EP 68 Antarctic solo sailor Lisa Blair, safest countries to travel & Bali bargains

Solo sailor Lisa Blair has sailed around Antarctica not once, but twice, and her book Facing Fear records that first, near-fatal expedition. Lisa has a rack of world records under her belt – just this year alone, she set the fastest time Sydney to Auckland and first woman solo monohull record, slicing an incredible four days off the previous record; and is the first person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around New Zealand, a feat that took just 17 days. 

Having spent so much time on the ocean and seeing the effects of pollution and climate change, she is a powerful advocate for sustainability with the Climate Action Now project and Boating Industry Australia's Sustainability Ambassador. See lisablairsailstheworld.com and the new movie about her adventures, Ice Maiden.

Which do you think are the safest countries to travel? Travel insurer Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection’s research shows some of the best are very, very close to home;  bhtp.com/blog/safest-places-to-travel/

And how do you get a bargain in Bali? The Bali Bible shares some tips for getting not the lowest price, but the price that is fair for both you - the buyer - as well as the seller. The trick? To treat haggling as a charming game, see thebalibible.com 

Chapters

• 6:36 Sailing around Antarctica; Lisa Blair
• 40:08 Bartering in Bali

Transcript

Antarctic solo sailor Lisa Blair, safest countries to travel & Bali bargains

Welcome to World Awaits Travel tales to inspire your wanderlust

Kirsty Bedford: Welcome to the World Awaits Travel tales.

Belinda Jackson: To inspire your wanderlust.

Kirsty Bedford: I'm Kirsty Bedford, journalist, editor and travel writer.

Belinda Jackson: And I'm Belinda Jackson, author, travel journalist and columnist. And we're your weekly co hosts.

Kirsty Bedford: Welcome back to the World Awaits. How are you all?

Belinda Jackson: Hi everyone. How's your week been, Kirstie?

Kirsty Bedford: I'm on the countdown, for my trip to the Cocos Keeling Islands and this time next week I'll be winging my way to Perth from Melbourne before I spend four nights on the island. So it's on assignment for Vacations and Travel magazine and I can't wait. Did you know it's actually. Well, you probably do because I think I've told you about 50,000 times, it's closer to Asia than it is to Australia, but it's Australian territory, so I'm beyond excited about it. How about you, Belle?

Belinda Jackson: I know, I can't wait to read your stories on it. yeah, it's just in the middle of absolutely nowhere. That's a really, bizarre little group of islands. So I can't wait to read your stories. in the meantime, I went to a birthday party. It wasn't, just any birthday party, it was the 35th birthday for Intrepid Travel and they had just 20 of their closest friends, sorry, 200 of the closest friends coming from around the globe for this feel good bash at https://www.thelumemelbourne.com/ in Melbourne, South Wharf. That's where the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition is currently being held. But you know, it was really an affirmation of Intrepid's commitment to travel with purpose. So, you know, that's supporting local communities, having sustainable, you know, addressing the issues around sustainability when we travel and just having really revolutionary types of travel such as women only groups or travel that addresses inequality. So it was, yeah, it was a real, you know, it was a real affirming, event.

Kirsty Bedford: It sounded like such a great night.

Berkshire Hathaway surveyed travellers on attitudes towards travel since 2016

Well, this week we are, bringing you the safest places to travel. So Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has been surveying travellers on their attitudes towards travel since 2016 to determine the safest places to go. So whether it's things like, whether it's trying to avoid natural disasters. I mean, if you're hiking on a volcano, you want to know it's safe to things like being able to safely travel to previous or current war ravaged regions.

Belinda Jackson: well, yes, they do add a caveat that they can't of course predict something might happen while you're there, otherwise we'd be calling them God, not Berkshire Hathaway. Right. and they and always advised to keep an eye on https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/ but this year's list is out. And the safest destinations for 2025 are Iceland, Australia and Canada.

Kirsty Bedford: And interestingly, over the last year Iceland zoomed from ninth all the way first place. And New Zealand rebounded from 11th to sixth place while the UK fell to 13th from that sixth spot. And the Netherlands tumbled from number five to number 14. And last year Brazil made the biggest LE ever, jumping from 42nd place to number 15. But this year slid back down to 36. So you can see how in a year things drastically change.

Belinda Jackson: Yeah, absolutely.

Iceland, Australia and Canada named safest places for risk averse travellers

So back to those top spots which are Iceland, Australia and Canada. they were followed by Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand as the best place for risk averse travellers. Iceland ranked in first place because according to the survey it has one major road and it's never crowded. And logic dictates that it's hard to have a traffic accident if you don't have traffic. Right. But in Australia which has quite a lot more traffic and a lot more bingles. it is deemed as having relatively low crime while Canada places ninth amongst the world's countries for the lowest population density. So that makes it also relatively low in crime. The survey says that between Winnipeg and Toronto, there are a handful of large towns or small cities but otherwise not a whole lot much going on there.

Kirsty Bedford: And Ireland is also credited for having few major cities and a generally friendly population. Just watch out when they have a few beers, right? Not that they're not, not that they're not friendly, but rowdy maybe. And Switzerland ranked in the 19th percentile for everything except theft. And even there the scores were far above average. While for New Zealand it says the lack of casual visitors greatly reduces the rate of crimes. I don't know about that lack of casual visitors and when, because you know tourism is huge in New Zealand based up but I guess based on population and under what to watch out for. While other countries have things like beers in Canada and volcanic eruptions to watch out for in Iceland, for New Zealand it says if you don't declare items like honey, fresh fruit, seeds and plants, you could be fined $400. And I have a funny story about this. So when I was pregnant many years ago with my first child and I went, came to Australia with my mother and when we were

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Kirsty Bedford: travelling back into New Zealand I had, and I'm blaming, you know, being pregnant and having baby brain, I had a mandarin in my handbag and, completely forgot about it because I'd picked up this mandarin thrown in my handbag, came in and guess What? Bang. Fined 400 New Zealand dollars over a tiny little mandarin And when I watch some of those TV shows about, you know, people being given a warning and they've got like suitcases full of dried fish or something, I just think, how can I get fined $400 for a baby mandarin? But there you have it.

Belinda Jackson: Oh my goodness. Because that's, that's the thing about coming into Australia. If you declare it, you're not going to get an automatic fine. And that's why, I mean, I am super stringent, on these, you know, I have, I mean, I think I had a banana once that a beagle picked up, you know, is that a banana in your pocket? But, I, but I am a serial declarer because I don't want to get caught on camera and being shown all over the world. That TV show, Border Security is remarkably popular, not just in Australia, that's pretty much a career ending TV appearance. So, risk averse travellers. We will put a link in the full show notes to the safest places to travel in the coming year.

World Awaits welcomes professional sailor Lisa Blair for an interview

You're listening to the World Awaits. Subscribe through our website at theworldawaits AU this week my guest is professional sailor Lisa Blair. She sailed around Antarctica, not once but twice. She's also the author of Facing Fear and has a rack of world records under her belt. And having spent so much time on the ocean and seeing the effects of pollution and changing climate, she is a powerful advocate for sustainability. I literally had goosebumps at some of the hair raising adventures that she's going to share. I know you are going to love this interview with Lisa Blair. Lisa, welcome to the World Awaits. It's so great to have you on the podcast.

Lisa Blair: Thanks so much, Belle. I'm looking forward to a chat.

Belinda Jackson: Oh, I'm, you know what, I'm on the edge of my seat already. As we mentioned in the intro, you are a professional sailor and you've undertaken some absolutely epic adventures which we'll get into.

What inspired you to start sailing in the first place

But first, firstly just tell us a little bit about what inspired you to start sailing in the first place because you didn't even grow up beside the sea, did you?

Lisa Blair: No, I didn't. I was a little bush kid on the Sunshine Coast and we used to run around, play in the creek and sort of play with the animals and stuff in the wild down there. but my mum got into sailing when I Was sort of a teenager and it was something she was doing. It wasn't something I did. I was a teenage girl. I'd rather sunbake on the deck of a boat than worry, about learning how to sail the boat. but when I was at university, my last year at university, I got a random summer job in the Whitsunday Islands, just in Queensland there. And I got the job as the cook and the cleaner on a charter boat. And I just fell in love with just the lifestyle at sea. And that sort of started that idea of like wanting to follow that path of adventure. And then that just continued to grow and grow as I did more projects and different jobs and, and got more experience and then crossed my first ocean on a sailboat and I just never looked back.

You've sailed solo around Antarctica and around the world twice

Belinda Jackson: well, how did you go from, from learning to sail and hostessing up in the Whit Sundays to deciding that you were going to undertake, record breaking solo adventures? I mean, that's quite a, that's quite a.

Lisa Blair: Especially because it was only, I think I'd been sailing around three and a half years when I decided I was going to sail solo around Antarctica. And then it took me about three and a half years to get the project together and off the ground. So I've been sailing in total like seven years before I left for that project. I guess like I just had opportunities show up, but there were also opportunities that I created. So there was this yacht race called the Clipper around the World Yacht Race. It's UK to UK and you basically spend a whole year racing this boat around the planet. And I was just chasing experience opportunities and I was chasing adventure and just having fun with it. I still plan to go back to teaching at some point. I was just sort of like, let's sail while I can for a couple of years and then I can go back to teaching and it'll be fine. and I finished that race, had to raise $80,000 to pay for the berth fee and I'd never earned any money. And I, it was like this huge ordeal trying to get the money to get to the start line to then go and race around the planet. And then we just had the most epic adventure. We sailed to 15 different ports around the world, eight different countries. And it was just this experience that I was thinking to myself, well, I've just sailed the whole way around the world, something I previously had never, ever thought I would be capable of doing. And it just sort of begged the question of like, what else was I capable of that I hadn't thought I could do, but I really wanted to do. And I'd been then reading a heap of those books on solo

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Lisa Blair: sailors like UK Cotty and Jesse Martin, Robert Knox Johnson, all these historical, really famous solar sailors. And I used to read those stories and think that sounds amazing, but I couldn't do that. And it wasn't until after the clipper race that I was like, well, maybe I'll just, you know, try a little solo sailing and see if I like it. And then I loved it. And, and the rest is history.

Belinda Jackson: Well, you've made a lot of history as well. I mean, of, of all of the world records that you now carry. And you've got. You've got eight, under your belt, probably the Antarctic circumnavigations, which you've done twice, the first one taking you six months and then the second one taking you three months. These are probably your best known of your solo, incredible solo expeditions. look, I've been to Antarctica. I was on a small expedition ship, so that's only my point of reference. And there was a piano, for the record, there was a Into the floor. But I mean, what is it like sailing in the Southern Ocean?

Lisa Blair: It's just an incredible environment. Like, everyone used to ask me what was my favourite part, when I raced around the world with the clipper race. And every time I said it wasn't a destination, it was an ocean and it was the Southern Ocean. And it's because it's this really raw, kind of untouched environment. And you can be sailing through the centre of a storm the size of a hurricane or a cyclone, but you kind of not protected necessarily. Like, it can be dangerous. But if you know what you're doing, you've got the right equipment in the boat. you can go through these really beautiful experiences with Mother Nature in the middle of this sort of untouched, pristine environment. And you get these incredible wildlife encounters and you get waves the size of houses, like on a normal day at, sea, because there's no landmass to break up the swell. And so you end up in this surreal kind of environment that's really brutal and harsh, but incredibly mesmerising and beautiful at the same time. And, you know, sometimes I've been on deck in storms and I haven't. The wind's so strong I can't breathe. Facing into the wind. I have to sort of shelter my mouth and turn my head away from the wind to actually get a fresh breath of air, because the wind's just tearing the top of the ocean off and it's just like you're swimming on deck, out, out in the open. And I just think that there's a real beauty being able to see something so harsh like that, but be able to survive it because you've got the right preparation and planning to back it up. Well, so.

You sailed through an area that almost no sailboats have ever transited

Belinda Jackson: So then, on one of those days at sea, what do you actually see? I mean, you know, you're in the Southern Ocean and the, the route that you took, you, you, you kept, you kept below, 40. Was it 46°? 40, 6° that you had to stay in?

Lisa Blair: 45. Yeah.

Belinda Jackson: the whole way. I mean, do you. Do you. What do you see? Do you have interactions with wildlife? Do you see icebergs? You, know what?

Lisa Blair: Yeah. So there's different sections, different challenges for icebergs. I purposely routed myself north of the icebergs because I'm in a fibreglass boat, so it's not designed for collision with icebergs. And so that was one of the real risks of the challenge. wildlife, though. I got, stalked by killer whales for, like, two weeks. it was really cool, actually, because it was like a pot of eight whales. And then all the whales peeled off except for one. And I don't know, I'm assuming the other pod was close by, but just out of sight. And that one whale that stayed with me stayed with me for two whole weeks. And it was almost like I was getting escorted out of the nightclub by the bodyguard or something. It was like a, it wasn't. There was no threatening behaviour or anything, but it was like they were unsure of what I was doing in that ocean because I'm sailing through an area that almost no sailboats have ever kind of transited. and they might get whaling ships or they might get big expedition ships down there, but it's very unlikely to see a small sailing boat. And they were kind of checking that I wasn't going to be harmful for their family, for their environment, almost was the feeling I would. I got. And if I walked to the back of the boat, the whale would drop back and keep the same distance. And if I walked to the front of the boat, the whale would come closer, and kind of roll up and you could see it looking and trying to puzzle what I was doing on deck. And it was just a really cool. It sort of, you know, meant that you weren't alone in the middle of the ocean anymore. You had this sort of company out there with you. there's more birds per square metre in the Southern Ocean than anywhere else on the planet. So you always have wildlife around you, like always birds. and I always knew a storm was coming because the pressure would change and you could feel it on your skin. But you could also see just the influx of birds and the whole sky would just fill with birds as the, they ride the front pressure wave of a storm around the world. And so you have like your storm petrols and the likes and these tiny, tiny little birds kind of the size of like a cockatiel or something of that sort of scale and they ride the frontal pressure wave of these storms and they hunt on the surface of the ocean in the middle of these storms. So you've got like 80 knots of wind which is about 160 or

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Lisa Blair: 150 kilometre hour winds and then you've got this bird that's tiny, just existing in this incredible environment and they don't go to land except to lay their eggs. and then obviously you've got your albatross and things like that around as well. so yeah, you do get some wildlife. I'm solo though and it's freezing conditions so I was generally inside the boat more than I was on deck and so I'm sure that there was a lot more out there and I just sailed right past it and I didn't see it.

Belinda Jackson: I think that would have been incredible. I mean, you know, big, like. I love that idea of being escorted out of the, out of the nightclub.

The Drake Passage is considered one of the most dangerous sections of the ocean

Well, do you, was there a sense of loss when, when you parted ways? Do you feel like that, that you were entering a new, a new part of the ocean or you know, do you define.

Lisa Blair: There was definitely like a, I don't know how you explain it but like the different segments of the ocean down there have a slightly different colour to them because of the different algae and you know, byproducts in the ocean. And you could see when I almost crossed an invisible line, the whale peeled off, the ocean changed colour slightly and it was like I crossed into the next sort of challenge or aspect of the challenge and I was approaching land as well at that point. So Cape Horn, the southern tip of South American coastline. so I was I guess getting within range of civilization and and they didn't want to continue following me out. Yeah.

Belinda Jackson: And when you're down on that southern tip of South America, you do see the convergence of the two oceans as well.

Lisa Blair: Absolutely. That's what makes it so incredibly dangerous down there. And also the Drake Passage, which is that gap between, Cape Horn, which is the South American tip, and the Antarctic Peninsula, where basically all the ships heading to Antarctica leave from Ishua or somewhere there and they cross the Drake Passage. it's considered one of the most dangerous sections of the ocean to sail past, and we call it the Mount Everest of sailing. So if you sail around Cape Horn, you've summited the equivalent of Mount Everest and it's because you have this whole wide expanse of ocean, no land anywhere, and you've got these storms that span 1,000 nautical miles wide and then suddenly they hit that gap, and that gap's only 500 nautical miles. So everything has to kind of compress and feed through that gap. So, yeah, it definitely generates a different, sort of localised storm system. And, the wave formations, you come up onto the continental shelf and so it can generate incredibly dangerous conditions down there. but, you know, just as easily you could have no wind and no swell when you go around Cape Horn. So it's just luck of the draw.

Belinda Jackson: I got lucky when I crossed it, but then I also had a comfortable bed, you know, there was a bit of champagne kicking around. Quite a different experience. But everybody who's got gone to the or planning to go or wants to go to the Antarctic Peninsula always talks about the Drake Passage and whether they're going to get over it. And I suspect that's why the, piano was chained to the floor. yes. So, yes, and we played piano as we crossed the Drake Passage.

You write in Facing Fear about your first Antarctic trip

Very different to your environment because you have actually faced, like you've looked death in the face while you've been travelling, while you've been sailing solo, you know, the wildest storms in the most isolated part of the world. And in your book Facing Fear about this, about your first Antarctic trip, you write, in that about not possibly not surviving the night in this storm that you're in, and you put your own chances at 50, 50 of survival. So what was happening then and how do you prepare mentally for such an experience?

Lisa Blair: Yeah, I mean, it's a, The Southern Ocean has its reputation for a reason. And as a professional sailor, I think no sailor can enter the Southern Ocean without a, healthy respect for the level of risk you're undertaking down there and the level of, remoteness from assistance. So with all my projects, I've never planned for rescue being an option. You have to self rescue in all scenarios, which means I have to troubleshoot and plan for all scenarios. So I'm Planning for, what happens if I lose the keel of the boat, which is the weight that keeps the boat upright? What happens if I lose the rudder? What happens if I break my leg? What happens if I get appendicitis? What if I get a tooth infection? What happens if the mast snaps? So you have to plan for all of those eventualities and hope that you never have to experience one of them. unfortunately for me, on the first record attempt in 2017, I was 72 days into the record. So I had sailed by this point the South Pacific Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean. And I was a thousand nautical miles below Cape Town and I was just exiting the South Atlantic and entering the South Indian Ocean. And like my record was four weeks away from being finished. So I'd been at sea for an incredible amount of time and I hadn't seen land or person except I saw

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Lisa Blair: Cape Horn as I sailed past, but I didn't see a ship or a vessel there. And so I'd been completely isolated this entire time and incredibly exhausted. So you do these 20 minute micro sleeps at sea to make sure you're keeping the vessel safe, especially when you're passing through areas like Iceberg Alley, and all these additional challenges that you have. And at sunset the mast, snapped in a storm. we later worked out it was gear failure through electrolysis. So a stray electrical cable up the mast chafed through and then charged the mast up at 12 volts and then basically, corroded through the rigging wire and caused the master snap. But it left me with a 22 metre long spear attached to the boat, tangled up with all the existing rigging or cabling, all of that in 8 metre breaking seas in the middle of the night, 45 knots of wind, which is what, about 70 kilometre hour winds, and really just like what I like to refer to as a bad day in the office, and through all of that emergency, the mast itself started to cut the boat in half by seesawing back and forth across the deck and was soaring a hole through the deck and at one point I had to climb out onto the bow sprit to disconnect it from there. And at that point I did think I had a 50, 50 shot of survival. I was hypothermic. I had been exposed to the elements for about three hours. I was losing the dexterity in my fingers, the ability to hold tools. My brain was going into brain fog. And these waves, you're effectively anchored in the middle of a storm. And so these Waves are breaking completely over the boat. Like, you're no longer going over the waves, the waves are going over you. So, so every 30 seconds to a minute, you're fully submerged underwater in white water. And the power behind some of those waves, they just grab you. And it doesn't matter how hard you hold on, it just tears you down the deck of the boat. So if I'm out on the bowsprit at the very front of the vessel, my chances of being able to hold on when a large breaking wave comes through was pretty slim. But I also knew that the boat was going to sink that night if I didn't go out there. And so it was like a guarantee that the vessel sinks. And I'm more than three days from help in freezing conditions, going into hypothermia and seas that no sailor ever wants to be in a life raft in. And my chances of survival in the life raft were basically nil. or I go out there, I have a 50, 50 shot of survival. I might be able to hold on long enough to disconnect the rigging. I might not. But I know at least then I've done the best plan possible to try and save the boat, which is my best option to try and save myself. you know, I wrote a book about it, and the book's called Facing Fear for a Reason. Because it was not an easy feat. But, through, I guess, my kind of planning and development of the project with my family. I had sat down with my family quite a lot of times, in the lead up to departure and just sort of addressed that conversation of maybe I won't come home. And I sort of said to them all, it's quite okay if I don't come home, because I'm at least living my life. I could die in a car accident m tomorrow and not have achieved half of what I get to go and experience out there. And if, it all goes wrong and the planning and the preparation wasn't quite enough, then that's just part of the accepted risk that I have to take to go out and do this project. The difference, I guess, is it was still a theory, something in the distance that probably won't happen. And then to like, go through the dismasting and have that be a reality was quite a different mental kind of hurdle to, to kind of overcome. But, yeah, I'm still here. I was able to survive. I managed to cut the rig free and then rendezvoused with a container ship three days later and got some fuel off them. Nearly got sunk in a collision at sea by them, and then built my own mast with the debris of the last mast and made my way to Cape Town, repaired the boat and then restarted the record and finished it. Because, you know, if you start something, you should finish it.

Belinda Jackson: Unbelievable. And the craziest part about this is it didn't from there, you didn't just have the experience, fix the mast, complete the race, write the book, but you've continued to do it many times since then. It's. It's not something that's ever stopped you from, from achieving the goals that you've wanted to achieve. And that's.

You're encouraging women to start to take up sailing. Is that something you feel strongly about

You're encouraging women to start to take up sailing. Is that something you feel really strongly about?

Lisa Blair: I think everyone should sail. It's an incredible adventure, man, or woman. But I guess, like, when I started the. The diversity between men and women on boat was quite huge. There weren't a lot of girls, getting the opportunities. And in the eight or so years I've been professionally sailing, that landscape has changed, or that seascape,

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Lisa Blair: should I say, has changed quite a lot. And we have now a lot more inclusion, for women on boats. It's not quite perfect yet. It is heading the right direction. There's a long way to go to get it neutral. But, we are working towards that. And I guess the one thing I really noticed is that when I was young, there weren't female role models doing things like this. There weren't people that I could look up to as a young teenage girl coming through thinking about what I want to do or what I'm capable of, there wasn't anyone that could set a different standard for me. And if I can be a little bit of that for someone else, then, you know, I've done my job.

Belinda Jackson: Well. How can you. If I. If I wanted to take up sailing now, apart from, you know, doing the route that you took, which is, with which what quite a few of my friends have done and that is going up to the Whitsundays to work. I mean, how. Just, in. How. How is that initiative of getting women into. Into the sport? How do you do?

Lisa Blair: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's many, many different ways. the Australian sailing programme, they actually have a massive network now called She Sails, which is completely dedicated to creating pathway programmes for women to enter sailing. so that's partnered with different yacht clubs. Well, every yacht club in Australia has a partner programme of some form. and basically you ring up your local yacht club, you say, hey, I'M keen to have a go at sailing. I'm not sure if I'll like it yet. Can I get out on a boat? And I think it's two or three goes that you can go out on a boat and I think it's 20. You just have to pay the insurance cost and you can go as a crew member on somebody else's boat for a twilight yacht race or a Sunday afternoon yacht race and just see if you like it. but I guess the benefit of sailing and there's a number of different programmes like day skipper courses and competent crew courses, you can go out and learn formal training, which I highly recommend. but there's also so many different ways to sail. So you can do dinky sailing, very cost effective, low budget kind of entry. You can crew for other people, which is probably the cheapest way to learn how to sail because then they run the cost of the boat and everything. or you can go cruising and you can crew as a crew member on delivery boats to get ocean miles and sea experience up with experienced skippers. When I take my boat across an ocean, if I'm looking for delivery crew, I'll often take people with zero experience. As long as they've got a willingness to participate in the. In the boat completely and a willingness to continue learning. then I'm happy to take someone because within two days you've taught them enough to be safe on the boat and to carry on. so there's lots of different ways that you can do it, but if you do take up something like cruising, it's such an incredible way of visiting the world. You get to go to different locations around the planet that are only accessible by water. And therefore you get to meet and connect with these different communities in these remote regions, really remote islands, and you become part of that community for your visit. And, you know, it's an incredible experience and you get to. You're off the beaten track of travelling and I think it's a really fresh way to see the world. And you can do things like head down to the Sydney International Boat show where you can actually chat to the people that are offering sailing lessons. But you can also hop on board the many boats, cheque out whether you want to go cruising and just sort of get a feel for what that lifestyle is all about.

Belinda Jackson: Yeah, I've met some, I remember in Tonga a few years ago, you know, there's that run from the US across to New Zealand and Australia. I think they call it the coconut. The coconut run or something like that. So, and meeting families on their boats and you know, the kids are all, schooled.

Lisa Blair: Yeah. Homeschool the kids and. Yeah. And you can go and get an ICC certificate, which is an International Certificate of Competency. And then you can rent a boat in the Bahamas in the Greek Islands, and you can rent it for a week or two and go and explore those regions from a different perspective. You can also do it where you hire a skipper on. So therefore you're not responsible for the vessel and you can just go and have an experience sailing in those regions. But yeah, there's different, there's, there's so many different ways that you can engage with sailing.

Your sailing has moved you into activism for climate change

Belinda Jackson: Where do you think? you know, some of the most beautiful places are? You said that, you know, the beauty really is found in the ocean. But, in, in some of those regions where, where have you sailed that you would say one of my top picks.

Lisa Blair: I'll always go back to, Yeah, I think the Pacific islands, like, there's so much to explore across those island communities. I went to an island called Canton Island. 28 people live on this island. It's eight families. Out of those 28 people, 16 are, ah, kids. And they probably have three cruising boats a year arrive there and they get a supply ship every six months. And it's just, there's two coconut trees on the island and it's an atoll, like a coral atoll. But just the way that you get to experience what their community is like and the rawness of their lifestyle, I, you know, you, you just go and you get to see a side of the world that you don't get to encounter anywhere else. so I think that was beautiful. So then you have Madeira. It's a island just off the coast of Portugal and it is this volcanic island. So it's

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Lisa Blair: basically lots of cool caves to explore. It's quite mountainous, beautiful, hiking. But the community of people that are there are so lovely and welcoming and it was just a really positive, experience as a traveller.

Belinda Jackson: Oh, it sounds amazing. You've seen some incredible places and as you say, just not accessible in any other, in any other way. Which is, which is astonishing. You are also. A lot of this, a lot of this exploration has moved you into activism for climate change. You are the sustainability ambassador at the Sydney International Boat show, among other roles. Was that something that, you know, did you see these places and then have that feel, that sense that you needed to protect them or was it a chicken and egg thing? How climate change is obviously very important to you. How did that come about?

Lisa Blair: Yeah, so my boat's called Climate Action Now. and I guess, like, for me, it all kind of started when I did the Clipper around the World Yacht Race. I really vividly recall being halfway from Cape Town to Australia in the middle of the Southern Ocean. We'd been at Sea for 20 days, so we hadn't seen land, we weren't close to land. We're thousands of miles from land. And I was helming this boat and as I was helming, a Styrofoam box floated past us. You know, the kind that you see on fishing vessels. And I was just like, what's it doing out here? Like, why are we having trash in the middle of this pristine, like, ocean so far from land? And then we had a race stop in New Zealand and then Australia, and then we went up to Singapore, China and then across the North Pacific. And there were whole sections of that trip where the pollution was so bad in the water that we had to actually assign a crew member to the bow of the boat with a boat hook to physically push the rubbish out of the way of the boat so that we could sail through. And it was just like this slap in the face, this eye opener, wasn't like this distant thing anymore that I was seeing happening. It was like, right in front of us. we had whole sections of the voyage where there was just no life. Like, just dead zone, as they call them. and obviously, like, the, like, the unpredictability of storms and the more aggression that we're getting out of these storms, they're almost always more extreme than forecasted and they'll. They'll no longer be on the same kind of calendar window of when you should have a cyclone or when you should have, you know, these bad storms, they're coming at any time throughout the year and it's really creating this destabilisation. And, you know, weather is our life as a sailor. We are always watching the weather forecast. So seeing that develop over the years, you know, I initially felt like my bit didn't matter and I felt like my actions as an individual couldn't create an impact in this space because it's just such a huge problem. And then I kind of thought about that as I did the Clipper race, and I saw all the pollution and I just realised that, you know, there's probably 8 billion people thinking the same thing. And if we all continue to have the attitude that us as an individual doesn't matter, we will continue to do the wrong thing. We'll continue to take that plastic bag, we'll continue to use that straw, we'll continue to have that coffee, cup like we won't take actions and steps towards a resolution or solving this problem. And so really the founding of the Climate Action now campaign was around that idea of how can I shift an individual who feels so overwhelmed with the scale of the problem that they don't think they can make a difference. And show them that every action matters, that every step we take in the right direction, it matters. And if we can get enough people taking a step the right direction, then we will be creating impact together. And so the whole idea is around collecting post it note messages. And each post it note is an environmental action from someone in the public. So someone I've met who's interactive with the project. People email them on the website, you just go to lisablairstowstheworld, um.com and then forward slash, get involved. And you can submit a message. And then if you google a photo of the boat or maybe you can put an image in the show notes, she's wrapped in thousands and thousands of post it notes and each message is from someone in the public. And the idea is that if you can see that Joe, when he walks his dog on the beach, picks up three pieces of rubbish as part of the Take 3 for the Sea project, or Sally, she turns the lights off every time she leaves the room, or Jane, they turn the tap off. And they've like worked with their kids around what actions they can do in their household to create an impact. And so they've chosen three things as a family to interact with. you know, it's these small actions, but it's like a viral impact in the sense that I treat it like a smile. If you start bringing your own shopping bags to the grocery store, other people see you doing that. People in your community, people in your household, people in your network. And then they go, oh, well, if Joe can do that, surely I can do at least that. And then

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Lisa Blair: you start educating yourself about the problems and you start learning more. And then suddenly you can't walk past the trash on the street. You have to pick it up and find the nearest bin. And it kind of just grows from there until we're all actually making a really big impact on our communities. I guess that's why I have eight records now because I, I, I use the, the storytell of extreme adventure as a way of communicating this message. But also people don't protect what they're not passionate about. And so I feel like as an adventurer, and I think a lot of adventurers do this really well today, I bring these rare, pristine environments to you in your household, in your living room, through my story of adventure. And it allows you to connect with these places that most people wouldn't get to experience otherwise and share some of their stories so that you're more inclined to want to protect the oceans. You're more inclined to want to, you know, go out and take those actions on and make an impact.

Belinda Jackson: So inspiring. because at first look, you might think, why is someone breaking all of these records? Is it, you know, is it, is it just ego that drives you? Is it just, you know, the desire to prove something to yourself? But to learn that it's such a deep seated message underneath that underpins your actions is, pretty amazing. And I've got to say, we will put a photo of the boat up. and she's a beaut, isn't she?

Lisa Blair: Yeah, she's gorgeous.

Belinda Jackson: There's nothing shy and retiring about, your gorgeous boat. climate action now.

The final question is what is your most bizarre travel experience

So, our last question is the final question that we put to all of our guests. And I cannot even imagine what you're going to bring to this one. The question is, of course, what is your most bizarre travel experience?

Lisa Blair: Just after Iceberg Alley, I sailed out of about two weeks of fog and I hadn't seen land for about two and a half months. And it was just this really intense fog, hadn't seen the sky for two weeks and I had a visibility of about 100 metres around the boat for this whole time and sailed out of this fog bank onto a clear, sunny day in the Southern Ocean after this huge storm had passed. And it was just like blue skies, blue ocean, pristine day, calm seas. And I looked out and there was this funny little kind of shape in the distance and I was like, oh, crap, is it an iceberg? And I was getting really worried. And then I noticed another one and another one. And I realised that I was looking at the breath from whales. And then I noticed all around me were about 50 whales sleeping on the surface of the ocean. And I had almost no wind, so I was going super slow. So for about six hours I drifted with this pod of sleeping whales across the surface of the ocean in the Southern Ocean. And the closest whale was about 50 metres away. and they were all just sleeping. They were just lying on the surface of the ocean. We all kind of drifted for the day together and then I got a little bit of wind, went into a fog bank and then got sailing and, and didn't see the sky for another couple of weeks. but yeah, it was the most surreal experience and it was just like one of those magic moments that you get in the ocean where you can just sit and be present and just stare at the ocean and these beautiful creatures around you and just, you know, have that love for it.

Belinda Jackson: That's, that is absolutely amazing. Oh, wow. I've got goosebumps. Actually got goosebumps from that one. It's such a joy to have you on the podcast. I'm so glad that you've able to find time to talk to us and to share some of your adventures and cannot wait to see the movie which has just been released. Ice Maiden, congratulations on all your awards and thanks again for joining us on the world of Wings.

Lisa Blair: Thank you so much. And I hope everyone gets in and, goes sailing.

Kirsty Bedford: What a remarkable woman. And that was record breaking sailor Lisa Blair speaking to Belle. And you can learn more about Lisa's extraordinary Antarctic journey in her book Facing Fear and follow her current adventures at www.lisablairsailstheworld.com Our, tip this week is how to barter in Bali. Everyone loves Bali and everyone loves a bargain. So Bali specialists, the Bali Bible. Oh, my God, how many times can you say Bali in one sentence? Decided to share some of their great tips for shopping on the Isle of the Gods.

Belinda Jackson: I think before we get into it, we have to recognise that bartering or haggling isn't necessarily about getting the lowest price, but the price that is fair for both you, the buyer as well as the seller. Bearing in mind that in countries where haggling is most prevalent, also happen to be some of the poorest in the world. So, sure, go in with a mindset about haggling, but also with a spirit of kindness.

Kirsty Bedford: Yeah, absolutely. And that's reflected in their first tip, which is to smile when you start. Now, to get a little more serious, though, know your exchange rate so you're not bumbling around and also so you don't accidentally mess up your zeros and either pay 10 times what you wanted to or conversely, are trying to pay a dollar

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Kirsty Bedford: for a silk dress. Have you done that? You've sort of done mini barter, haven't you, Belle?

Belinda Jackson: I'm a little bit of a barter queen, but actually it's taken me a long time to get to that point. You know, I'm very nice, I do the smiley thing, but I mean, it is true, especially in places like Indonesia, where currently $1 equates to just over 10,000 Indonesian rupees. So that's a lot of zeros going on there. But it's also, once you've got it in your head, it's quite an easy one to remember, you know. so the other. Another tip they gave was also to seek out the quieter and less touristy markets. I mean, this is obvious, but go on the hunt for the wholesale markets as well, such as in Denpasar, the Badung market, which I found is much, much cheaper than, say, going to the markets in Central Ubud, which are price. The price can be 4 to 10 times what you'll see in those in the locals markets.

Kirsty Bedford: And go early in the mornings when it's all happening. There's truth that sellers love the first buyer of the day. So practise saying good morning and be the first at the stall. Go on, Belle, tell us how to say good morning in Indonesia  Salamat Pagi

Belinda Jackson: Or you can just get it back down to Pagi, which is like morning, which is really nice. You could also ask for the haga Pagi, which is the morning prize. Great. If you don't want to look like a total Bali newbie. They suggest that when the haggling starts, start with an offer, about 30 to 50% of the price that they've given you, and work up from there to a point where you're both happy and know your limit to what you want to spend. If it's too expensive for your wallet, don't waste everyone's time to say thank you, which is Terima kasi, and off you go.

Kirsty Bedford: Bali Bible also advises to shop alone, not to go in a group. And, of course, be wary of. Why should you go shop alone?

Belinda Jackson: Well, like, if 10 of you turn up...

Belinda Jackson: Up, you know, sometimes you can get. If you're buying together as a group, then you can get economies of scale. So, listen, I'm going to buy 10 of these shirts and that's fine. But if a pile. If you go in and you're like, I want this one here and this one there and you've got a guide with you and stuff, who do you think that they're going to? You know, like, are you going to be taken?

Kirsty Bedford: It's less intimidating. Right? So, yeah, less intimidating. So, As well as other advice they give is be wary of where drivers recommend you shop, as they often are on a commission, which doesn't necessarily mean the best for you. And finally, they say to keep perspective on what a dollar means to you and what it might mean to a local. For you it's some nice cushion covers, but for them it's a livelihood.

Belinda Jackson: That's some great advice in there, which can be used not only in Bali, but in most markets around the world. And remember that no one wants to be confrontational. Treat hagling simply as a charming game, Kirsty. And for all things Bali, take a look at www.thebalibible.com if you'd like to help support.

Kirsty Bedford: Our production costs, you can buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/theworldawaits that's ko-fi.com theworldawaits so we can continue to bring you inspirational travel interviews with the world's best and talking Bali. Next week, I'm taking you to the Isle of the Gods with a very special guest.

Stuart Membrane talks to me about the evolution from design to travel

Anyone who loves design would know the name Stuart Membrey who's a renowned designer who splits his time between Bondi and Bali, starting in the fashion industry. He now designs furniture, fabrics and accessories and has most recently launched a boutique luxury villa in Bali where you can actually go and stay, and it's called Pineapple Hill. He talks to me about the evolution from design to travel and reveals some insider tips of where you should go on your next trip to the popular tropical destination.

Belinda Jackson: Oh, I can't wait to hear that one. And hey, please give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. Click to our profile, scroll down to the bottom to ratings and reviews and hit those five stars if you're feeling it. And if you're on Spotify, go to the main page, click the three dots underneath our photo or simply drop us a line at helloights au That's a wrap for the World awaits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favourite pods and where can people find you?

Kirsty Bedford: Kirsty, I'm KirstyWrites on Instagram. That's K I R S T I E writes W R I T E S and where can people find you? Belle?

Belinda Jackson: You can find me at www.globalsalsa.com or on instagram @global_salsa

Kirsty Bedford: Thanks for listening. See you next week.

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