Chasing my Dreams!

Well this is something that took me completely by surprise, how my life and mindset further evolved in a massive way, after I first attempted to “Climb – in my own way” by walking the steep ocean Boardwalk at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast in 2012.  That day was my version of climbing the gorgeous Mt Coolum – but to do it in a way that I knew I had a chance of at least making it to the ‘top’ of a steep slope.  That day was also my first fundraiser for (the now former) SBH Qld – which I also attached (all on the same day/night!) my Goal to Walk down the beach on Sunset, and my first ever Standup Slowdance.  What an introduction to, what was to shape the direction and rest of my life, in a huge way!
What a MASSIVE DAY/NIGHT – I literally could not walk, for almost a month afterwards! haha 😀 But – this day/night was to shape my future, in ways I just did not realise at the time!

Never in a million years back then, did I even think it was possible that I could one day, climb an actual Mountain…and more!

Fast forward to further down the track of Chasing my Dreams, and achieving many other things (some big, some ‘just fun stuff’) that, once again, I previously didnt think were possible (but…over time I came to realise – as is my mantra – “Anything is Possible…in your own Way!”).  Achieving, and doing many of these things that “I’d love to do that one day!”, even just the smaller, fun stuff, had such a wonderful effect on my confidence – I’d realised that there was one major thing holding me back – my mindset.
With a switched-on mindset, with support structures around you (people, and the environment you surround yourself with), and with the willingness to adapt that Goal/Dream to doing it “in your own way” – Anything really is Possible!

Then came 2014, the year of my 45th birthday – a milestone that was very important to me personally.  I got to thinking, what can I do to celebrate this – to ‘pat myself on the back’ for smashing this milestone out of the park?
‘Climbing something’ was the first thing that entered my mind – again I thought, well an actual Mountain is out of the question right now (but, just quietly in the back of my mind, I really was starting to think “Maybe this can become real…maybe?”)
I’d always been fascinated with indoor rockwalls, mountains, and the adventurous mindset of climbers who scale them – some as if they were just flying through the air up that surface.  That was it – I HAD to celebrate my special day by attempting to do this.  So, once again, after working my butt off in my physical training/therapy – and meeting the owner/founder of the awesome RockIt Climbing gym here on the Sunshine Coast, them kindly arranging the support I would need on the day to attempt (achieve) this – I woke up on my birthday, raced down to RockIt – and next thing I was scaling that wall! haha it was SO MUCH FUN!!!
I made it up to the 6m mark, the Wall was 8m – I was very proud of even being able to make it a couple of metres, let alone 6! And there it was, I was a climber – in my own way,  and with my guide near me if/when needed, but I was doing it!

Fast forward (although it seems like a decade between 2014-2017!) to mid/late 2016.
Something that felt so delicious sparked deep inside of me and told me, with absolute certainty and not a shred of doubt in my mind…

“I CAN CLIMB MOUNT COOLUM – I *NEED* TO DO THIS.  I NEED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!”

So, once again I worked my butt off with my training – but with an extra special dose of motivation – this is IT, my Dream I had always thought wasnt actually possible – I’m on my way to actually attempting/achieving it! I CAN DO THIS! (as the amazing human Matt Golinski himself said to me before I attempted the 2km Walk in the Sunshine Coast Marathon – those words are very dear, and incredibly motivating to me now!).
It really felt like a dream at times, very surreal – this is actually going to happen.
THIS right here, is the Magic of Chasing your Dreams – the once ‘impossible’ (even if just in your mind) was steadily turning into This really IS Possible! Wow.

July 2017 (ironically, the ‘number year’ of my beautiful ‘racing family’ and Team who gave me the wonderful opportunity in 2011, which turned into….well this website and how I now live my life, says it all, really!) arrived – and I was off – meeting up with my Team who were supporting me up & down that beautiful Mountain…

While I didnt make it to the very top (after 2hrs of gruelling, exhausting but exhilarating effort and shuffling through all of those beautiful rocks and raw nature – I have come to absolutely love rocks and big boulders, all their various natural forms, curves and colours, sitting there ready for me to explore and navitage my way around them) – I was absolutely satisfied with my achievement.  I got my view, I got my Goal…I GOT MY MOUNTAIN!! Wow…

That was it, I was addicted – just as Racing is in my blood – Climbing had slowly crept in over all those years, and was now embedded into my very soul.

Anywhere I am..admiring a sunset, looking out at the ocean, local mountains – anywhere there is rocks, I am instantly drawn to them – I need to touch them, to explore them!

In my element!

But still, I thought I was done.  I thought Mt Coolum was my one and only chance to Climb – especially as this body of mine was getting older (I was 47 at that time) – and also after my Climb, being hit full force with influenza, dislocating my finger, losing function of my arm – with surgery and a rough, long recovery to ‘get it back’.  Plus being hit with a serious mental health crash.  Thats it I thought, I’m done.  This part of my life is over.
I started to let go and to grieve ‘the woman I was, and the life I had built up since 2011’.
Throughout anything else that has happened throughout my lifetime, this was undoubtedly one of the hardest things to come to terms with, and to accept that this was happening.  I had an insight as to what elite athletes are saying when they talk about ‘life after sport, it can hit you like a ton of bricks and leave you at loose ends.  Something that is such a big part of your identity, is now over’.  This scared me, as I could somewhat relate – in my own way. I felt that I may be heading back towards my ‘pre-Chasing my Dreams life’ and the person I was, where I just felt…lost.

But..my mind and life had other plans! After a long, mentally tough two-year break from “all things Chasing my Dreams” (and my life, really) to recover from everything that had hit me since that magical Climb in 2017 – I started to get itchy feet to get back out to raw nature again, it hit me quite by surprise.  “Uh oh…there it is!” I giggled silently as I felt it…that feeling deep inside me that tells me, I need to get back out on another adventure! My 50th birthday was approaching, after all…another milestone – and you know what that means… 😉

Another gorgeous local area had always been in my mind, to find a way to get there (but knowing it just was not an easily accessible area, so I’d basically accepted that thats one thing I’d have to just not have a ‘want’ for – except, as someone offered once, to ‘piggyback me there’).  But you know what entered my mind…thats right… “easy, who needs easy when I know I want to do it?” haha.

And then my want to trek the rocky, off-track distance to Serenity Falls (from Harrys Hut end, Buderim Rainforest) was born…more pushing hard at my training, hearing from others what the trek is like, seeing photos and coming up with somewhat of a Game Plan – next minute my 50th birthday arrived, and I was off to get these beautiful Falls I had heard and seen so much about, with my Team around me…

While it wasnt a steep mountain, Buderim *is* a Mountain so it was a steady incline trek which took many, many hours to get there (and back out again).

The effort was very, very well worth it!

After Serenity Falls was done and dusted, I laughed and thought “Well this really is it this time – my last hurrah – I am 50 after all and surely it’s time to slow down and face ‘Life after my big Fitness Goals’?!”.  I had started to come to a healthy acceptance this time, unlike after Mt Coolum when it hit me like a ton of bricks, with being thrown straight into serious illness after recovery, then multiple years of injuries & surgery.  But again, my mind had other plans…(who’d have guessed, right? haha).

Fast forward to now (January 2026)…I have another big (to me, and my body) outdoor/nature adventure that’s firmly in my mind now, after having it dance playfully in the back of my mind for the last couple of years (I won’t say what it is just yet…like many of my Dreams, especially the bigger ones, I love to have them as “my little secret” at first until the adventure starts growing with it…I LOVE this “bubble” when it’s not ‘out there’ just yet, its delicious!).
I have no idea when I will be able to achieve it (it’s going to take a LOT of work – I’ve been through another year of my body throwing yet another major curveball at me, where I had to basically ‘sit 2025 out’ as I had to in previous years after my Climb with the injuries/surgery/illnesses that hit…and at 56 now, and with my body how it is, I’m definitely in my “ageing process” now.  But, all I know is…I’m excited to be not just entertaining the thought – but actively starting to train again/regain fitness & movement I’d lost, and re-entering my ‘fitness mindset & lifestyle’ after sitting last year out.
Throwing my body & mind at another major Fitness Goal/nature Adventure again is such an exciting thought, and I will do everything in my power to get it done!!  Even after all my body has been through since 2017 – I’m firmly sitting in the belief of, it’s not an ‘if’ its a WHEN! 🙂

More Climbing…told ya, I’m addicted. Anything and everything, I just have to Climb it! 🙂

GAME ON