Max's Island

Sarah Gregg thought she had it all. She was happily married, had the perfect career and was fulfilling the life she had planned for herself. But she was ANGRY.

She had followed the rules … gone to school, worked hard on her education and got the good job everyone … including her … thought was going to satisfy her needs. However, she was still missing the reward of happiness and fulfilment.

So, during a trip away with her husband, they decided to sell up, move on from their secure jobs and travel … and then just see what happens.

The freedom of this lifestyle nourished her soul but was consuming the savings and within a few weeks of having to make a financially driven decision to possibly go home … for good … something special happened.

The ‘universe’ provided … and out of nowhere, she was offered a “book deal”.

This changed it all.

As an aspiring first class cricketer, Kris McShane made his way to Perth to hone his skill in different conditions during the English winter on three separate occasions. As a young man in his early 20’s, this was a chance to follow his passion, see the other side of the world and have a good time.

He progressively embraced the Perth lifestyle on each visit and eventually had the opportunity to take a chance and continue his already successful career in recruitment in WA.

The decision to relocate and ultimately set up his life in Perth came quickly and within 3 months from the start of the process he arrived to begin his new life. But, like many things in life, there were some challenges. Having the company who sponsored him to come to Perth being sold in his 1st six week was the first hiccup and then the sudden death of his father really challenged his resolve to stay.

Nonetheless, time has now passed, where he is well intrenched in the Perth corporate recruitment world and continues to play cricket each summer … and will continue to until his bowling shoulder says “it’s had enough.”

Kristel Tuul is a certified embodied performance coach. Her objective is to help ambitious women reach their goals by taking an evidence-based approach to empowering women to perform and feel at their best by managing their energy, not time.

She is passionate about tapping into women's unique biology and their feminine-masculine traits to help women effortlessly thrive in life.

But this hasn’t always been her focus. It took a personal experience with an eating disorder, triggered by a fixation with bio-hacking, and the constant struggle with conflicting masculine and feminine traits to realise what was important in her life…And then how this could be important for other high achieving women.

She advocates “Effortless Effort” whilst holding the space for other women and her story drives her current professional and personal life.

Kristel can be found at:-

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristeltuul/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristeltuul/

And of course her website: https://www.kristeltuul.com/

Simon White has been a successful journo in newspapers and online … for many years … all around Australia.

He spent some of his journey in South Australia, working as the racing writer for the Adelaide Advertiser, and it was during his time there he got to meet … and become friends with, a particularly colourful horse racing identity.

Following a suggestion from an editor at the paper and since it was the 25th anniversary of the “Fine Cotton” affair … the infamous horse substitution ring-in, at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Queensland, Simon started to look for one of the key characters in this ‘affair’, Hayden Haitana. The trainer of Fine Cotton was now living in and around the fringes of Adelaide, and leading quite a mysterious life.

This story is one of genuine connection and friendship that ends with Simon being able to do for Hayden, something that no-one else was able to to in the previous 25 years…And that was to get him legally back onto a race course.

Enjoy this unique tale.

Dean Margetts played footy for the Maddington “Bulls” Football Club from the ‘under 7’s” until he was 21 years old. He then retired.

After trying his hand at coaching an under 13’s team, and with two mates taking them to a grand final, he responded to an advert in the local paper … to become an umpire.

This began a speedy journey to the AFL, where he eventually umpired 376 games (after 110 league games in the WAFL), across a career spanning more than 20 seasons. He featured in 12 finals (2 Prelim’s) and is an AFL Life Member.

During his time umpiring, whilst still based in the west, he travelled well over 200 times to the east coast to umpire games. This often weekly traverse across the country was just in a day’s work for a self defined footy-head who saw umpiring as ‘his sport’.

It was on one of these flights back from a game in the east when a dramatic mid air incident occurred. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting with someone on board, his life could have changed forever.

The NDIS provides necessary supports to more than half a million Australians with disability. It is something we are all proud of. 

Investing in a strong NDIS also has flow-on benefit to all Australians – in fact for every dollar spent on the NDIS, the scheme delivers $2.25 back into Australian communities.

Despite all of these benefits for people with disability, the broader community and the economy, we are seeing over and over again that people are having their NDIS plans slashed – leaving them without the essential supports they need.

This episode revisits Natalia Hodgins story and her life with a severe health condition and the resulting disability. Her story gives incredible insight into the challenges faced by a person with disability and how schemes like the NDIS should be so important for their future.

Sadly, Natalia struggles to have her disability recognised and is currently not supported with an NDIS plan. This must change.

This is not the NDIS we fought for, and it is not the NDIS Australians deserve.

“How I found my voice” is the way Kim Landers describes her decision to leave a relationship, become free of expectations, use her life lessons and ultimately re-discover her passions. But to rebuild and find her purpose and meaning, this meant filling a small bag … with some borrowed clothes … and zero dollars (she took her dad’s credit card) and move to another state in Australia.

As a kid, one of her biggest goals was to have an adventure and live overseas … somewhere like Canada, however in this case it was to land in Canberra with few people she knew.

This new clarity in life was initially sparked after a meeting with a clairvoyant and has been developed further by using consistent mentors to keep her “accountable” and creating a safe network of friends.

For Kim, the wisdom gained from this experience has not been lost to her. A strong value of “paying forward” the learnings to others has become fundamental as she shares her life experiences to those who may also be going through similar things.

Jules had planned for a year to tackle the 124km Cape to Cape trek in the South West of WA and spent 7 days with 11 women … it was a magical experience for her. It was her way to push herself, reclaim her “me”, as she puts it, and just connect with other women.

On return to the comfort of her home, she had time to reflect on what the trek meant, absorb the feeling of achievement, and think about what was next … when something special happened.

A “Facebook message” request alert to connect with someone she did not know … appeared from nowhere.

It was a request from a woman who was asking … if she would be willing … quite randomly … to take a DNA tests because she thought they may be related … Was it scam?

This has opened the door to a growing relationship with this woman through a common paternal bond.

After 50 years, two sisters are now connected.

Greg McKenna was focused and driven to be the best in the world of currency trading and financial markets. It wasn’t long before this career became all consuming and achieving a significant level of corporate success was a feature of his life.

But with the birth of his son he made the decision to shelve this perceived dream international corporate lifestyle and to live a life which was featured by being with his family at home … in Australia.

After trying his hand at a few things … with varied success … Greg connected to the mentoring advice from a colleague (and close friend), and directed his personal focus to just being “a better human”. He returned to the world of banking, but this time it was being part of a community and he realised that creating human connection with those he met in this world was the greatest benefit of all.

He is now CEO of a mutual bank and strives to contribute to the lives of all his customers in a positive way, every day.