Tough Girl Podcast Amanda Dudgeon - Australian Park Ranger, completing her self-funded 12-month expedition “Walking the Thin Green Line Oceania” in support of Oceania Rangers.
Amanda is an Australian park Ranger whose career has taken her from the turquoise blue coast of South Australia to the broad red deserts of Central Australia and now the subtropical rainforests of the East Coast. She loves having the best job in the world in which she gets the opportunity to fight fires, monitor threatened species, use chainsaws and heavy machinery (aka fun toys), audit and hike long distance trails, occasionally fly across the landscape in a helicopter, and (the greatest privilege of all) work with Traditional Owners looking after Country. Well, that and clean toilets of course, can’t leave that out.
Inspired by the many Rangers she has worked with in her career, and with no film making or expedition experience, Amanda set off on a new mission on World Ranger Day (July 31) last year called Walking the Thin Green Line Oceania.
Over 366 days, through 8 nations and across 3 oceans, Amanda will travel over 80,000km meeting Rangers and recording their stories in a documentary.
She will also hike more than 1500km to honour the more than 1500 Rangers killed in the line of duty since official records began in 2009.
Amanda will be raising vital funds for the Thin Green Line Foundation’s Oceania Fund to support Ranger led projects around the Oceania region.
Amanda will complete her epic self-funded journey on World Ranger Day this year on the southernmost point of mainland Australia at Wilson’s promontory National Park after more than 35,000km of driving, close to 200 Ranger interviews, more than 25 terabytes of footage, dozens of walking trails and peaks, over 30 flights, more than a dozen boats and ferries, 8 sim cards, 2 Garmin inReach’s and more illnesses than you can count on one hand.
***
Don't miss out on new episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast that are released every Tuesday at 7am UK time! Hit the subscribe button to stay updated.
By supporting the Tough Girl Podcast on Patreon, you can help increase the representation of female role models in the media especially in the world of adventure and physical challenges. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast to contribute. Thank you for your support!
***
Show notes
- Who is Amanda
- Working as a Park Ranger on the East Coast of Australia
- Being a passionate conservationist
- Not being scared of doing her own things
- Her passion for the environment and getting people excited about it
- Wanting to encourage women and young girls to pursue their dreams
- Her early years and growing up wanting to be a geologist
- Being sports and enjoying spending time outside
- Her journey to becoming a Park Ranger
- Starting work as a fine dining chef
- Learning about the slow food movement in Italy
- Being involved in the ‘Youth Food Movement’ 2008
- Wanting to do more to contribute to the world
- Going to The University of Queensland, Brisbane to study Natural Resource Management
- Doing a course called - Protected Area Management
- Being inspired by Rangers and the work they were doing
- South Australian Graduate Ranger Program
- What do Park Rangers do - in Western Australia
- Walking the thin Green Line
- Preparation and planning for the Expedition
- The Thin Green Line Foundation, Australia
- How the idea came about
- Hiking 1,600km by the end of her journey to reflect on the 1,600 rangers who have lost their lives while serving
- The goals for the expedition and what she wants to achieve
- Spending 366 days on the road
- Starting on World Ranger Day - 31st July 2022 and finishing on World Ranger Day 31st July 2023
- World Ranger Conference 2024, France
- The Route Map
- Planning, logistics and financing the expedition
- Connecting with people and getting tips and advice from film makers
- Starting with a map, crunching the numbers and figuring out what the weather was doing
- The challenges and obstacles with planning along the way
- Only being able to plan a few weeks in advance and dealing with the stress that brings
- Self funding the challenge and receiving financial support from her sister and other family members
- Losing sponsorship due to floods in Eastern Australia and needing to make alternative arrangements
- Feeling comfortable taking calculated risks
- Being all in and knowing the financial risks
- Meeting incredible people on the journey
- Speaking to Rangers and filming them for the documentary
- Visiting Papua New Guinea, Indonesia
- The connection between rangers
- What’s going to happen over the next 6 months
- Having a 3 year plan
- Making a documentary about the journey and wanting to share the stories
- Going back to work full time work in August 2023
- The lessons learned from the trip
- Becoming the first ‘Ranger Ambassador’ for the Thin Green Line Foundation
- The unique challenges faced by female rangers
- The importance of having women involved in conservation
- How to connect with Amanda
- Final words of advice
- Why you should consider working in conservation especially in Protected Area Management
Social Media
Website: www.walkingthethingreenline.com
Instagram: @walkingthethingreenline
Facebook: @walkingthethingreenline
The Thin Green Line - “A global not-for-profit organisation that provides support to rangers, because rangers are the frontline professionals protecting wildlife and the natural world. We do this by providing effective training, vital equipment, and emergency support to rangers and their families, and developing strong global networks for rangers and their communities.”
Website: thingreenline.org.au