Arrival time:  Sunday August 28 7.30am-8.15am – Northcliffe Beach, Gold Coast

Queensland ironwoman Bonnie Hancock is on course for the fastest ever circumnavigation of mainland Australia by paddle with the ultra-endurance athlete set to complete her epic Shaw and Partners Paddle of Aus – a 12,700 km/254 day journey, this Sunday morning when she returns to the Gold Coast.

Thirty-two year old Hancock will be the first Australian woman, and the youngest ever paddler, to complete a circumnavigation of mainland Australia.  Piloting a 9-kilo carbon NK surf ski, the Gold Coast athlete also claims a new women’s world mark for the longest 24-hour paddle - covering an incredible distance of 213km, off Cape York - from Lockhart River past Flinders Island.

Hancock is only the fifth person in history to successfully lap Australia on a ski or kayak, and the second woman.   

Supported by Shaw and Partners, Hancock began her ‘Paddle of Aus’ on December 19, 2021 and finishes her marathon paddle on Sunday morning, August 28, 2022 (7.30-8.30am) at Northcliffe Beach, where she will be greeted with a hero’s welcome.

Bonnie was born in Sawtell on the NSW mid-north coast to a family of four girls and reared with a love for surf lifesaving.  The former ironwoman lives on the Gold Coast and is a practicing dietitian,  and “Bon” as she is known to friends, is married to the expedition leader, Matt Palmer.

Whilst reaching many personal milestones, and setting new world marks, Hancock used the paddle to raise awareness and funds for mental fitness charity Gotcha 4 Life.

There’s no question Hancock’s mental fitness, skill, and stamina were tested during her paddle, with the former ironwoman enduring wild weather, sharks, crocodiles, hypothermia, nausea and sickness during her 254-day expedition.

Armed with her personal mantra – ‘We will get this done’ - Hancock conquered a horror 17-day stretch across the Great Australian Bight where she made a strategic move paddling 500 km off the coast, rather than hug the coastline, to cut 1000 km off her circumnavigation.

Mother nature punished her for the shortcut sending six metre swells, huge storms and freezing Antarctic water to test her mettle.  Bonnie endured 17 days and nights in high seas, struck with sea-sickness, vomiting and nausea.

When she hit Esperance after her 17-day ordeal, it was COVID times.  Hancock was taken by ambulance - with WA police escort - to hospital, given two IV drips for dehydration and exhaustion, tested for COVID, and then sent back to sea for seven days in “COVID isolation”, paddling on to Albany.

Heading up the WA coast, she was tested by the daunting 180 km of coastline of the 250 m high Zuytdorp Cliffs; when she reached the Northern Territory she took a direct route across the Gulf of Carpentaria and was battered by six days of 5 metre heads seas; and then as she turned Cape York to head down the QLD coast she was struck by five days of trade winds, seasickness, no sleep and little food.

Further south, exhausted and about to give up, a gritty Hancock set off at 4.30am to beat looming bad weather.  She somehow dug deep, surged, and put in a mammoth 24-hour stint off Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula – paddling a massive 213 km with only two, 15-minute breaks - earning her a new world mark for a female.

Although pitted against the perils of mother nature, Hancock also experienced many magical moments at sea including paddling with 50 dolphins at Port Lincoln, being sung to by a humpback whale and her calf in Far North Queensland, experiencing the clear blue waters at Ningaloo, exploring the caves at Wedge Island (SA) surrounded by seals and ancient looking dolphins, and being greeted by a complete circular sunset with a rainbow-coloured sky at remote Daw Island off the WA coast – her first and only land stop as she travelled across the Bight.

Whilst paddling solo, Hancock says her journey was possible through the dedication and tenacity of her support crew, who faced many challenges of their own.

The Shaw Partners Paddle of AUS crew was headed up by her husband Matt Palmer and friend Ben Lavery, who handled the day-to-day logistics from land. She was also followed on water by a jet ski and ever-changing support boats including The Cruising Kiwis on their catamaran and Discovery Channel’s “Gold Diggers”, Goaty and Ryan Peters, aboard their boat “Good Times”.   There was also a film crew on hand to capture the adventure, but the entire team also acted as cooks, masseurs, cheer squad, motivators, mental health coaches, medical crew and entertainment.

“It has been massive, epic, spectacular, daunting, frightening, incredibly challenging mentally and physically but it’s nearly done!” said Hancock who was inspired after reading the tales of sailor Jessica Watson, and German Freya Hoffmeister, the only other woman to paddle Australia. 

“I could not have achieved this without my team, and that includes Earl Evans of Shaw and Partners for believing in the endeavour from day one and financially supporting our massive lap, and for Gotcha4Life and Gus Worland for giving me a purpose to my trip.

“Yes, I had a goal to be fastest, but the lure of that does wear off after the relentless grind, day after day of paddling.  Knowing I was raising money to help Gotcha4Life gave me real purpose, and when I was feeling beaten, I just knew I had my team behind me.  I was not alone.  I had to be patient, take the next stroke forward, follow the process and I would get there.”

On Sunday, Hancock will be back on dry land for good, and is hoping to have met her target of raising $100,000 for Gotcha 4 Life.  Gotcha 4 Life works to end suicide by delivering programs that create meaningful mateship, build emotional muscle, and strengthen social connection in local communities.   Those who are inspired by her effort can donate to Gotcha 4 Life at https://gotcha4life-fundraising.raisely.com/bonniehancock

All world marks are subject to ratification by the Guinness Book of Records as world records.