social media and it was horrific. It was my family is that this
address can anyone go and check on them? I haven’t heard from them
and then all of a sudden realizing that the flood was going so high
that there were no street signs anymore. So then it was GPS
coordinates. Can anyone get to this location? I can’t get a hold of
my family. Does anyone have a
[23:36]
If you can get here like the stories of Heroes that came out and
boats and kayaks and rescued all those people a lot many more should
have died than what did and it’s due to the local community that
that didn’t happen our community rallied and I saw the Spirit and
the resilience of a community like never before first hand and I’m
so proud of the community and how they handled that situation and
we’re still not out of the woods. Where a year now later in the
still many people that don’t have a home to live in that can’t
afford to fix their house that are probably waiting to see if this
year is if it’s going to happen again, you know, we had a family of
seven that lived in our spare Farmhouse for seven months lost
everything in in Lismore during that time. We’re still trying to we
were in Harvest. We were desperately trying to pick up nuts because
we also knew that if we weren’t financially viable then how are we
going to help the community rebuild and get back on?
[24:36]
Feet if we had no money to spend within the community. So it was a
really tough time last year and you know, it’s hard to describe but
many Bush families understood like we had over four and a half
meters of rain last year.
[24:53]
Four and a half meters of rain is extraordinary, you know, there’s a
lot of people around here that have struggled immensely in that time
both farming families and those living in Lismore particularly
itself, and it’s just made me fall in love with the community. That
is the northern Rivers even more because I’ve watched this little
area
[25:15]
slowly rebuild and regain its confidence and people have faith in
the area again it highlights another reason of why we call this
place home.
[25:27]
It’s
[25:28]
a really
[25:28]
kind of dominant image these kind of romantic idea of living on a
farm, you know, Rolling Hills and chickens free-range chickens and
stuff. But as you’ve just described it Regional Australia is so
vibrant. It’s not just you know, paddocks and pets and all those
awesome amazing things. It’s also industry and Innovation and people
coming together in really tough times, even though they might be
really small, you know groups of people. What is the experience been
like for you in that City adjustment as someone who’s totally fresh
how has that adjustment been for you? Personally? I think
[26:05]
that that’s probably what surprised me is that it I don’t feel like
either myself personally or us as a family unit have missed a beat
and that has surprised me. I expected a lot more hiccups, especially
with
[26:18]
So many things happening as I said who can ever possibly prepare
your kids for floods that you know and landslides and Roads that are
and things like all of those things. How can you prepare anyone for
that kind of life that they’re not used to so it’s surprised me that
we as I said have not regretted the move for one second. We haven’t
ever thought about leaving or packing up. It’s almost in it’s
probably reiterated more than anything else of why we love this area
and that it’s not necessarily going to be an easy ride. I mean six
years ago, our previous owners were buying water because they are in
such a bad drought. So you go from buying water to five years later
having four and a half meters of rain in one year you have to
prepare for every eventuality around here. And and that’s most of
rural Australia. We now know is that it’s one extreme to the other.
[27:18]
And so if anything again, you know, the the word resilient is thrown
around a lot but I have always felt that that rural communities more
than anything are resilient. That’s the only word to describe them
because they do deal with so much more than what their City Partners
do and so, you know, I just feel actually feel really fortunate to
be a part of this community and I feel really fortunate to be able
to call myself a primary producer and I feel really proud of what
we’ve built and achieved in the life that we’re giving our kids and
the what we’re able to show them and and put it into perspective of
how incredibly lucky we are.
[28:02]
Like you say season and weather and the fact that when you’re not
just farming but living in the regions, the whole Community is
affected by the impact of that book in our household going up where
there was an obsession. So I remember being very annoyed. I’d sort
of get to the end of home and away every night watching it at high
school and dad would flick it over to the ABC weather which was
extremely annoying because the best parts permanent way always
happening in the last five minutes you have got experience at the
weather presenter tell me is that delightful for your husband does
he have this obsession with whether and you got it like have you got
legitimate knowledge of weather?
[28:47]
You’re gonna be really disappointed represents. Okay. I was the
weather girl for the channel 7 news for two years in Melbourne. And
you know what? I I never should have been because I had no knowledge
of of weather apart from what I’d learned in high school. I was by
no means meteorologist. And on top of it. I was a queenslander who
the weather was kind of at that stage a filler topic conversation
when you ran out of things to say and I I certainly had to I had
many a day spent with the Bureau of meteorology just going okay talk
to me about this. Why does this weather system happen? Why is that
particular to this part of the world? So I had a huge introduction
to the weather then but Sam has always been obsessed with the
weather as you said every farmer or everyone in rural Australia is
is again pretty much a meteorologist has four different weather apps
on their phone to cross check.
[29:47]
And make sure that it all adds up and you know, we we were fortunate
in the fact that because Sam is so obsessed with that. We knew that
weather system was coming in February into February last year and we
had stopped the freezer. We’d filled up all the fuel tanks. We you
know had made sure cleaned all the gutters done all the rest of it.
We were prepared for a huge onslaught of water as we now know
nothing could have prepared us for what was in town was 15 meters of
water and how long it was going to sit there and not move and again
it got a little bit dangerous on the farm in the fact that we were
in Harvest. We’re all on Hills Sam would be driving the harvested
down a hill sliding down a hill trying almost do a handbrakey at the
bottom of the hill to pull up before heading into a Ravine and then
have you know, one of our guys in a tractor in a chain to pull him
up the hill so that he could Harvest and get back to the
[30:47]
Other you know the top of the hill so it is all over the shop.
Nothing presenting. The weather could have possibly prepared me for
actually living it. But again, once again, I have such huge respect
for mother nature on a whole new level. And as I said it it’s a
leveler to know that sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you work
or how prepared do you think you are Mother Nature ultimately has
the final say
[31:13]
absolutely and in the situation that you’ve all been through in the
past sort of 18 months and I mean, even before that within New South
Wales, you had the bushfires in other areas and things like that.
Definitely you talk about that bouncing back. It has put so much
pressure on so many Regional communities and yet they’re still you
know chipping away giving it their best talk to me about Macadamia
farming. Like I know there’s so many different products that you can
actually get from academia’s I’m interested to understand about
that.
[31:47]
and also what you contribute to the farm as well all to say
[31:53]
are
[31:53]
green coming into Maca farming is a complete understatement. We
didn’t even know.
[31:58]
Australians don’t know that macadamias actually native to Australia
all the growing communities around the world can now nearly be
traced back to one particular tree or an area in southeast
Queensland Northern New South Wales from where those seeds started.
So again, I feel I love being part of a you know, a bit of
Australian history or I love being part of such a community and an
industry that is relatively new. They’ve only really been a proper
industry body and and Macadamia farming to a proper scale for about
the last 50 years. So it’s actually a very new green industry and we
still are figuring out ways to make it make it work and viable and a
proper, you know, International products that we can supply so in
terms of that we feel like we’re learning all the time. We also feel
like we’re in an industry where we can still contribute in a way.
[32:58]
Provide research or data and why different ways to do things because
it’s not like it’s a really established industry that has gone. This
is the only way to do it. This is the way you do it, you know, we’re
not changing from that. We’re not deviating from that if you want to
grow macca’s this is how you do it. We feel like there’s still a lot
of scope for discussion and and the community to help each other
find better ways to do things, which is is right up our alley so
many things go into it. I actually love learning about the whole
process. So I’m a very small worker on the farm, but my job is
[33:34]
important and I love it.
[33:36]
the other thing I’m really interested in as well is the way that you
describe I heard you talking on Steph’s brilliant podcast the
motherland about
[33:46]
you how you relate light to your experience of the regions, which
often Regional Australia can be painted as you know, red dirt and
and things like that. I really connect with what you were saying
about the light because for me I’m fascinated by that as well.
That’s very much.
[34:03]
Played a big part of my experience in the bush and what why I’m so
moved by it. And I’d love you just to describe how the light affects
you and your connection with that in the
[34:15]
regions. You’ve hit the nail on the head back in the fact. My camera
phone is just full of sunset shots.
[34:25]
It never gets old and it you think you’ve seen a magnificent sunset
in the next day comes along and it’s even better again and then it’s
different again or there’s clouds and different positions. It’s so
hard to describe the light. That’s so but I think
[34:41]
What it is it’s a mixture of the light and that glow that comes with
it. But it’s also the the big Skies that allow for that light. It’s
the feeling of space. It’s the feeling of being able to breathe.
It’s it’s things stars like a full Sky of stars at night again, it
gives me goosebumps while I’m talking to you about it because you
know, I loved my life in the city. I never thought of anything about
that. There was something else in the city. It was it was amazing.
[35:11]
But there’s something that is so restorative. I feel about having
room to move and and the room to breathe with space around you and I
think that only comes from from being in in Regional Australia and
it doesn’t matter what part that you are in regionally the light
differs to different places even on the other side of the valley. We
talked to our neighbors and they get sun rises that is a completely
different light to our sunset for me. As I said, it’s restorative.
If I possibly can have the ability to sit down at the end of the day
and watch the sunset. I feel like I go through a transformative
process of where anything wrong or bad or hard just kind of
[36:02]
Dissipates watching mother nature put on a show we’ve got more
photos of sunsets and I do of my poor kids but it’s you know on my
kids with the sunset my kids in the light my animals in the butt
with the light but it is just magical and I can honestly say that it
is probably my most favorite part like you said of living
regionally.
[36:28]
Yeah when you spoke about it, I was like it’s very true and it’s not
something that’s really leveraged in in regard to how eat amp for
flies the experience, but I think the way you describe it is
definitely how I feel about it as well. And you know, we’ve spoken
to a lot of people recently with the podcast and light is a theme
that comes up for them. So it’s just a really interesting part of
the regional experience and you talk about your kids as well and
they’re now going to get the experience of growing up in the
country. What is that like for them and a little bit jealous that
you
[37:02]
Up in the brushes out. I think where
[37:06]
we were we were so fortunate in the fact that the kids were at an
age where they helped us make the decision. Do you know they were at
that age where you could actually talk to them and say do want to
live here. Do you know do you think you want to live here full-time?
Would you like to live on the farm, you know, or you know, do you
want to go back to the Gold Coast and so to be able to
[37:28]
Sit down and chat and be a family decision was just amazing. And
again, I’m so thankful that that happened at that time and that they
were at an age where we could join, you know have them involved in
the discussion. So they love it. I mean, you know, my we have my
daughter has a pony my son has a four-wheeler. I love that. They
don’t get me wrong screens are still a big battle in our life and
our household, but they’re not
[37:58]
Immediately drawn to them because there are jobs that they have to
do when they get home from school and there’s animals that need
attending to and there’s jobs that need to be done that don’t feel
like jobs for them. They’re part of their world and they love it as
much as we do so all of a sudden I feel like we’re giving them this
really well-rounded childhood where they get the best of both
worlds. They get the best of I mean, we say we’re Regional but we’re
you know schools 15 minutes down the road and supermarkets and all
the rest of it are 25 minutes down the road. So we’re not isolated
like many particularly farming families. Are we get these as I said
The Best of Both Worlds where they’ve they’ve certainly got access
to everything but they also have this wonderful connection to both,
you know City Life and farm life as well. So they absolutely love it
and probably the only thing that they’re missing is that we’ve gone
from a fairly
[38:58]
Dodge House on the Gold Coast with their own rumpus room and you
know a couple of bathrooms and all the rest of it. Now, we’ve got
one toilet between the four of us and no rumpus room. And so I’m
constantly saying you’ve got to pack up the lounge room and they’re
like, but why why you know like because I can’t step over all your
toys.
[39:19]
It’s hilarious. But why we’ve got so much more space of a backyard
housing situation has shrunk exponentially
[39:27]
but it is it’s true what you say like the exposure to Nature and you
know, the freedom of the outdoors and those sorts of things. I feel
like as a country Kid myself eats these sense of like imagination
creativity entrepreneurialism, which obviously you and Sam both have
inherently within you as well. Do they bring in their buddies and
their mates do they ever come and stay on the holidays and stuff
their mates from the Gold Coast and things like that to give them a
bit of a country experience. Absolutely and it’s even it’s even
within the community itself because obviously we’ve got, you know
families at school that that live in town and so they come out to
the farm as well and enjoying in that and and that lifestyle as
well. So it goes both ways and you know go back to their friends on
the Gold Coast and get to go to the beach.
[40:19]
And then friends from up there come down here and get to be on the
farm. So we love showing everyone off, you know this area and down
here. And as I said, we’re so proud of what we’ve achieved and we’ve
we’ve got you know little polled Highland cows. We’ve got four girls
and three calves at the moment now girls are all pregnant. So
hopefully there’s some more calves on the way soon. And so that side
of things in the circle of life and and teaching them as well about.
You know, we’ve we lost a car for premature calf last year that was
just horrific and for them to you know, learn that unfortunately,
that’s what happens. Sometimes. It doesn’t matter how much you want
something or try. It doesn’t always work out when animals, you know,
but that whole life and death cycle they’re living it. And so, you
know, I I feel like we’re giving them a really well-rounded
childhood that hopefully they can
[41:19]
side to either continue on when they grow up but they’ve got all the
tools and and knowledge and know-how and life experience of to go
whichever way that they want as they get to be older. They’ll kind
of get more of a sense of how much of a rock star their mum is
[41:35]
Especially begging something small community. Do you ever get you
know, do you ever get asked to hand out the trophies at the local
swimming Carnival or things like that? I’ve been a few random
requests because of your status. I
[41:49]
first and foremost. I’m so terrified of that side. I know that
sounds like you know, I do public speaking as a job. I you know, but
I’ve always tried and wanted to be just, you know, another parent at
school pickup kind of thing. You know, I I might have been an elite
athlete. I might you know do a job that’s quite public now, but
ultimately, you know, very honest in saying that parenting is the
greatest leveler out there and my parenting Journey has been
anything but smooth sailing, you know, when sander was born
particular the first time in my life that I felt like I properly
failing at something that was meant to be so fundamentally natural
so
[42:35]
You know the whole parenting Journey has been the hardest component
of my life thus far and continues to be so I I certainly don’t feel
you know, like I need to be highlighted in that role in any way
shape or form but I did go to our little local school. And well
first of all, it was quite funny, you know the kids for I think
Mother’s Day last year were writing, you know, they had to fill in a
form that my mom’s name is X my mom’s favorite drink is you know X,
my mom does a job and apparently Xander who’s about to turn nine was
like
[43:14]
Is my mom a farmer? I don’t know what my mum does. What is my mum?
Does she she goes away?
[43:19]
And so someone one of the other kids said dirt and your mums are
swimmer.
[43:26]
Oh, okay and right swimming down like so no concept of anything
until I just did a little speech at the school about and you know,
we’ve got 78 kids in the whole primary school. So it’s a it’s a good
size school, but it’s button by no means large but about how to be
better at public speaking and and how to use nerves to your
advantage and things like that. So just like a little pep talk and I
brought in because it was everything from kindergarten all the way
through to year six and I was like, how am I supposed to join the
you know, the age Gap kind of and keep it interesting for the little
ones as much as the ones that are probably going to get more out of
it. And so I brought in that Olympic gold medal and that was kind of
the thing that connected all the dots for all the different age
groups.
[44:15]
And ironically it was the first time my kids had actually seen it.
So, you know Lexi my little one was like
[44:23]
because it’s your metal mummies. It also kind of my medal like can I
you know wear it and can I is it mine as well and I was like well
[44:33]
You know, I I also you know there a moments where it’s like, oh, you
know, it’s pretty cool to be able to share as well.
[44:40]
So what do you mean your gold medal is not on display in the pool,
[44:43]
right?
[44:46]
It’s like in the safe in a sunglass case and Rusty.
[44:52]
And she worse for wear and she’s dinged and she’s a
[44:55]
totally
[44:56]
shattered
[44:56]
my
[44:56]
dreams if
[44:57]
you cabinet on display. I absolutely love that. What do you feel
like that? You’ve given up and what do you feel like you’ve gained
in moving to Regional Australia?
[45:08]
I probably I really honestly don’t feel like I’ve given up anything,
you know.
[45:15]
proximity, I mean
[45:19]
there are things that were easier living in the city with with my
job my commute to the airport was was smaller my ability to you
know, work at events and things that were close to home was was
probably much easier. I’ve obviously don’t see some of my great
friends as often as I used to. I don’t see my parents as often as I
used to and they live six minutes around the corner.
[45:47]
but
[45:48]
Everything else has been again. Everything else has been a positive.
You know, I I feel fortunate that instead of those friends that I
used to catch up for coffee with on the Gold Coast. They now come
and stay for the weekend. So we actually get quality a lot of
quality time, you know more time in a way in a sense and get to
properly catch up so
[46:13]
It’s all been positives for us. We as I said, we haven’t regretted
it for a second and we feel like we’ve we’ve gained so much in our
life and have such a well-rounded Balanced Life that we really enjoy
farming. We really enjoy the components of farming. We really enjoy
getting a hands dirty and and properly, you know, being a primary
producer. We love that component of it the fact that we also love
the lifestyle that it affords us is in some ways just a bonus that
the community and the the life and the the way our family operates
it just all works and you know, I think
[47:00]
Sam is incredible in the fact that he would be like, you know his
job. He can work from anywhere where there’s a phone and Wi-Fi
service, but I could always tell that living on the Gold Coast.
There was a part of him that was just not fulfilled and all of a
sudden now.
[47:18]
We all feel fulfilled in our various in our various.
[47:22]
lives and that’s the kids and that’s Sam and I and
[47:28]
I just don’t take that for granted. I never take that for granted
because I just can’t possibly think of a better place for us to be
and so it just feels like it’s right. That’s the only way to
describe it. It just feels like it’s right and that’s pretty
special. It’s also pretty special to have someone like you with your
visibility be able to show just the multi-dimensions of the regional
experience and you mentioned enjoying having the dirt underneath
your fingernails when you know, the rest of Australia sees you as
this glamorous TV presenter, I think it’s brilliant that you’re able
to show all the different parts of the experience because it’s not
just one or the other it comes together. And like he said you can
have it all and really have this very field life if you were going
to write an ad for someone who was thinking about moving to the
regions. That’s your audience.
[48:20]
What would you say?
[48:22]
How long is my ad like I could write for it?
[48:27]
He can proper, you know TV campaign if I really wanted my my biggest
thing is is that as I said we’ve spoken about the light we’ve spoken
about the feeling of space. We’ve had the that feeling of being able
to breathe and actually have the that not only the mental space but
the physical space where it allows you to I feel problem solve and
work through things that aren’t working with a clearer vision
because you’ve got the space to breathe to allow it to happen. But
there’s so many components of where does our food come from all of a
sudden you have the capacity to if you want to grow a lot of your
own food or have a large component of your diet come from your
backyard or land you have the ability to know where your food comes
from and how many miles it’s traveled to get to your plate all these
things that we talk about with climate change and how it’s impacting
Our Lives you are living it. You are seeing it when it’s on the farm
you can see how the seasons
[49:27]
A changing and how that impacts both the animals and the land that
you live on you feel so connected to Nature in so many different
ways that you know, I love walking around Barefoot in the farm on
the grass and the the red dirt and it’s either red mud, or it’s red
dirt and just feeling connected and and feeling that we are we are
such a small fish in such a large pond but that we are all connected
that we as a huge ecosystem all need to rely on each other and look
after each other for us to survive and that is nothing is more in
your face than when you live on the land when you live really so if
you want to understand how we are here how we came to be what it
takes for us to survive and thrive then I feel like you must have
some connection.
[50:25]
To Nature and that’s what
[50:26]
this is.
[50:28]
Oh my gosh, I feel like here are walking ad we are so lucky because
that’s right beautifully put and if anyone isn’t compelled to
actually move after hearing that then I don’t know what we’ll get
them over the line. Thank you so much for today. It’s been just such
a pleasure talking to you and your honesty and perspective is just
such a breath of fresh air special given the depth of experience and
the career that you’ve had. So thank you so much for your time
today. It’s been amazing. I’ve Loved chatting
[50:59]
anytime. I can be an advocate for living rurally. I will absolutely
sell it because I’m pretty sure you can tell that we love it. So
thanks for having me.
[51:08]
You moved where is made on the land of the Kenyan people with Diane
Rooney joining us from the land of the Ouija board people. We would
like to acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people as the traditional custodians of the land and pay respects to
Elders past and present.
[51:28]
For sewed was produced by Grace Ruth Ray and hosted by me Beck
bignell.
[51:33]
You can listen back to all our episodes from season 1 and make sure
you follow us. So you’re the first to hear the next season you
moved. Where is brought to you by www.movetemore.com.au and the
regional Australia Institute move to more is supported by the
Australian federal government. And if you head to
www.movedmore.com.au you can search almost 2000 Regional towns and
cities to find your favorite Regional destination. And in the same
place find your dream home and job.