Already this place feels like... Like it's where I'm going to be.
That goes there.
I need to gather food to feed my body.
The kayak is the only way to solve it.
It's got an eel, I think.
Yeah, baby.
It's pissing down.
Oh, dear.
I have not seen a single thing alive.
This is really getting on my nerves.
No way! Yeah!
I got a bloody fish! It's me first trout, too.
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
(PHONE RINGS)
I'm officially tapping out. Come and grab me.
MAN: We're halfway to the South Pole.
We're going to be totally alone.
WOMAN: It's Tasmania. It's cold, it's rain, it's snow.
WOMAN: We're all going to leave changed forever.
Holy fuck.
Yeah!
What is this place?
It's like a camp trip from hell.
MAN: Mother Nature's kicking my ass.
Oop, sinking.
MAN: This experience...
(GROAN) You fucker!
..is just as much a mind game...
Oh, my heart...
..as it is a survival game.
Check it out.
Whoa!
Is there another way?
WOMAN: $250,000 prize would change my life.
Yum.
I'm over it. I'm fucking over it.
It's the middle of the night.
Bodies remember anniversaries.
Exactly 12 years ago, right about now...
..I woke up with a weird pain
in my very, very pregnant belly.
Blaise's birthday.
Happy birthday, Blaise.
This fire is your candle, little chicken.
It looks like I'm having a vigil tonight for you.
My little spark.
My only cub.
When I was 38, I discovered I was pregnant.
And then, four days later, I found out I had breast cancer.
I was told that I had to terminate the pregnancy or I'd die.
And I said, "No, I will not."
This wild wolf mama inside me just said, "No."
And I just had this... this clarity inside
of knowing what I needed to do.
Chemo babies are usually tiny.
When Blaise arrived, she was four and a half kilos.
She was enormous.
Getting her here healthily and being in remission
taught me that I could trust that part of myself.
And then, three years later...
..Blaise got cancer.
For any parent, the most terrifying thing to think ever
is that your child can die.
It's the biggest fear of a parent.
It's like as long as they're breathing, you're afraid.
Spent nine days in the ICU and then...
..she died.
(SOBS)
Oh, my bubba... (SOBS)
Happy birthday, Blaise.
Happy birthday.
I've been to the bottom of the bottom of the bottom
of the bottom of the pit.
I've mapped every millimetre on the way down and on the way back.
Having gone through that and come out the other side...
..not broken...
..for me, means I can handle anything.
I am under no illusion that it's going to be easy.
In every possible way,
this experience is going to push me to my edges.
But for me, this isn't a struggle. It's a challenge.
And one I'm up for.
I feel like I popped the grief bubble last night,
And now I just feel gratitude that today is her birthday.
And I can just think about her running around
with her fairy wings and her tutu.
Barefoot in the dirt, eating witchetty grubs.
That just makes me smile.
And super grateful that I've had the experience
of birthing and being a mum.
The black cockatoos are back.
Hello, cockatoo!
(BIRDS CHIRP)
They're just probably the same as me,
they're just enjoying the blue sky.
Cooee!
(COCKATOO SCREECHES)
(LAUGHS) I reckon he copied me then.
Oh, yeah. See you later.
(COCKATOOS SQUAWK)
(SIGHS) Back to the silence.
Back to work.
This one's got a nice natural bend.
It's day four.
I am going to keep going on my kayak.
The kayak is going to solve my setline fishing needs,
my ability to put out a gill net when I make one.
Allow me to find water and do my recce.
That looks a lot more satisfying.
(GRUNTS)
I really haven't eaten anything since I got here,
which I'm OK with,
'cause the way I'm playing it is
I'll probably be hungry for maybe 20, 30 days
with nothing much coming in.
But around that mark,
I'll start having some serious food gathering systems in place.
Probably be a little wider, you know?
I'll just grab one more straight sapling.
So the quicker I get this bloody thing together,
the quicker I can eat.
Something's been climbing up there.
There's just...scrape marks.
There's a good one coming up.
About there.
So I assume that's, like, a possum or something
trying to climb up this tree.
That's a good sign.
I know that there's at least some bloody animals around here
Going to set these trail cams
and see if I can see what wildlife is around.
(SIGHS) Right.
If I was walking through here, which way would I go?
And to be honest, I'd go this way,
so this is probably the way that the animals would go as well.
There's a bit of a fork here, actually.
(SIGHS)
Once again, I think most traffic is going to be
coming down here and doing that.
So I'm probably better off having it here looking that way.
Alright, that should do it.
Alright, just gonna mark where that is.
I'm looking forward to seeing
if there's anything on them in the morning.
I hope everyone else's shelter is better than mine. (LAUGHS)
(GROANS)
I've woken up like this and...
..I need to get out of this wormhole.
Yeah, I need to get under some decent shelter,
especially with this wind picking up.
So today is chop more wood day for my permanent shelter.
Let's go.
Oh.
I want it to be spacey. I want to be able to fit my bed.
I want it to be so comfortable that I can withstand any storm,
any amount of rain, any wind.
I want to be out here for a long time,
so I need to do it.
OK.
I need more trees.
As an Aboriginal man,
this experience will give me the chance
to connect to country on a deeper level.
And that's really important to me for self-growth.
OK, let's go finish this wall.
Using way too much energy carrying these large logs around.
Hoi-ah, got me.
Ha, ha. There's my first slip.
I've just got to take it slow and get this done.
Oh, that was fucking close.
Jesus Christ.
This experience is just as much a mind game
as it is a survival game.
Please work.
I haven't eaten and I've probably been dehydrated
and my mind's starting to break down.
I need to just switch back on,
because one slip-up here, I'm going home.
(GROANS) No way.
No fucking way.
Fuck.
Didn't get done as much as I really wanted to get done today.
I've still got half a wall to go.
The amount of cutting I've done is just, far out, non-stop.
One more night in that bloody thing and then I'll move into here.
It looks foggy, but...
..I think it's OK now.
Day four.
I was just doing my morning water collection.
Looks like there's plenty there.
But there's also a little turd of some kind of arboreal critter.
We'll just pretend we didn't see that.
Fresh water.
Standing for the camera, please.
My name's Michael Wallace. I'm 44.
I'm a country vet and a bush regenerator
from The Oaks, New South Wales.
Oh, no, it's a shemozzle! We only got this many!
I'm a Bible-believing Christian.
My faith in God, it's very important to me.
It's pretty much the anchor.
It just makes my life easy and simple to have Jesus to follow.
WOMAN: Don't miss us, we're not going anywhere,
we'll still be here when you get back.
I would definitely describe myself as a family man.
No offence.
My kids are important to me. My church family is important to me.
How do you think I'm going to go, Samuel?
You're nice and stubborn, I reckon you'll last a good amount of time.
(LAUGHS) Might even make the whole way.
My everyday life is a bit like Alone.
G'day.
I've got my own bushland.
I can trap, I can fish, I can hunt, I can make fire.
My strongest skill set is problem solving
and just having a non-quit personality.
I know it's going to be hard, but I'm not fearful.
I'm doing this to represent the Christians out there
and to show how I can be resilient in that struggle.
In the past, my faith has helped me get through hard times.
See you, Dad.
Bye, love you. GIRL: Goodbye.
Being a Christian out there is going to be my secret weapon.
Today, we're going to go exploring up the hill to expand my diet
because I'm not catching fish yet, so I'm actually feeling hungry.
Here we go. There's the trail.
Up, up, and away.
As we get further up the hill,
it looks a bit less dense, which is nice.
And I think I'm up to my lunchtime lomandra.
Heya.
From the roots.
Kind of watery and juicy, but with a touch of sweetness.
You know what? If you forgot about its shape,
it could be corn on the cob.
Let's push on.
I think I'm heading south.
Better do a quick check.
Yes, it is south. Excellent.
Just proper bush bashing now.
Hmm, starting to close in a bit.
Making the walk a bit more of a zigzag than a straight line.
Just when it's easy to get lost.
Takes you this long to go one metre, it's not a good sign.
Just trying to not break the do not sweat rule.
Do not sweat in cold climates.
Oh!
Oh, crawling through the jungle.
Is there another way?
Really enclosed here.
I'm ready to be back at camp now.
Burning up too much energy.
Direction check.
Heading...not north.
Heading slightly west. North-west.
Better straighten up.
The goal is to get home by nightfall.
I'm exhausted.
(GROANS)
Can't quite stand yet.
Oh, no.
(SIGHS) I left my compass back there.
After only a week,
I kind of get this place a little bit now.
It seems that it just rains every 10 minutes
and then it stops raining and then it rains again.
Alright, yep. Here comes the rain.
It's OK.
You just got to manage that and have tasks ready to go inside.
I'm working on my idea for a fishing reel.
And I think that is the key.
While you've got the strength, you need to keep going.
To get all of your systems in place to start gathering food
and not really take a rest because just resting burns energy.
Alright, I'm going to take this thing for a test run.
Here we go.
Yes.
Beauty.
Come on, fishies.
Being disciplined, I really think that is the way
I'm going to stay out here the longest.
The rain's picking up. Might be time to go inside.
Ow! Kneecap.
Oh, come on.
There it is. Thank you, Lord.
(SIGHS) Black compass.
Let's get some fluoro on that before I lose it next.
OK. Direction check.
The plan is keep heading south.
We'll pretty close to the way I came up, hopefully.
To get home as quick as we can before we run out of light.
There's got to be a faster way.
I think I see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Oh, thankfully, I think I'm heading downhill.
I think I'm heading down the hill, down to the water.
(SIGHS)
Faith makes a big difference in getting through things.
Knowing it's not all about
the comfort that we have in this life,
but there is something afterwards that's greater.
Oh, hallelujah.
Hard times come and hard times go.
I can be uncomfortable, and that's OK.
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get back here tonight.
So I'm really glad that I am.
And I was exhausted.
I did find lomandra, but, yeah,
it wasn't worth going that far for it.
See you, guys.
I've got a decent break in the weather.
I'm going to go check out those trail cams.
Right, let's have a look.
Oh, yes.
Hello.
Hello, little fella.
I see your bottom.
Right under that bush.
That's his happy place.
That's cool.
I've got a definite pademelon bouncing around back there.
Maybe the smarter move is to stop what I'm doing...
..make that trap now while the animal is there.
OK. Got a plan.
I'm going to just switch to making that trap full-time today.
This is definitely my priority,
because there's dinner out there and the quicker I finish this,
which could be today,
the quicker I could possibly be eating it.
(WHISTLES)
Check that out.
It's starting to look like a net.
(FARTS) Excuse me.
Please don't put that on telly.
I'm pretty happy that I did not catch another eel today.
Oh, I just had eel all over everything.
Even my water container still stinks like eel.
Good calories, but yeah, a bit of a trade-off.
You know, I'll try and catch a few fish or eels here and there,
but I was super excited to get some bush foods happening.
A few more food sources in the pot.
As a wildlife biologist,
I've spent a career learning about Australia's flora and fauna.
Understanding what plant species are there that I can use,
I think that'll be a real asset to me out on the land.
£ Let's get some berries in your belly. £
So this little shrub is what's called coffee berry,
and it has these little red berries on them that are edible.
They're actually a really good source of vitamin C.
I'm just going to crush it and put it there.
And that's a really sensitive part of my body.
And so I'll know if there's any reaction...
..that I shouldn't eat them.
But what I might do is collect any berries that I can find.
Take them back to camp, maybe have some for dinner.
There's this imagined experience of what I'd be like out here,
you know, versus what I'm actually like out here.
You feel connected to the land.
But I don't feel any inspiration whatsoever to hunt and kill.
And I think I just need to sit with that
and realise that's OK.
I'll make sure there was no reaction.
Looks great.
Looks fine.
Here they are.
Hmm.
Lots of little seeds in it. Kind of like a...
..a raspberry.
Hmm. Kind of sweet, too.
They're pretty darn good.
I'm pretty happy with that. That was bloody delicious.
OK.
Saturated backpack.
This is the moment.
Move my stuff in and put the tarp on.
Today, with this beautiful weather,
got the chance to stick to the plan of trying to get a roof over this
and move in to a bigger space, more room,
and be just a little bit more comfortable. (LAUGHS)
Like my dad always said...
..you got to have good eaves on a house.
The shack is complete.
I don't know if it's waterproof yet, but we'll find out.
So, we'll go through the front door.
(KNOCKS ON WALL) Hello?
Nope, no-one's home. Good.
I reckon I'll put the king bed here.
Probably the fridge in the corner,
the microwave on top of the fridge.
Yeah, I reckon that will do me. For now, anyway.
(CHUCKLES)
You don't know how good I feel to have this done.
It's been such a journey, the last five days.
It's given me great energy all of a sudden,
now that it's done.
And I really look forward to the time ahead here
where I can start to go fishing finally.
Just start enjoying this beautiful area.
I really wanted to collect firewood, but it's way too wet.
Like, I don't even know where to start.
I did make that door too big.
Whenever that northerly wind comes through...
Whew!
Freezing.
My great-grandmother...
..she's a big part of the reason why I'm out here...
..doing this.
She was part of the Stolen Generations.
If she can go through what she went through,
I can go through this.
She was stolen at the age of five from her mother.
She was just taken for her looks, whatever, the assimilation policy.
And bang, off they go.
We don't know what happened to her father.
Her brother was dropped down a water well.
And drowned, obviously.
And her mother was stolen
and sent to a mental institution in Wiradjuri country, in Orange.
For 45 years, they thought each other were dead.
And yet they were four hours...
..away.
You know? But yet,
she never complained about the world whatsoever.
She was so strong.
Tell you what, you want to talk about resilience?
You put...
..100 of my ancestors lined up in a row,
within the first 50 years of colonisation
or whatever you want to call it in this country,
it came down to three being left alive,
from either being murdered or died from disease.
So I'm a living member of one of those three members.
And that, I'm proud of.
And that is what will help keep me out here.
Alone Australia is brought to you by Kia.
Experience the ultimate human endurance
as 10 contestants battle to survive alone in the Tasmanian wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
(HUMS)
(SINGS)
That's the Happy Sunshine song.
Today I am making my bed.
And when I say making my bed,
I don't mean like putting my fine Egyptian cotton sheets on it,
fluffing up the doona.
No.
When I say making my bed, I mean 'making' my bed.
My strategy is still not to even worry about food.
Just to work on this shelter,
so I have a home, because I want to be out here for 90 days.
My body is 52, and there are things that my body can no longer do.
And it just requires a complete adaptation
of the way I go about things.
I just have to be slow.
Taking my weight.
That feels good.
(GASPS)
That's one.
Now I've got to do the other one.
I have to just keep dropping into Earth time.
This takes as long as it takes.
£ Just keep going, even when it's snowing
£ Just keep going till you get there. £
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!
(SIGHS)
I have a bed and...
..it's just the beginning of being actually at home
rather than sleeping rough.
So I'm very, very happy right now.
My house is looking a bit like a house.
Look at that.
(GROANS)
It's a very dishevelled house,
but it's kind of a house at the moment.
(GASPS) What is that?
That's a platypus.
That's so exciting.
Wow.
A platypus visited me.
It all feels very doable right now.
And I'm very glad to be here.
£ Lots of knots, tying knots never ends
£ Just knotty not. £
Oh, no. I've had a hiccup here.
It's boring!
I don't want to do you any more!
Just be finished!
Let's go hunting.
Let's go for a little hunt, what do youse reckon?
Can't fault this place at all.
It's beautiful.
The only one thing I'm missing is food. That's it.
Let's go possum hunting. (GROANS)
I just haven't seen much.
Can't even see a set of eyes.
I'm going to need to get some meat.
Come out and sacrifice thyself, young possum.
That doesn't work either.
Bloody hell.
I'll be happy with a snake.
Just give me a snake. Give me something!
(LAUGHS)
Righto, let's crack on. Talking too much crap.
(WHISTLES)
I reckon without a doubt there's a possum in this tree.
Wow, this is so creepy.
Oh, it goes so far.
Can't even see.
I wonder if that's a snake.
Whoa!
Bloody hell, I'm on edge.
(GRUNTS)
That's crazy.
I reckon there's definitely a possum in there, but...
..there's no way he's going to be down here.
You live another day, my friend.
Everyone's gone home. Like, I'm literally alone.
Like, it's like Noah's brought his ark down here
and gone, "Hey, everyone, jump on.
"Let's piss off for a bit while Chris hangs out here for...
"Well, as long as it takes him to go nuts.
"Probably won't be too long."
And then they'll all come back.
Nice one, Noah. You and your stupid bloody ark.
Alright, let's go fishing.
I feel like I've got Buckley's chance
of catching a rodent, possum.
So I'm just going to concentrate on the water.
Oh, sunshine.
Oh, thank you, baby Jesus!
I've got hooks and plenty of line,
so might as well get him in the drink,
get him working hard.
It's one thing I can control.
Fishing is what I know.
(GROANS)
There you are.
One, two, three, four, five.
Eat. Eat thy bait, thy trout.
(SIGHS)
No rods are moving.
It's not ideal.
I wonder if anyone else is in, like, a really different spot
where they're just smashing possums and fish.
Maybe I've been stitched up.
Last night, I finished the big net for this trap today.
If I get this trap set up,
could possibly mean pademelon for dinner.
But I'll have to just do two trips.
Yes! Got it.
Pademelons are active
within an hour or two of sunset.
It's going to be about that wide.
I think there's a very good chance
they're going to follow the trail that I'm setting my trap on.
Alright, here goes my trigger mechanism.
90 degrees to the tree.
So, I'm tying another tripline to the top of one of my nunchucks.
So, the nunchucks go together.
This piece goes under the fork.
Alright. Plenty of weight on there.
Then I'll pull it out and it releases.
We'll just see how much pressure it takes to get through.
Great. Good. Alright.
So now it's time to set the net up in situ.
Bang this stake in over here.
Right, I think I'm done.
That's finally set.
Obviously, the tripwire gets pulled, net goes up.
All four corners of the net.
Log goes down and can't hit the ground and hit anything else,
just in case there was something else underneath.
I'm pretty happy with it,
but I probably need to get out of here
because it's getting dark
and I don't want them to be waking up and hearing me.
It seems like a solid trap.
And I can't wait to go down there
and just listen out really carefully.
And it's a really quiet night,
so I'm going to be listening out like nothing else.
Alright, it's probably about four hours after dark.
It's probably the time that the pademelons would have been through.
I don't know whether to be hopeful or not.
Like, it looks pretty good, but I didn't test it, you know?
It's just... I don't know.
I don't want to get my hopes up.
Alone Australia is brought to you by Kia.
Experience the ultimate human endurance
as 10 contestants battle to survive alone in the Tasmanian wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000.
I haven't heard any noises in the bush tonight.
And it's been really quiet as normal, so...
Maybe it's because one of them got trapped.
No, it's still set.
Still set exactly as is.
Might just check the trail cam.
You're kidding me.
He's standing on the edge of the net.
He's gone around the tripwire.
And he's definitely prodding around everywhere
because I've disturbed it.
Wow, that was so close. So close.
Been a long day, but...
I'm happy. I've achieved a lot.
It's just time to start bringing in the bacon.
And I got quite close, so...
Have to wait and see what happens.
When I find a weakness, I tend to study it a lot,
to the point where I can almost consider it a strength.
I'm going to apply myself 100% to this challenge.
Rains are back now.
The shelter, my roof and that is just swaying.
Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi, ya.
You'll catch a fish today. That's what's happening.
Man, my brain is just scattered. It needs some nutrients.
It's like fishing in an empty dam.
Starting to lose a bit of hope
on my abilities to catch food out here.
I don't know, guys.
Don't know what to do.
It's going to be a long day if I can't shake this feeling.
My body and mind just won't operate on this diet.
This fucking food situation is fucking shit.
I need to fucking eat. That's the problem.
That's it. If I can't fucking eat, will I...
(GROANS) Stop thinking.
Stop thinking.
I'm losing my shit, eh? I really am.
I've almost had a gutful.
This GoPro can go fuck itself.
(QUIETLY) Come on.
(QUIETLY) Stop being a fucking idiot.
You know what, till we fucking eat
you can fucking burn the rest for all I give a fuck.
Fuck off!
Oh, this is terrible!
I fucking hate feeling like this.
Fuck this. I'm fucking...
I'm over it. I'm fucking over it.
This food situation is halting me
from achieving what I want to achieve.
And it's now became a challenge of starvation,
not a challenge of being out here alone.
Suddenly going downhill very, very fast.
MIKE: If I can get that pademelon, I've probably won.
Yeah.
It's the self-care that feels so nice
and it makes this place feel more homely.
Yeah, baby, I got bush soap.
DUANE: I came into this...
Yeah!
..thinking I was going to win.
Fuck. What am I doing out here?
It's not about that.
If I can't feel my brain, how do I continue this journey?
I've definitely switched over into ketosis.
One press of a button.
(PHONE RINGS)
You're fucking kidding me.
Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2023