Latest news with #CorinneOoms
ABC News
7 days ago
- ABC News
Seeking the wild: Alone Australia and connection to nature
Corinne Ooms was a contestant in the most recent series of the reality show Alone Australia. She spent 70 days by herself, in the remote west coast ranges of Lutruwita, Tasmania. And there, she had to navigate the psychological challenges of solitude and the physical challenges of survival in the wild. She experienced a profound change in how she experiences the world and her priorities in life. Guests: Corinne Ooms, finished as the second-runner-up on SBS' Alone Australia and last woman standing. Originally from Glasgow, she lives in Tasmania. Anna Halafoff, Associate Professor in Sociology of Religion at Deakin University, Melbourne, and coordinator of the Spirituality and Wellbeing (SWell) Research Network. She is one of the authors of: Alone Australia. Nature connection and spiritual complexity in popular culture, Journal of Beliefs and Values, 2025 Further listening: Solitude and the ache for humans - ABC listen, featuring Dr Kate Grarock, from Alone Australia season one. Sacred landscapes: the forest as mirror and sanctuary - ABC listen Sacred landscapes: snow and the high country - ABC listen Remembering Buddhist teacher and deep ecology advocate Joanna Macy Love, Beauty and Solitude: Translating Rilke with Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy - ABC listen Deep ecology and reconnecting with the natural world - ABC listen
The Age
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘I don't have a tap-out button': Alone Australia's Corinne on her journey to motherhood
Corinne Ooms says she knows she is in a privileged position. The second runner-up – and last woman standing – in the latest season of Alone Australia, Ooms says spending 70 days on her own in the Tasmanian wilderness is something few get to experience. 'We are all so stressed and bogged down with work and emails and social media and everyone is low-key anxious and longing for that more natural, simpler way of life,' she says. Speaking to this masthead via a video link from her car in Hobart during her lunch break, the food safety consultant says Alone was a rare opportunity to press pause and think about what she really wanted from life. As it turns out, what she wanted was a baby. '[Motherhood] was on my mind beforehand, but I am sure this is something most people are feeling: the past few years have been so hard to keep on top of life, with bills and mortgage repayments and work, so that you don't really have a moment to slow down, reflect and connect with yourself and even connect with other people.' As she began to lose weight during her time in the wilderness (contestants typically lose significant amounts of weight as they struggle to catch food in difficult conditions), Ooms also became concerned about her menstrual cycle, which was disrupted by the lack of food she was able to consume. It started to play on her mind. 'When you're by yourself and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off, your brain does start spiralling,' she says. 'I had moments of panic about lots of different things, and [my period] was one of them. 'I am in my late 30s and you hear all these things about women in their 20s struggling to conceive. I didn't know if I would struggle to conceive, I wasn't sure how fertile I was. I was thinking 'what am I doing out here? I'm leaving it so late, I really need to get a move on'.' She need not have worried. On returning to her home on the outskirts of Hobart, Ooms' body quickly bounced back and she fell pregnant within a matter of weeks. A recent scan at 13 weeks revealed everything was as it should be. The baby is due mid-December. Preparation for motherhood Ooms, 40, admits that Alone pushed her to her limits, teaching her that she was far more capable and adaptable than she realised. She says in some ways, it was the perfect preparation for motherhood. 'After this experience on Alone, I have gained a whole lot more confidence in myself as a person,' she says. 'I surprised myself out there and I am confident I will keep surprising myself with challenges and the unexpected curveballs that will happen with motherhood.' One of her concerns going into the challenge was her apprehension about killing an animal. While contestants can take 10 items with them, they have to build their own shelter and find their own food. Ooms thought she would be mostly relying on trout and eels from the lake for protein, as well as whatever she could forage. However, her biggest haul was a wallaby caught in a makeshift netting trap. 'I honestly thought the trap wouldn't work and I wasn't expecting to have to deal with it,' she says. 'And yeah, it did work. It was all a blur, the whole experience [killing the wallaby] was an adrenaline rush blur. As with anything, the psychological build-up you have to the task is a lot worse than the reality. It is still a horrible thing.' While she was dreading taking an animal's life, she says she has been changed by it. 'Something switched, so I am able to do it now,' she says. 'I have been processing my own chickens – I don't need my housemates to do it any more. It is still very hard, but I feel as someone who eats meat, going through that process of humanely, respectfully taking a life is part of it.' Making a home Ooms lives on a 10 acre (4ha) property just 15 minutes from Hobart. She has been renovating the cottage on the site, which was once owned by Tasmania's best known bushranger, Martin Cash. She hopes it will be an ideal environment to raise a child. 'I have been spending my time there renovating it, doing up the garden, creating a little vegie patch,' she says. 'You don't need much to have a little garden to supplement your lifestyle. I doubt I am ever going to be completely self-sufficient, but I think it's important to have that connection with your food.' Being in a financially stable position with a permanent roof over her head was also part of Oom's decision to start a family. 'I have been gearing up for years to be financially secure and to be able to provide for that child. I didn't want to be dependent financially on a man because you see all these break-ups or tense relationships in families due to finance.' While being able to continue to provide for her child is crucial, Ooms says her experience in the wilderness showed her the importance of making time for herself. This included making a guitar to pass the time in the long evenings in the wild. 'I didn't plan to create a guitar but when you have a lot of time on your hands and not a lot of distractions, it is incredible what you can create,' she says. 'I just had music going constantly in my head and I needed to do something about it. It was driving me nuts.' Quentin the quoll Ooms was also driven to distraction by a regular visitor – a quoll she named Quentin who turned up in search of wallaby meat. Quolls are mostly carnivorous and are among a number of native species that participants are not allowed to kill. 'Quentin was a love/hate relationship,' she says. 'He got into bed with me several times because I was using my wallaby skin over myself to keep me warm. I thought he was coming into bed with me because he was a creep, but no, he would nibble on the wallaby skin. After a while, I just ignored him. He didn't have access to my jerky and it didn't really matter that he chewed on my wallaby skin. 'He stole one of my socks and he chewed a hole through my glove – and that's the worst of it.' As she reflects on her experience, Ooms recommends everyone spend time alone in the bush at least once in their lives. 'You will probably be scared at first but push through that. It's one thing I think people are lacking in their lives, that space and time and connection with nature. But 70 days is a bit too much, I don't recommend that.' However, she is cognisant that the biggest, most demanding adventure still lies ahead. 'I am fully expecting motherhood to be a lot harder than my experience out there. The only difference is I don't have a tap out button.'
The Age
16-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Age
‘I don't have a tap out button': Alone Australia's Corinne on her journey to motherhood
Corinne Ooms says she knows she is in a privileged position. The second runner up – and the last woman standing – in the latest season of Alone Australia, Ooms says spending 70 days on her own in the Tasmanian wilderness is something few get to experience. 'We are all so stressed and bogged down with work and emails and social media and everyone is low-key anxious and longing for that more natural, simpler way of life,' she says. Speaking to this masthead via a video link from her car in Hobart during her lunch break, the food safety consultant says Alone was a rare opportunity to press pause and think about what she really wanted from life. As it turns out, what she wanted was a baby. '[Motherhood] was on my mind beforehand, but I am sure this is something most people are feeling: the past few years have been so hard to keep on top of life, with bills and mortgage repayments and work, so that you don't really have a moment to slow down, reflect and connect with yourself and even connect with other people.' As she began to lose weight during her time in the wilderness (contestants typically lose significant amounts of weight as they struggle to catch food in difficult conditions), Ooms also became concerned about her menstrual cycle, which was disrupted by the lack of food she was able to consume. It started to play on her mind. 'When you're by yourself and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off, your brain does start spiralling,' she says. 'I had moments of panic about lots of different things, and [my period] was one of them. 'I am in my late 30s and you hear all these things about women in their 20s struggling to conceive. I didn't know if I would struggle to conceive, I wasn't sure how fertile I was. I was thinking 'what am I doing out here? I'm leaving it so late, I really need to get a move on'.' She need not have worried. On returning to her home on the outskirts of Hobart, Ooms' body quickly bounced back and she fell pregnant within a matter of weeks. A recent scan at 13 weeks revealed everything is as it should be. The baby is due mid-December. Preparation for motherhood Ooms, now 40, admits that Alone pushed her to her limits, teaching her that she was far more capable and adaptable than she realised. She says in some ways, it was the perfect preparation for motherhood. 'After this experience on Alone, I have gained a whole lot more confidence in myself as a person,' she says. 'I surprised myself out there and I am confident I will keep surprising myself with challenges and the unexpected curveballs that will happen with motherhood.' One of her concerns going into the challenge was her apprehension about killing an animal. While contestants can take 10 items with them, they have to build their own shelter and find their own food. Ooms thought she would be mostly relying on trout and eels from the lake for protein, as well as whatever she could forage. However, her biggest haul was a wallaby caught in a makeshift netting trap. 'I honestly thought the trap wouldn't work and I wasn't expecting to have to deal with it,' she says. 'And yeah, it did work. It was all a blur, the whole experience [killing the wallaby] was an adrenaline rush blur. As with anything, the psychological build up you have to the task is a lot worse than the reality. It is still a horrible thing.' While she was dreading taking an animal's life, she says she has been changed by it. 'Something switched, so I am able to do it now,' she says. 'I have been processing my own chickens, I don't need my housemates to do it any more. It is still very hard, but I feel as someone who eats meat, going through that process of humanely, respectfully taking a life is part of it.' Making a home Ooms lives on a 10 acre (4ha) property just 15 minutes from Hobart. She has been renovating the cottage on the site, which was once owned by Tasmania's best known bushranger, Martin Cash. She hopes it will be an ideal environment to raise a child. 'I have been spending my time there renovating it, doing up the garden, creating a little vegie patch,' she says. 'You don't need much to have a little garden to supplement your lifestyle. I doubt I am ever going to be completely self-sufficient, but I think it's important to have that connection with your food.' Being in a financially stable position with a permanent roof over her head was also part of Oom's decision to start a family. 'I have been gearing up for years to be financially secure and to be able to provide for that child. I didn't want to be dependent financially on a man because you see all these break-ups or tense relationships in families due to finance.' While being able to continue to provide for her child is crucial, Ooms says her experience in the wilderness showed her the importance of making time for herself. This included making a guitar to pass the time in the long evenings in the wild. 'I didn't plan to create a guitar but when you have a lot of time on your hands and not a lot of distractions, it is incredible what you can create,' she says. 'I just had music going constantly in my head and I needed to do something about it. It was driving me nuts.' Quentin the quoll Ooms was also driven to distraction by a regular visitor – a quoll she named Quentin who turned up in search of wallaby meat. Quolls are mostly carnivorous and are among a number of native species that participants are not allowed to kill. 'Quentin was a love/hate relationship,' she says. 'He got into bed with me several times because I was using my wallaby skin over myself to keep me warm. I thought he was coming into bed with me because he was a creep, but no, he would nibble on the wallaby skin. After a while, I just ignored him. He didn't have access to my jerky and it didn't really matter that he chewed on my wallaby skin. 'He stole one of my socks and he chewed a hole through my glove – and that's the worst of it.' As she reflects on her experience, Ooms recommends everyone spend time alone in the bush at least once in their lives. 'You will probably be scared at first but push through that. It's one thing I think people are lacking in their lives, that space and time and connection with nature. But 70 days is a bit too much, I don't recommend that.' However, she is cognisant that the biggest, most demanding adventure still lies ahead. 'I am fully expecting motherhood to be a lot harder than my experience out there. The only difference is I don't have a tap out button.'
Sydney Morning Herald
16-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I don't have a tap out button': Alone Australia's Corinne on her journey to motherhood
Corinne Ooms says she knows she is in a privileged position. The second runner up – and the last woman standing – in the latest season of Alone Australia, Ooms says spending 70 days on her own in the Tasmanian wilderness is something few get to experience. 'We are all so stressed and bogged down with work and emails and social media and everyone is low-key anxious and longing for that more natural, simpler way of life,' she says. Speaking to this masthead via a video link from her car in Hobart during her lunch break, the food safety consultant says Alone was a rare opportunity to press pause and think about what she really wanted from life. As it turns out, what she wanted was a baby. '[Motherhood] was on my mind beforehand, but I am sure this is something most people are feeling: the past few years have been so hard to keep on top of life, with bills and mortgage repayments and work, so that you don't really have a moment to slow down, reflect and connect with yourself and even connect with other people.' As she began to lose weight during her time in the wilderness (contestants typically lose significant amounts of weight as they struggle to catch food in difficult conditions), Ooms also became concerned about her menstrual cycle, which was disrupted by the lack of food she was able to consume. It started to play on her mind. 'When you're by yourself and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off, your brain does start spiralling,' she says. 'I had moments of panic about lots of different things, and [my period] was one of them. 'I am in my late 30s and you hear all these things about women in their 20s struggling to conceive. I didn't know if I would struggle to conceive, I wasn't sure how fertile I was. I was thinking 'what am I doing out here? I'm leaving it so late, I really need to get a move on'.' She need not have worried. On returning to her home on the outskirts of Hobart, Ooms' body quickly bounced back and she fell pregnant within a matter of weeks. A recent scan at 13 weeks revealed everything is as it should be. The baby is due mid-December. Preparation for motherhood Ooms, now 40, admits that Alone pushed her to her limits, teaching her that she was far more capable and adaptable than she realised. She says in some ways, it was the perfect preparation for motherhood. 'After this experience on Alone, I have gained a whole lot more confidence in myself as a person,' she says. 'I surprised myself out there and I am confident I will keep surprising myself with challenges and the unexpected curveballs that will happen with motherhood.' One of her concerns going into the challenge was her apprehension about killing an animal. While contestants can take 10 items with them, they have to build their own shelter and find their own food. Ooms thought she would be mostly relying on trout and eels from the lake for protein, as well as whatever she could forage. However, her biggest haul was a wallaby caught in a makeshift netting trap. 'I honestly thought the trap wouldn't work and I wasn't expecting to have to deal with it,' she says. 'And yeah, it did work. It was all a blur, the whole experience [killing the wallaby] was an adrenaline rush blur. As with anything, the psychological build up you have to the task is a lot worse than the reality. It is still a horrible thing.' While she was dreading taking an animal's life, she says she has been changed by it. 'Something switched, so I am able to do it now,' she says. 'I have been processing my own chickens, I don't need my housemates to do it any more. It is still very hard, but I feel as someone who eats meat, going through that process of humanely, respectfully taking a life is part of it.' Making a home Ooms lives on a 10 acre (4ha) property just 15 minutes from Hobart. She has been renovating the cottage on the site, which was once owned by Tasmania's best known bushranger, Martin Cash. She hopes it will be an ideal environment to raise a child. 'I have been spending my time there renovating it, doing up the garden, creating a little vegie patch,' she says. 'You don't need much to have a little garden to supplement your lifestyle. I doubt I am ever going to be completely self-sufficient, but I think it's important to have that connection with your food.' Being in a financially stable position with a permanent roof over her head was also part of Oom's decision to start a family. 'I have been gearing up for years to be financially secure and to be able to provide for that child. I didn't want to be dependent financially on a man because you see all these break-ups or tense relationships in families due to finance.' While being able to continue to provide for her child is crucial, Ooms says her experience in the wilderness showed her the importance of making time for herself. This included making a guitar to pass the time in the long evenings in the wild. 'I didn't plan to create a guitar but when you have a lot of time on your hands and not a lot of distractions, it is incredible what you can create,' she says. 'I just had music going constantly in my head and I needed to do something about it. It was driving me nuts.' Quentin the quoll Ooms was also driven to distraction by a regular visitor – a quoll she named Quentin who turned up in search of wallaby meat. Quolls are mostly carnivorous and are among a number of native species that participants are not allowed to kill. 'Quentin was a love/hate relationship,' she says. 'He got into bed with me several times because I was using my wallaby skin over myself to keep me warm. I thought he was coming into bed with me because he was a creep, but no, he would nibble on the wallaby skin. After a while, I just ignored him. He didn't have access to my jerky and it didn't really matter that he chewed on my wallaby skin. 'He stole one of my socks and he chewed a hole through my glove – and that's the worst of it.' As she reflects on her experience, Ooms recommends everyone spend time alone in the bush at least once in their lives. 'You will probably be scared at first but push through that. It's one thing I think people are lacking in their lives, that space and time and connection with nature. But 70 days is a bit too much, I don't recommend that.' However, she is cognisant that the biggest, most demanding adventure still lies ahead. 'I am fully expecting motherhood to be a lot harder than my experience out there. The only difference is I don't have a tap out button.'
Sydney Morning Herald
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I was eating eel gills': How a Kiwi trapper conquered Alone Australia
Shay Williamson is the winner of the third season of Alone Australia. He stayed 76 days in the bush in south-western Tasmania, a new record for the Australian version of the show, and the sixth-longest across all versions (the record stands at 101 days in season seven of the American series). The 30-year-old New Zealander, who spent his teens trapping possums in the wild for their fur and now works as a cattle farmer when not making bush survival videos for his Keeping It Wild channel on YouTube, beat Corinne Ooms, who tapped out after 70 days, and Murray 'Muzza' James, who lasted 73 days and at 63 was the oldest contestant on the Australian series yet. Williamson spoke with Karl Quinn the day after filming the reunion special for SBS. First of all, Shay, let me just say congratulations. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I feel pretty excited about it. Well, you say that, but when your partner came out to greet you at the end you didn't give much away or say a lot. What was going on for you at that moment? I was just a bit lost for words. I'm not a big talker anyway. I just wanted to give her a hug, really. It was a huge feeling of relief more than anything in that moment, that it all worked out and I got to go home. I wasn't desperate to go, though. I was going to stay until I couldn't any more, and I was working my way through 10-day blocks. At that point, I had food until day 80, and I was focusing on getting food until day 90, and then it would have been food until day 100. But I was missing the family more and more every day, so the sooner the better, in my mind. When you first went in, you talked about 300 days as a target. I know towards the end you said that was only ever a motivational thing, but did you ever think you could actually stay out there that long? I think if the food had stayed the way it was in those last couple of weeks I could have done it. I'd reached a point of being sustainable out there, which I didn't actually think I'd do. But things are changing all the time in nature, and there's no guarantee the food situation would have stayed as good as it was. So there's no way of knowing whether that would have happened or not. What was the hardest thing – the physical conditions, the lack of food, or was it just missing the family? It's hard to differentiate the physical and the mental because it's all kind of linked up. The physical conditions were really tough – like, they were pretty extreme, the worst weather I've ever encountered, and the toll that takes on your body as well. And the mental strain of living paycheck to paycheck food-wise for that long definitely knocks you around. It's hard to put my finger on what was harder, but missing the family and not knowing when I'd get to go home was probably the trickiest thing mentally to deal with because it was just an unknown, and I had to accept that it was out of my hands, basically. Loading Has this experience changed the way you think about the bush, the environment, in any way? Yeah, it's changed the way I think about humans and our connection. Before I had quite a practical view of our place in nature. Now, I've got a bit more of a spiritual one, almost. I think about the instinctual side of things a bit more now; I got more in tune with my instincts out there a couple of times. I can't really explain why I knew certain things were going to happen, but they did, things like the lake water. I was worried about it rising a second time, and then one day I woke up and I just wasn't worried at all, and then the next day it went down a metre, and I knew that was going to happen. It was really weird. Catching the all-important pademelon, that seems to have been a moment that was driven by instinct. Yeah, and that was really strange, too, because that day I was eating eel gills, and normally they don't taste good, they're kind of bloody, but I was really liking them. And I said to the camera, 'It's almost like I'm craving iron'. And then that night I got this huge injection of red meat, almost like divine intervention. It was weird. Are you a religious or spiritual guy, generally? No, not at all. Not at all. What does winning the $250,00 mean for you? Loading It will just take the pressure off. It means we can get our family where we want it quicker, and prioritise what we value more, spending time with the family and not being stressed about money all the time. We've just bought a house with a mortgage in the Bay of Plenty [in New Zealand's North Island], so this will cut a huge part of the mortgage off. It's a massive gift to have that weight lifted. What about the bush – have you seen enough of it for a while or are you keen to get back out there? I'm chomping at the bit to get back out and take the family with me, ideally. I've probably got more motivation now to share the bush with the family. The kids are two and four and they already know quite a few edible plants, they know a couple of poisonous ones. It's pretty cool. You've just filmed the reunion special with the other nine contestants. Doing this show is such an isolated experience, but you all had a version of that same experience; it must be special to be able to finally share it. Yeah, it's been awesome to unpack it with the others, to talk about our experiences because we're the only ones that really understand it on the same wavelength because it's such a unique experience. It's been awesome to share with them and I think we'll all be keeping in touch and be friends for life.
