Tom Robinson was a 14-year-old living in the Brisbane suburbs when he made a promise to himself to become the youngest person ever to row across the Pacific Ocean.  Nine years later Tom set off from Peru bound for Australia without a support crew and limited communication.

Tom navigated by the stars, made eye contact with a shark and rowed up to 15 hours a day when strong currents pushed him off course.

And when his adventure ended, it was in a completely unexpected by perfect way.

Read more about Tom at his website: 

https://www.tomrobinsonboats.com/

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake. Executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores solo adventure, rowing the Pacific Ocean, boat building, remote Pacific Island communities, family, rescue, bad weather, world records, isolation, fear, survival, adventure, near death, volcanic islands, marine life, weather, storms, storms at sea, naked, rescue, teenage adventurer, and getting off your phone.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities

Diplomat Grant Dooley was inside the Australian Embassy building in Indonesia when a bomb went off, killing several people. This was just the beginning of a series of devastating events that Grant had to come to terms with years after moving back home to Australia.

In 2004, Grant Dooley and his wife, Kristan, moved to Jakarta with their two young children to start a three-year posting at the Australian Embassy.

In September of that year, Grant arrived at the embassy complex for a brief visit. Not long after he entered the building, a bomb went off outside, which partially destroyed the building and killed many people.

The Australian Embassy had been the target of an attack plotted by Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist group with links to al-Qaeda.

Little did Grant know that he and his family had arrived in Indonesia in the middle of a horror show of bombings, natural disasters, and geopolitical tensions, which would not end for the next several years.

The embassy bombing was followed by the Boxing Day Tsunami, a second Bali bombing, the Garuda plane crash in Yogyakarta and more.

Not only was Grant a witness to these events, he was also a first responder to some of them.

Further information

Bomb Season In Jakarta is published by Affirm Press.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris; executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores terrorism, diplomacy, expats, Bali bombings, Sumatra, earthquake, tsunami, Schapelle Corby, Bali 9, drug smuggling, banged up abroad, how to become a diplomat, the real life of diplomats, PTSD, post traumatic stress, Jemaah Islamiyah, jihadist organisation, al-Qaeda, Paddy's pub, Sari Club, Aceh, John Howard, Alexander Downer, Kevin Rudd, Prabowo Subianto, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Joko Widodo, foreign affairs, books, writing, memoir, modern history, Abu Bakar Bashir, 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, East Timor, South East Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, war.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Sarah and Richard give you a sneak peek behind the scenes of the now complete Conversations Live Tour, Brisbane edition.

Comedian, Mel Buttle was one of the special guests who appeared on stage to share some photos close to her heart, and the stories attached to them. 

Further information

To see Mel's photos for yourself, head to the ABC Conversations Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/abcconvos/

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

As a child, Candice Fox knew her family wasn't what most people would consider normal.  Their Christmas included lunch at Long Bay jail, where her father worked (R).

At home, Candice's mother Ocean was busy rescuing lost people, injured native animals, and bringing home odd things from the council clean-up.

In one 5-year period, Ocean fostered more than 140 children.  To escape the chaos of home, Candice would immerse herself in her mum's collection of illustrated true crime stories.Then she began writing her own. She grew up to become one of the world's best-selling crime authors.

Further information

Originally broadcast in March, 2024.

Candice’s novels High Wire and Fire With Fire are now being adapted for the screen.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison. Executive producer was Carmel Rooney.

It explores writing, books, animals, Australian animals, wildlife rescue, conservation, childhood memories, true crime, crime novels, crime writing, foster families, foster children, blended families, how to become an author, books.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Dr Charlotte Tottman is a clinical psychologist who specialises in supporting cancer patients. Both her parents had died young from different cancers, so Charlotte always joked she would be next. In 2018, it wasn't a joke anymore.

While on a beach holiday, Charlotte found a lump in her breast.

When she got her own cancer diagnosis, all of Charlotte’s skills as a psychologist went out the window.

She was scared, and angry, and determined to keep going rather than letting herself rest.

After falling in a heap, Charlotte has found her way back - helped by an ex-husband’s generosity, by her own penchant for swimming only in bikini bottoms and by needing to be there to have deeper conversations with her children as they became adults.

Further information

Charlotte's podcast, Upfront About Breast Cancer - What You Don't Know Until You Do, is produced with Breast Cancer Network Australia, and is available to stream at Apple Podcasts.

If you or anyone you know needs help:

• Breast Cancer Network Australia on 1800 500 258
• Cancer Council on 13 11 20
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• Lifeline on 13 11 14

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores breast cancer, cancer diagnosis, parenting, motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, divorce, finding love again, career change, double mastectomy, body image after cancer, psycho-oncology, helping people with cancer, how to talk to your children about cancer, mindfulness, swimming, mental health, shock, coping with illness, recovering from illness, major surgery, origin story.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

A few years ago, after a series of crisis after crisis after crisis, Allie Pepper thought she would have to give up high-altitude mountain climbing. This is how she got her groove back.

Record-breaking mountaineer, Allie Pepper, is currently in the middle of a project to become the first and fastest woman to climb the world’s 14 tallest mountains – those over 8000m – without the use of oxygen.

But just a few years ago, Allie nearly gave up climbing all together after a trifecta of mid-life crises pulled the rug out from under her.

Menopause, divorce, and a devastating death completely grounded Allie.

But when she got her groove back, Allie headed straight to the mountain. 

Further information

Allie recently made a documentary called Limitless Above the Clouds, which was filmed across the Himalayas. It will be available to stream worldwide between 20 - 27 September at this link.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris; executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores mid-life crisis, starting new, documentary, film, mountain climbing, Everest, Nepal, spiritual journey, India, Pakistan, travel, badass women, women in middle age, how to start again, separation, marriage, death of a father, self esteem, self worth, failing school, TAFE, alternative career pathways, Klára Kolouchová, Nanga Parbat, origin story, child of divorce, peri-menopause, hidden menopause symptoms, HRT, hormone therapy for menopause, chronic fatigue, depression, mental health, sweats.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Doctors often use euphemisms to dance around the 'C' word. But for oncologist Dr Ranjana Srivastava, how you talk to someone with cancer goes beyond "shadows, lumps and lesions". It's all about compassion and clarity, even when honesty is difficult.

Ranjana Srivastava was a young doctor in regional Australia, accompanying her consultant on his late night rounds when she heard a patient say something that stopped Ranjana in her tracks.

It was in that moment that she finally knew what her speciality was going to be: oncology. 

Ranjana now works in Melbourne as an oncologist and an author.

She often writes about the need for clarity and compassion in doctor-patient conversations, to deliver good news, bad news and everything that falls between.

Ranjana had her own experience of being at the receiving end of devastating news when she was pregnant with twins.

Ranjana has carried the lesson she received from her own doctor forward, into her work as an oncologist, where bearing witness to the attitudes of her patients has changed the way she sees the world and has helped put her own life in perspective.

Further information

Ranjana's latest book, Every Word Matters, is published by Simon & Schuster.

She has published seven books about cancer and end of life care, including A Better Death, Tell Me the Truth, Dying for a Chat, So It's Cancer: Now What, and After Cancer: A Guide to Living Well.

Ranjana also writes a regular column for The Guardian, for which she won the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist of The Year in 2025.

In 2017, Ranjana was awarded an Order of Australia medal for her work as an oncologist and in improving doctor-patient communication.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores cancer, oncology, the big C, cancerland, breast cancer, bowel cancer, how to survive cancer, incurable cancer, end of life care, palliative care, honest doctors, refusing treatment, chemotherapy, radiation, how to be honest with patients, doctor patient relationship, geriatric oncology, India, migration, motherhood, late term miscarriage, pregnancy, writing, books, origin story, journalism.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Voyager frontman Danny Estrin on his unconventional path from heavy metal to law and on to the Eurovision grand final (R).

Danny Estrin is one of the few Australians who knows what it’s like to perform at Eurovision. 

As frontman for the progressive synth metal band, Voyager, Danny commanded the stage in the 2023 competition, wind machine and all. 

His musical education started early, on a piano gifted by his babushka and freighted from the Soviet Union to his childhood home in Hamburg.

After moving from Germany to Perth as a child, Danny turned to heavy metal as a way of finding belonging.

Danny is also an immigration lawyer, but by night he quite literally lets his hair down, swapping his suit and tie for a keytar and microphone.

Just months after Sarah first spoke to Danny in 2023, he received a stage four cancer diagnosis.

Voyager had to cancel all the shows they'd booked after their Eurovision performance, as Danny started treatment, supported by his wife and two girls.

While his cancer is terminal, Danny has been doing really well, defying everyone's expectations.

This year he even got the band back together, and when he's not undergoing treatment, Danny is back on stage with Voyager.

Further information

Originally broadcast in August, 2023.

Danny is currently working on a television show about people's love affairs with their cars.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Tamar Cranswick.

It explores music, heavy metal, Eurovision, migration stories, migration law, Russia, Germany, multiculturalism in Australia, classical music, how to have a career in music, family, fatherhood, love, marriage, father of daughters, cancer diagnosis, terminal cancer, cars, hot rods.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Kathleen Folbigg was locked up in prison for decades, wrongly convicted of the deaths of her four children. For years, her childhood friend Tracy was the only person who believed in her innocence. Now they are telling the story of their herculean fight to overturn Kathleen's conviction. (CW: loss of children, descriptions of life in prison)

In 2003, Kathleen Folbigg was locked up in jail for decades, wrongly convicted of the deaths of her four children.

One of the only people who believed in her innocence was her childhood friend Tracy.

Together, they fought for her freedom for years before science and the law caught up with the case.

Kathleen was pardoned and exonerated in 2023. 

Now Kathleen and Tracy have written down their story of their 20-year battle for justice, and they are telling their story together for the first time.

Further information

Inside Out is published by Penguin 

Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, on 13 11 14.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski. The Executive Producer was Nicola Harrison.

It explores crime, punishment, criminal conviction, wrongful conviction, a fight for justice, criminal pardon, exoneration, science, DNA, Meadows Law, life in prison, daily life behind bars, flaws in the justice system, internalised misogyny in the law, unsympathetic mothers, never giving up, rallying around scientists and philanthropists, science catching up to a criminal case, the use of DNA to free someone, how a wrongful conviction can be overturned, powerful women, impressive women, tenacity, guts, new beginnings, hope for the future, how to survive the loss of a child, grief after the death of a child, grief after the death of children, post traumatic growth, PTSD, having to be strong, activism, Newcastle, Muswellbrook, famous criminal cases, women who are disliked, how to overcome trauma, moving on, death threats, social media hate, online pile-ons, online cruelty, moving on after trauma, healing after trauma, reinvention, midlife reinvention, new chapter, starting a new chapter of life.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

When you call for an ambulance these days, chances are the officers inside will save a life. But 40 years ago, 80 per cent of Alan Playford's passengers would either die on the way to the hospital, or on its doorstep. This is how he, and his colleagues, changed the face of paramedicine for the better.

When Alan Playford first joined the New South Wales Ambulance Service in the 1970s, he would drive an ambulance on his own to all sorts of emergencies.

With little equipment, and no support, Alan would simply have to bundle people into the back of the wagon and race to the hospital, where lifesaving machines and skills could give them a chance.

In those early days, 80 per cent of Alan's patients would die either on the way to the hospital or on the doorstep.

Alan and a group of other ambulance officers and doctors knew they could do better and set about modernising paramedicine.

Under the leadership of Dr Bob Wright, they began innovative (and often terrifying) training to save more lives.

Ambulance officers from Newcastle, including Alan, were among the first to be trained in these new "advanced life support" skills.

So by the time the unprecedented Newcastle Earthqauke hit in 1989, Alan used his more than ten years' experience to save lives at the Newcastle Workers Club and on Beaumont Street.

Alan went on to makeover the now beloved Westpac Rescue Helicopter, and took his skills to places like Rwanda and East Timor.

He gained his nickname the 'shit magnet' for his habit of coincidentally being there to help out in emergencies, even when he's not on duty.

Further information

Through the Rubble is written by Alan Playford and Penny Keogh. It is published by Simon & Schuster.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores modern history, medical history, Ambulance Union, paramedics, hospital St Vincents, the Hunter, Norm Duffy, natural disasters, lifesaving innovation, medical innovation, ambos, Australian history, war, Rwanda, genocide, civil war, rescue chopper.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.