MAN: The south island of New Zealand, it's an epic place.
It's wet.
It's cold.
It's snowy.
If you don't respect the environment here,
it will slap you hard.
WOMAN: I just need to bring some food in.
MAN 2: Ohh!
(GRUNTS) It's a male.
MAN 3: Look at that stonker!
(GIGGLES)
MAN 4: Last night was pretty intense.
There was deer all around me.
That's freaking delicious.
I know how tough it's gonna be. (LAUGHS)
Terrible wail of doom.
WOMAN: You've gotta feel safe, otherwise you'd just die out here.
Oh, my God, I miss them.
It doesn't feel as bad as it looks. Feels worse.
Oh!
This shit just got real.
Jesus. I'm scared enough to have an emergency tap-out in my hand.
MAN 5: The last person standing, they take home $250,000.
(GASPING) (PHONE RINGS)
I just got these pains in my chest.
(GROANS) Somebody, help me!
WOMAN: We need to talk about a chopper.
(GROANS)
(CALLS)
It's like a lost world.
There's a real beauty here,
but there's also a real element of danger.
We need to be prepared for deadfall,
for earthquakes, for flash-flooding.
Wow. This is crazy.
Aotearoa wells up inside of me a sense of strength and power
that I've never experienced on any other land before.
This is gorgeous.
Can't believe it.
These mountains are home to wild boar, goat, deer
and if I can just get one of those, hunt them,
I might survive.
When you look out
and you see those mountains overlooking the lake,
it has an ancient feel to it.
Great, thank you.
(EXHALES)
But it's also scary.
This is one of the most daunting things I've ever done.
But we are now allowed to hunt with bow and arrow.
It's something I'm comfortable with
and I have done for a long time.
Probably the steepest country I've been in.
We all think we can do it.
But the only thing we can really do is compete against ourselves.
Things just got real.
And it's petrifying.
The whole game is a mental game.
Everything is about the psychology.
I know there's fear in me.
Can I sustain myself, as a human alone in a wild place?
So, it begins.
MAN: Gonna be cold, real cold.
No-one will hear you scream out there.
We have to survive completely unaided.
(SINGS) £ So long, farewell... £ And amen.
The fauna and the flora are completely different
to back home in Australia.
It's a tiny little speck.
Look at it go, look at it go.
It's gonna get real cold tonight, and those look like rain clouds.
Time...to get...
..to work.
I have absolutely no way of knowing how other competitors are faring.
I only know how I'll be doing.
Catch you later, guys. Thanks for everything.
10 of us go into this challenge,
and only one of us will be the winner.
Hunting is not a sport. To me, hunting is an instinct.
Thank you.
There are big moments in life.
And for me, this is one of them.
It's just us, our cameras,
documenting our survival completely alone.
I am so...
..pumped.
$250,000 prize for the last person standing.
And it would mean the world to be the last person.
MAN: The lake sits at 200m above sea level.
Also runs just as deep.
Everything about this place is intimidating.
We are totally alone in a whole new world.
Time to arrive.
You have to be willing to give up everything
to come here and win Alone.
Nobody else here but me.
And there they go.
There they go.
And that's it, I'm alone.
And the midgie flies are already here to greet me.
Namu namu. (LAUGHS)
G'day, fellas. I'm your new housemate.
It's unreal how big this place is.
Even if I wanted to get out of here, I don't...
You're going to have a hard time making it back to society from here.
So, let's go have a look, eh?
First things first - don't walk anywhere...
..without your bow, huh?
I'm just absolutely stoked that I can have a bow
on this season.
I'm a combat engineer in the Australian Defence Force.
Joining the army was the best thing for my indigenous heritage, really,
because, I did the indigenous pre-recruitment programme
and fostered a lot of love there.
As far as my ancestors go, I am a Quandamooka man.
I can think of worse ways to spend the day.
I have literally been hunting my whole life.
I go hunting at least once a month. Yeah.
And it's just what I do for fun.
It's what I do in any time I get off
and I go out and I do exactly like what I'm gonna be doing here.
If you miss, you don't eat, you know?
I never miss. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, I've hunted with rifles, bow and arrows, spears, boomerangs,
and even just a knife, at times.
Not out there being a killer.
I'm out there being a hunter, you know?
They're totally different things.
He was born for this. He's prepared.
Love you, baby.
Mum is my biggest fan, and so is the grandparents.
Love you, Grandma. Love you too, darling.
Pray for me. Yes, I will, honey.
You want to do it for them too -
Prove to Grandpa I'm as tough as he thinks I am.
$250,000 would be game-changing.
Buy me a big, old farm.
Then have my family and my own my horses
and just start living that life, you know?
The number-one thing you need when you're hunting with a bow
is patience,
'cause you don't always get onto something.
Sometimes it takes a bit of time
to get used to animals in different areas too.
They're not all the same.
Let's keep looking, shall we?
Like, red deer here are not the same as red deer in Europe.
They're the same animal,
but, you know, they're gonna act different.
OK. I'm talking quietly now because it's a rub tree.
Some stag's come through here,
given that tree a bashing.
They're right here. They're right here.
I can hear the water, feel the air.
Oh!
I am just so happy to be here.
I don't even feel like doing a shelter or a fire.
I honestly just feel like sitting here.
I'm not - I'm not going to do that. I promise.
Um, I've got stuff to do.
I'm just gonna collect some tinder,
'cause I think that's all I'm going to have time for tonight.
Shelter, tinder.
Even if I don't light it tonight, um...
..I'll be ready for tomorrow.
These make great fire starters, Leptospermum.
Another the tea tree.
I just want to take a little bit off each tree.
I don't want to take too much.
It'd be nice if I could walk along here
and not see what I've done, really.
God, I feel a bit like an animal at the moment.
I'm shaking on the inside,
and it's like there's 50-50 scared versus pure exhilaration.
Just try and stay calm.
Let's go have a little look around.
Get my shelter.
The winds can be ferocious here, I know.
And I want to make sure that I don't hate myself later
when the wind's howling.
So, shelter is number-one.
I definitely have been labelled as being determined,
and I think that's come from just my childhood of adventure
and hanging out with the boys
and choosing careers that have really made me step up,
physically and mentally.
So, I think I have found somewhere I really like.
And a view to die for.
Close to my water.
Definitely want to look at what's up.
Yeah, I reckon we might be... might survive.
(EXHALES)
It's a little bit of elevation.
Yeah, I'm loving it.
It's never been more in the forefront of my mind
that I'm just going to be so cold.
Absolutely Awesome.
Oh, rocks a bit slippery.
Look at this. Look at this backdrop.
This is the most incredible thing I could ever possibly do.
This is home for the next three months.
And that rainbow, that rainbow is just still sitting there.
It's like it's hanging around just for me.
In fact, it's getting stronger.
Magic.
My strategy, day-one - build a shelter, get a fire going.
Survival has been a passion of mine for over 20 years.
It's been given to me from my parents, from my dad.
So, it's been a part of my life since I can remember.
In my line of work, I provide mental and physical resilience training.
What have you just become? Accountable.
Why? 'Cause YOU said you were gonna do it.
Resilience training allows you to
push the physical and emotional barrier,
which came off the back of my career, I think, In rugby.
I had the good fortune of playing for the Australian Under-21s.
I played for Queensland, now known as the Reds.
And I played for New South Wales, now known as the Waratahs.
Show you how to do it.
And, being 60 years of age comes with just that -
60 years of experience.
And I personally see it as an advantage
when I go out onto the land.
See you, sweetheart.
I think it would also be great
to be a lovely inspiration to my children.
I Love you. See you, mate. Love you.
As a single dad for quite a while, I just know they would be so proud.
Bend at the knees, please. (GRUNTS)
Deadlift. Oh, geez, there's some weight in that.
(GRUNTS) Let's go.
What I want to show my children is there are no boundaries.
There are no age limits.
And even as you enter into the...
..let's just say the last third of your life,
there's so much more opportunity for you to be able to strive for.
And that is my anchor point.
Keep it simple, sexy.
The ability to handle pain and discomfort,
I would say is my superpower.
I'm willing to push myself to my ultimate limits
to win.
(LAUGHS) Go away!
Go away...away!
You know, I've set the pass mark at 60 days,
one day for every year of my life.
But, to me, the benchmark is 100 days
and I am prepared for 100 days.
It's not too bad. Oh! This place is alive with 'em!
(SIGHS)
That'll do for tonight.
So, just knocking up a quick maul,
we'll use that wide area there for clubbing,
and add this part is the handle, I think.
Other way around.
And, as rough and ready as it is,
it will suffice.
Let's get that tarp up. Let's got that shelter above me.
Water, shelter, fire, food.
Swap the orders around.
This is all about shelter at the moment. I'm well hydrated.
Stack of water this morning.
Been pissing like a race horse.
I do believe I have what it takes to win this,
due to my skills, my background, my knowledge, and my wisdom.
I'm sure this location will throw everything at me.
I don't know what looms over the top of these hills.
All I know is whatever's out there is unpredictable,
as far as weather.
And that can make life very difficult
if you're not prepared for it.
Namu namu.
They're drawing a bit of blood already.
They're bigger than what we have in Australia.
(BLOWS)
They're persistent.
They don't want to go.
But I don't want 'em there.
Now, here we go.
This is pretty cool.
I'm not the only living animal walking this beach.
I've got deer tracks, and they're fresh.
I've got throw-forward.
They lift their foot to move forward.
They throw forward a bit of sand. And that's fresh.
That's a good-sized deer.
Like in one of those games where you see the symbol comes up,
whether it be food or medical...
like a game of Fortnite - not that I play Fortnite.
But this just has added a whole new dimension...
..to where I am now.
It's turning on another sense.
It's turning on my eyes and ears, to know that...I'm not alone.
There are deer that have wandered along this beach...
(CRUNCH!)
..recently.
I get the feeling I'm being watched.
I can hear something.
(RUSTLING)
Oh, every now and then...
..I hear something...
..that I know is not a...
It's like, you know, that single, stepping crunch,
a little break of a stick or something.
I've heard two today.
But I am in no position to be hunting anything,
even if it is anything.
In my family, bow hunting was pretty much everything.
Yes, lovely shot.
I think, growing up, I always looked up to my dad.
He just put a bow and arrow in my hand
and said, "Let's go get food."
So, I'm pretty experienced with a bow.
We did enter a lot of competitions,
and, yes, I was an Australian champion.
I just want to show you where I live.
It's like a little gypsy wagon,
but on the back of a truck.
Not only do I live in it, but I also work out of it.
Home is outside, for me.
So, every day, I'm out there in elements,
cooking by the fire, growing food, foraging food.
In the last five years, I've been cooking plant-based only.
I haven't eaten meat for about eight years.
I think the things that could send me home on Alone
are definitely starvation and lack of food.
I've thought a lot about how I'd feel if I, um...
..had to kill animals again.
And I think the higher level of care
that an animal gives to its offspring,
the harder it is to kill it.
So, I'll start with fish and I'll work my way up.
Animal trail. It's pretty big.
Um, so I'm guessing deer.
And it's...
They're able to step over quite high logs.
And then their next step...
And you can even see, like, disturbed soil.
I've been vego for a lot of years now,
and it's not because I don't love the taste of meat.
Be the deer.
If I kill my own, if I hunt my own,
I know that their suffering is so minimal.
But I'm probably not really ready for that yet.
So, I'm goddamn hoping I catch a lot of fish.
But that doesn't mean I'm already preparing myself
and looking around and doing all the things that you need to do
if you're hunting.
A lot of energy goes into hunting.
And, you know, if you're gonna be a hunter,
you need some gatherers at home.
And if you don't have gatherers at home,
you need to be the gatherer,
'cause that's where your money's at.
I found a few of these supplejacks around.
But, as you can see,
they're all getting munched on pretty regularly.
So, deer or something,
coming through here...hungry.
Looks like they like these supplejacks, but I found one here...
Look at that.
The first bit of native food I've found.
Nice and, uh,
supple, as I suppose the name suggests.
Come down here, to where it breaks.
About there.
Nice one.
Keep this face mask on because, as you can see,
as soon as I stop,
the midgies come on in.
Already found myself dinner in the form of that supplejack.
I would like to cook it.
So, if I can get a fire going for that, that'd be nice.
I just snapped this stick here,
found it was a bit dry in the middle there, see?
Dry timber.
So, all I'm gonna do now is...
..make myself some nice flaky bits.
And that's gonna be my tinder for starting this fire tonight.
I've only got 10 items, you know?
and I couldn't bring some items and sacrifice of other items.
So, you need to sort of figure out ways to get around these things.
I didn't bring an axe, I just brought a knife.
And I made my knife nice and big
so that I could use it for snapping up my kindling
and stuff like that.
And you just gotta, you know,
you figure out what you can and can't do
with what you can bring.
And then figure out which ways
you're gonna substitute things you couldn't bring
once you get there.
Having some dramas here.
Fucking bastards.
(INHALES) Mmm.
Everything is just soaked through and sodden.
Well, I'm so not used to this.
This is really dense, really wet.
Come from dry dirt, red dirt.
So, this is the complete opposite.
Wow, this is crazy-thick.
It's not gonna be easy as it would normally be,
just going and bush and setting up camp.
So, what I'm bringing from my own culture is respect for the land.
Hey, little fella.
Little bird's just following me around.
OK.
Just need to get some sticks to peg my tarp down.
Don't think I'm gonna give up easy.
My biggest strength will be that I'm nanya,
and that means 'stubborn', 'cause I am very stubborn.
Um, and I'll go and go until I figure it out.
Or till I get the result that I want. (LAUGHS)
And, hopefully, the end result
is being tapped on the shoulder by Rob.
So, Rob is my partner and he was in season one of Alone Australia.
Don't get sooky and tap out after one night.
I won't be doing that. (LAUGHS)
I'm an Aboriginal Heritage Programs officer
for National Parks and Wildlife Service.
I'm 42.
I'm from Mildura, and I'm a Barkandji wiimpatya nhuungku.
Growing up on-country, you learn to be self-reliant.
MAN: See all the yabbies?
That starts from the time you're born, right through.
I've learned so much from my dad.
We didn't grow up with a lot of money.
Dad provided by, you know, going out bush, getting wild meat.
You learn by observing.
Go hunting, I use a rifle to get meat.
I can fish and I can track, I can read tracks.
Um, learning to read country, read animals
and how they move and why they move the way they do,
you, you know, that helps you to hunt them.
Oi, Mummy's leaving.
The ultimate goal is to, hopefully, win the money,
to buy myself a little bit of land.
Good luck, eh! Thank you.
Don't tap out after one night. (LAUGHS)
Sand flies are really bad.
I want it so much because, I guess, as an Aboriginal person, you know,
we've had so much taken,
and this is just my way of getting a little piece back,
because that money will buy me my very own little piece of land.
And not have to go and ask a white landholder, you know?
Well, my shelter's done.
I should be OK, for tonight at least.
Everything's wet. Everything's soaked.
Going into this experience,
my biggest strength is my adaptability.
Being a combat engineer itself, you know,
you have to think outside the box
to get things done with limited amount of tools,
without the right equipment,
and that nearly happens all the time.
So, if at first... you don't succeed,
what do you do?
You drop your show bag and you throw your lollies everywhere?
No, you just try a different way.
So, I went up the hill there and I found this stuff
in a big, old, dead tree.
I think we're pretty much cooking with gas now.
That was a mission, huh? Far out.
Day one, though, got the fire going.
Although it's not, you know, imperative to my survival right now,
It is, um, it's really good for upstairs, you know?
It means a lot to be able to accomplish this
in such shitty conditions.
Honestly, everything's wet, everything's moist.
But this just means a bit more life at home, here.
I'm gonna cook that supplejack now.
You can eat it raw,
but I heard it's better if you cook it, so...
..that's what we've done here.
Try the top. Apparently the top's the...
..the most supple of the jack.
Jeez.
Nuh.
It's just straight-up asparagus. That's...
That's what it tastes like. Tastes like asparagus.
Looks like asparagus. It tastes like it too.
Having done resilience training for so long
will certainly equip me for being out there alone.
I want to be able to test how far I can actually go.
I'm knackered.
It's been a big day...
..and I'm knackered.
(CREATURE SHRIEKS)
Can you hear that?
I hope you can.
That's a sound I've never heard before.
And, boy, have I spent some time in the bush, but...
..I've never heard that before. There you go.
(CHUCKLES)
ANNOUNCER: Alone Australia, powered by Kia.
Who will win the ultimate human endurance challenge,
as 10 new participants battle to survive alone,
in the rugged New Zealand wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000?
I actually had a really good night.
The bed was worrying me.
And although it reminded me a bit, you know, when you go for, um...
Well, some people get really drunk when you're younger,
and go to a festival and you're staggering, you've got a tent
and you realise you've set up on a lean.
And there's lumps and you ache and you're freezing
and you're just too drunk to do anything about it.
So, I was sort of expecting that kind of feeling.
But it wasn't, it was really cool.
A new day.
So, yeah, I was so keen to walk this land and see what's here.
Oh, my God, there's so much happening in this forest.
I love foraging and I have studied herbal medicine.
And I found this thing.
It's so slimy.
Oh, yeah.
It kind of says 'don't touch me'.
That's why I poked my finger in it.
Massive.
Oh, my gosh.
Alright, we might keep going.
Just look at that.
Seriously, if I didn't have to eat,
I could just look at that all day.
At what point do I switch from, "This is so beautiful,"
to, "I'm so hungry"?
Still got that mindset that I'm OK, that I'm fed.
My body feels fed.
So...
So I haven't switched yet.
The motivation for me, at 58 years old,
to realise that life is just getting started,
I'm, physically and mentally,
at some of the primest time I've been in my life.
I heard the average person dies six years after they retire.
That scares the shit outta me.
The fact that you spend your life working
and that's the result at the end of it.
Don't retire - keep doing the stuff you love in life
and just do it to the best of your ability.
Live your life to the fullest.
That's what I'm about.
I am the captain of my ship.
I am the father to my sons
and a husband to my wife.
I am the brother to my siblings
and I am my own king.
I'm a former SAS soldier.
I've taken those skills into the bushcraft and survival arena
and I work a lot with fathers and sons and families
to teach them a skillset that I have come to love and enjoy.
I've done it pretty tough before
and I'm prepared to push through those barriers again.
It is about doing it for my family.
My wife and I have been together 30 years,
and a key drive is that this will create for the future,
giving her and the boys
things that maybe they haven't had for the last 30 years.
It feels real, doesn't it? Yeah.
(BOTH GIGGLE)
It's been a little bit more of a challenge than I thought,
getting this fire going.
I don't see tapping as being something that I'm likely to do.
What I do is teach people the fundamentals of survival,
teaching them the priorities,
how to create fire with very little,
how to find water, how to filter it, how to make a shelter,
so they know what sequence to put them in
to give themselves the best chance of getting back to loved ones
for the heartbeat.
The old beard had a little bit of a pyro trim.
Bit of a singe.
It's good thing it doesn't actually flare up,
it just sort of singes the end of it.
But, um,
certainly no hairdressers out here.
So, yeah, it's not a bad thing.
Yeah, it's got that rustic look to it.
I'm also going to utilise the hollow of this tree trunk...
..which will lend itself to being able to get some dry kindling.
If it was a bit bigger, I'd sleep in there.
Fire is such a key component to survival.
Whilst it's not always considered the first priority...
..well, generally not in Australia, it's not,
but once you move into cold environments...
..definitely takes on a whole new meaning.
If I can heat up this rock...
..that's gonna get sat inside my little wood cave.
That warmth will...
..go a long way to drying out this material even more.
Gotta get a fire going.
Let's clear this area first.
Hello! My friend's back.
Hello. What are you doing back?
Hey?
How cool.
That little cheeky bugger's trying to take my life jacket.
Hey!
I know I'm not meant to disturb you, but you can't have it.
(LAUGHS) I might have to be on patrol tonight.
I've had some very dear mates of mine, great rugby players,
people who have associated with rugby, rugby union,
who have unfortunately taken their own lives.
And I...
That saddens me.
And I see with men, let's say with my vintage,
is that we can lack direction.
When the children grow up and leave home,
and we've worked so hard all our lives
to get to a certain place where we want to be,
and when it all may disappear,
there's often a journey lost.
Where do I go now?
And the outdoors has helped me heal in a very real way.
I feel connected. I feel free.
Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
I just saw my first worm.
There it is. Ah, stop it. There are!
We do have worms!
Yee-ha!
That's a good sign. That's made me happy.
The vessel I live in is 60 years old.
And bottom line is
I could fall over and I could pass away
and nature would still continue on.
Getting sweat up, doing this.
(GRUNTS) Getting stiff, getting cold.
It's a bit...a bit damp.
Oh, I should still get it though. Let's get this.
Agh!
Nuh.
Ugh, I'm knackered.
Shit happens.
(COUGHS)
Alright...
Get some dry tinder tomorrow.
(COUGHS)
(GROANS AND RETCHES)
Really, really tight in my chest.
(GROANS)
Agh!
ANNOUNCER: Alone Australia, powered by Kia.
Who will win the ultimate human endurance challenge,
as 10 new participants battle to survive alone,
in the rugged New Zealand wilderness,
with the winner taking home a prize worth $250,000?
How perfect is this?
What a privilege to be here.
I'm under no false illusions that
things will get tougher, way tougher.
That's what I'm here for.
Flat rocks on still water.
You know what that means?
One privilege that I feel every father or father figure...
..is to spend time...
..teaching a young bloke...
..how to skip stones.
I think it's extremely important
to have a good relationship with my sons.
I know, even at this stage -
they're, you know, they're men now of 24 and 26 years old -
and they still look at me
and look at the way I treat their mother.
I find that's important that they see love and respect.
And she's been my rock and soulmate
all of my life.
It's my wife's 60th birthday.
Happy birthday, my darling.
And probably about 4,500km away.
I guess I wish I was with you.
But I'm with you in my heart.
I think we all miss our families when we're apart.
I think when they say absence makes the heart grow fonder...
..that's what they're talking about.
Makes you realise how much you take people for granted or...
..just don't fully appreciate them until they're not around you.
Make the most of those times that they are there.
Would've been quite a celebration, our 60th...
..celebrations for my wife.
Good night to my darling, and good night to my boys.
(GROANS, RETCHES AND COUGHS)
(GASPS)
(COUGHS AND GASPS FOR AIR)
(GASPS) (PHONES RINGS)
WOMAN: Hello?
Are you there? Hello?
I just got these pains in my...
I've got these pains in my chest.
I'm so scared. (GROANS)
(STRAINED) Can't do it. Can't do it! (GROANS)
(PHONE RINGS)
MAN: It's gonna get colder and wetter as the weeks go on.
Don't realise how hard it is until you're just here by yourself.
I wouldn't go back. (LAUGHS)
I'm here to win. I'm targeting 100 days.
And, if I get to 100, I can just keep going.
MAN 2: Beautiful.
Three days without tucker, that's a long time.
We need to bring some food in.
Look at that.
Two stonker trout.
It's just lovely.
(ANIMAL CALLS LOUDLY) The hell is that?
(WHISPERS) I thought I saw something.
Definitely something big.
Oh, look at that. He's right there.
There's actually something to eat here.
Come on. Come on.
Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2024