The public writing and running life that made change feel possible.
About Hearts Across Australia
I walked from Perth to Brisbane because I needed to find out what belief could do.
In 2015, I set out from Canning River parkrun and crossed Australia on foot. Hearts Across Australia was the public name for that walk, but the real story began earlier, when I stopped treating impossible as a final answer.
The short version
Before HAA had a name, change had already started.
For more than twenty years, I believed there was no point setting goals because life would kick them out from under me. Then, back in the days of "no more mr fat guy", I started running, writing, losing weight, finding people, and slowly building different evidence.
The first big proof was the Perth Marathon in June 2013. I was slow, nervous, physically wrecked by the end, and completely changed by finishing. A few days later, the meaning was still landing. I had set a huge goal, kept working at it, and not let the hard parts send me looking for the easy way out.
Hearts Across Australia grew from that feeling. I wanted to make belief visible in a way people could follow, question, laugh at, support, and maybe recognise in themselves. Perth to Brisbane on foot was a ridiculous way to do it, which was probably why it worked.
Six hours and forty-seven minutes that changed what I believed about myself.
From 16 May to 17 September 2015, one practical day at a time.
The Heart Foundation
The cause came later, but it belonged.
Hearts Across Australia did not begin as a charity idea. It began as a personal demonstration of belief. But once I started talking about walking from Perth to Brisbane, people kept asking whether I was doing it for charity.
The Heart Foundation made sense because heart health was already part of my story. I had worried that if I did not change, I could become a heart attack statistic. My Grandpa died of a heart attack when I was 8. The connection was personal before it was practical.
If this story nudges you to support heart health, the best way is to donate directly through the Heart Foundation.
Why tell it now
The walk is finished. Telling it properly still matters.
For years, bits of Hearts Across Australia have lived in old posts, photos, videos, route notes, and memory. I want to bring the story back together in a way that feels human, useful, and true.
What changed
The personal change before HAA: the running, the first marathon, the belief shift, and the decision to try.
What happened
The days before departure, the walk from Perth to Brisbane, the people around it, and the practical work of keeping going.
What remains
The memories, lessons, support, humour, fear, and stubborn hope that still feel worth passing on.