The Australia Cycle Ride — 2021
On 12th March 2021, I climbed on a bicycle at Steep Point in Western Australia — the westernmost tip of Australia — and started pedalling east. Sixty days and 5,167 kilometres later, my friend and fellow surf lifesaver Sarah Davis and I rolled into Byron Bay.
We were unsupported, carrying everything we needed — tent, food, water, tools, and yes, a poo trowel — through some of the most remote terrain in the country, including 150 kilometres of sand at the start that neither of us likes to think about too much.
Cycling is not my sport. It never has been. But that was almost the point. The ride was never really about cycling — it was about using the hardest thing I could think of to do what I have always tried to do: turn struggle into something meaningful.
The route took us through vast stretches of rural and regional Australia, where suicide rates are among the highest in the country. I rode to raise money for Lifeline — every call to their crisis line costs $39 and has the potential to save not just one life, but to prevent the ripple of devastation that follows every death by suicide. We raised over $21,000.
But I also rode to start conversations. Suicide is surrounded by silence — a silence that costs lives. Everywhere we stopped, we tried to create the conditions for people to speak honestly about what they were carrying. That, more than the kilometres, was the mission.
The ride was one of the most physically and emotionally demanding things I have ever done. It was also one of the most profound. I chose my pain. Not everyone gets that choice. That thought kept me pedalling.
Lifeline Annual Fundraising Campaign — 2021
In 2021, I shared my story — and Adam’s — as the heart of Lifeline Australia’s national tax appeal. The campaign centred on something I had long believed: that if Adam had been able to reach for his phone that night in November 1988 and simply type the words I need help, it might have been enough to connect him to life. It was a belief that made the cause feel deeply personal, and the campaign deeply urgent.
What followed was beyond anything I could have imagined. The appeal raised $904,000 — enough to take Lifeline a significant step closer to extending their Text Crisis Support Service toward round-the-clock availability. It remains one of the most humbling experiences of my life.
I share this not to claim credit for what was an extraordinary team effort, but because it speaks to something I believe profoundly: that when we find the courage to tell the truth about our pain, it moves people. It changes things. Adam’s story — our story — helped fund a service that will answer someone’s cry for help in the middle of the night for years to come. That matters more to me than I can say.
Ambassador Roles
- StandBy Support After Suicide — Ambassador, 2020–present
- Fortem Australia — Ambassador, 2021–2025
- Beyond Blue — Lived Experience Speaker, 2017–2020
Advisory & Board Roles
- Lived Experience Advisory Board — Military and Emergency Services Health Australia (MESHA), 2022–2025
- Advisory Board Member — Frontline Mental Health, 2023–2025
- Lived Experience Advisory Group — Rural First Responders Mental Health Study, 2024–present
- Advisor — World Health Organization (emergency services suicide postvention response), 2018
Volunteer & Community Service
- Peer Support Officer — Fire and Rescue NSW, 2011–2024
- On-Call Duty Officer — Fire and Rescue NSW, 2014–2019
- Lived Experience Stakeholder — Towards Zero Suicide Campaign, NSW Government, 2019
- Volunteer Surf Life Saver — North Bondi SLSC and Elouera SLSC, 2003 – present
- Lived Experience Stakeholder — Towards Zero Suicide Campaign, NSW Government, 2019
- Physiotherapist and Support Team Leader for cycle for S.M.I.L.E. (2011) – A six-person, 80-day, 15,700km cycle around Australia that raised over $1.1 million for children living with rare diseases.
- Community Volunteer — H.E.L.P Humanitarian Education & Long-Term Projects, South Africa, 1991
- Community Volunteer — Operation Raleigh, Zimbabwe, 1989