In 2022, Olivia Thompson sold 3 cattle stations in the Northern Territory. Those 3 properties exceeded 1 million hectares combined. It’s a world away from the 1000m2 block of land that was her first sale as a real estate agent some 20 years ago in the coastal town of Cairns.

Olivia is a prime example of the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by it's cover”. Beyond her beautiful smile and polished look that you’ll see on “For Sale” signs is one of the grittiest, hardworking people I have had the fortune of meeting and calling a friend.

In this episode I sat down with Liv to learn about the incredibly diverse range of experiences she has had so far, from growing up on cattle stations, winning a kick boxing title, training cutting horses in America, and having to learn to walk again.

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Haydn Sale manages one the largest aggregations of cattle and land in northern Australia – but chances are, you’ve never heard of him. 

Unlike others in his position, Haydn wasn’t born into the northern cattle industry. Nor did he do a gap year up north straight out of boarding school for one of the big corporates. He also wasn’t a General Manager or CEO of some other company in some other industry in a previous life.

Haydn’s journey is unlike any other I have come across. It is uniquely his. 

In this episode, I managed to pin this incredibly busy man down to learn how he got to where he is, what he considers important and non-negotiable in life, and what keeps him going.

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Anika Molesworth is a farmer, scientist, and storyteller. And she's on a mission to cultivate climate courage. In an incredibly short period of time, Anika has amassed a number of accolades including: Young Farmer of the Year, Young Australian of the Year finalist, and a Masters and PhD.

She has also released a best-selling book, 'Our sunburnt country', and co-founded the Farmers for Climate Action movement.

The incredible thing is that Anika has achieved all of this from her geographically and technologically isolated home of Rupee Station in far, far west New South Wales.

I sat down with Anika on the weekend to learn more about what makes her tick, what keeps her going, and how she stays grounded while fighting for climate action.

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Golden-guitar winning Tom Curtain and his incredible wife and business partner, Annabel, were our guests on the very first episode of this podcast way back in June 2019. Way back when I had never recorded a podcast, and didn’t know what sound quality was.

So, last night I sat down with Tom and Annabel for take two.

My plan was to rerecord just our first episode in better sound quality, but plans changed. So, in this episode you will hear some condensed versions of stories that were covered in episode one, including Tom’s childhood, how Tom and Annabel met, and the Katherine Outback Experience origin story. 

There’s also a few new stories from those times, and then we catch up on what’s been happening since Tom and Annabel last appeared on the show – including the birth of two children, a number of national tours, and the new album which is released in a couple of weeks. 

Sometimes you can’t connect the dots looking forward – you can only do that while looking back. And looking back on this episode, and the experiences that Tom and Annabel have had, it’s clear that these two have given everything in their path a good crack, and when times have been tough their resilience and sense of adventure shines through.

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Back in episodes 150, 151 and 156, we heard the stories of Debbie and Ashley Dowden from Challa Station in the southern rangelands of WA.

Now, two of those episodes were recorded with Debbie, and Ashley only recorded one... or did he?

For those of you who don't know, we actually have two podcast series. Central Station, the one you're listening to right now, and the other one is called Cattle Station Classroom. Within that podcast, I launched a mini series called "Station Stickybeak", where I sit down with station owners and managers across the country to... well... have a massive stickybeak into their station and business.

And so today, I invite you to join me in having a stickybeak into Challa Station. For more episodes, make sure you search Cattle Station Classroom wherever you get your podcasts, or you can find it on our website.

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Tourists

Where do I begin? Tourists are part and parcel of life in the outback. And, while some are worth their weight in gold, others make life just that little bit harder...

In this [best of] episode, I’ve pulled together a few yarns about tourists from previous episodes. 

And to any tourists listening... we do love you... sort of… but please, plan ahead, have back ups of everything, and let someone know where you’re going! 

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Robbie Schmidt is a self-confessed ratbag.  

The Alice Springs identity spent his formative years traveling between large properties in South Australia and the Northern Territory, so it’s not surprising that he ended up working as a station manager.

But, then Robbie and his partner chose to step away from working in agriculture for 5 long years. 

In this episode, Robbie shares yarns about the experiences which have shaped his life and why he came back to life on the land. He also speaks about his passion for nurturing a community around the sport of bronco branding, and why he has chosen to leave Alice Springs after all these years.

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So often, stories about outback Australia revolve around people working on the land. 

But, not everyone who lives in the outback wears a big hat and cowboy boots.

Renee McBryde lives in Alice Springs, Australia’s red centre.

It’s a world away from the housing commission in Sydney where she spent her childhood.

Renee’s story is unlike any we have ever come across. At the age of 6 she learnt that her father, who has been absent her entire life, wasn’t working away, but indeed serving a prison sentence for murder.

Her relationship with her young mother was turbulent at times, which she was yet to realise was a part of a cycle within her family.

It’s easy to imagine how Renee’s life could have turned out.

What’s harder to wrap your mind around is how it did turn out. 

Today Renee is the author of two best selling memoirs, “House of Lies”, and “Unravelling Us”, and by day she works in the Child Protection unit as a social worker.

In this episode Renee shares the path that led her to this role, and what working in child protection is really like.

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Everything in Willie Cook’s life was going to plan – he’d met the love of his life, he split his time between flying helicopters and working on his family’s station in the high country of New Zealand, and together with his partner and parents, he’d branched out into his own lease country.

And then it all came crashing down.

In this episode, Willie shares the story of how the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 saw he and his family lose absolutely everything they had, and how he came to Australia for a fresh start.

Willie, his wife Liz, and their two young sons have been in Australia for less than a decade, and they’ve already made serious headway in rebuilding their lives, as well as capturing the hearts of the nation through their time on the ABC tv series Outback Ringer.

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Willie Cook is known as the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. I caught up with Willie at his home in the Adelaide River region of the Northern Territory to hear the incredible story of how he and his young family came to be in Australia. However, that story is coming next week. Today, I’m sharing the very beginning of our chat, where Willie told me about his early years in New Zealand.

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