Travel With Us a While
Every now and then I have a conversation that leaves my heart a little bigger and my imagination soaring — sometimes quite literally. Recently, on Travel With Us a While, I spoke with a woman I’ve known online through Women Who Sail Australia, but had never met in person: the wonderful and quietly courageous Heike Hamann.
From the moment she began speaking, I realised Heike has lived several lifetimes of adventure — from roaming Africa as a child to gliding through the sky over South America and Europe, to skippering her own catamaran around Australia for two years. It’s not often someone casually mentions paragliding at 15,000 feet and swimming with whales as if these are things one simply does, but that’s Heike — open, joyful, curious, and deeply connected to the natural world.
A Life Shaped by Movement
Heike’s early years were a dance across continents. Born in Africa, she moved to England at ten, then Papua New Guinea, Germany, and eventually Australia at fourteen. Later she studied in the US. It’s no wonder the idea of “home” for her has always had something to do with movement — with exploring landscapes that shape her, and letting travel teach her who she is becoming.
Her passion for paragliding began as a spark and quickly grew into a flame big enough to change her life. She left her job, dedicated herself to the sky, and went on to become Australian Champion for five years, representing Australia at three world championships. She flew across Canada, Brazil, Europe, the US — places tourists never see, launching from hillsides and drifting through thermals like a bird.
As she said, “It’s a very special way of seeing the world. It takes you to places tourists don’t normally go.”
From the Sky to the Sea
Eventually the sky led her to the ocean.
For twelve years she travelled regularly to Hervey Bay to spend time with the whales — an annual ritual that nourished her. It was during one of these trips she found herself dreaming of buying a catamaran and sailing around Australia with two friends.
And then, just before she was due to purchase the boat, those friends pulled out.
Heike was devastated. She’d rearranged her whole life to sail, and suddenly the dream seemed impossible. But nature has a way of meeting us at the exact moment we need courage.
The next morning, while swimming off the boat, two humpback whales rose beneath her.
Slowly. Gently. Purposefully.
One kept looking up at her — deep, knowing, ancient. She came so close Heike could have reached out and touched her. When the whale moved her pectoral fin to let Heike pass beneath, and later resurfaced to swim beside her back to the boat, something settled inside her.
“When a whale looks at you,” she told me, “it changes you.”
Those whales gave her her answer: go.
And so she did. She bought the 40-foot catamaran. She learned everything she needed to learn. She became skipper. For two years she sailed thousands of nautical miles — from Brisbane to Hobart, around Tasmania, up to Hervey Bay, out to Lady Musgrave. Sometimes with friends aboard, sometimes with just a trusted first mate.
It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t always comfortable. Being a new skipper is stressful — the kind of 24/7 responsibility that stretches you in ways you didn’t know you could stretch. But sailing changed her, shaped her, softened her, strengthened her.
As she said, “I grew so much. And I’m glad I did it.”
The Magic of Whales — and a Little Story of My Own
When Heike spoke about hearing whales singing through the hull at night, and the feeling of floating beside them in the water, I knew exactly what she meant. I couldn’t help sharing my own story — the whale that breached as we entered Bundaberg in the rain, on our way back from Vanuatu.
He then appeared beside our little steel boat so close I could have touched him. He looked me in they eye and I understood that he meant me no harm.
The feelings that raced through me when I made eye contact with that enormous whale were incredible.
There is something about whales that bypasses the logical mind entirely. It’s ancient. It’s relational. It’s profoundly humbling.
Heike told me that when she asked herself afterward whether the whale had a message for her, the answer came clearly:
“Share this story with others.”
And so we are.
Finding Stillness Again
After two years at sea, Heike felt ready to come home — truly home — to land, to stillness, to soil, to tending her veggie garden, decluttering the storage boxes waiting for her return, and reconnecting with the slow rhythm of life. She’s a psychotherapist by profession, but is gently easing back in, choosing not to be busy, choosing spaciousness instead.
And she has another dream now:
to write a book.
(I have sent Heike my blog about things to avoid when writing a book!)
A Life Lived Fully
What I loved most about this conversation is how quietly powerful Heike is. Not flashy, not loud, not seeking attention. But endlessly courageous — willing to follow her instincts, to trust the sea, to trust the sky, to trust a whale who rose beneath her as if to say, You are ready.
She reminds me that travel is never just about the places we go, but about the way we grow along the way.
Thank you, Heike, for the stories, the honesty, the laughter, and the reminder that sometimes the greatest adventures begin when we find ourselves standing alone on the edge of something unknown — and choose to leap (or in your case, run gently off the side of a hill and let the wing lift you up).
Until next time,
Travel with us a while…
Bron
Would you like to share YOUR story?
If you would like to share some of your travel adventures with me – please leave a comment and I will contact you shortly to arrange a time.
Recording travel stories is as simple as taking a Zoom call – Easy Peazy!
