Turia Pitt - Unmasked

MOST AUSTRALIANS KNOW TURIA PITT, whether via the media or her first book, Everything to Live For . We know that she was badly burned in a bushfire in 2011; that her recovery was torturous. Weve glimpsed the profound love of her fianc, Michael. But now, for the first time, those closest to Turia reveal how two fateful minutes in a Kimberley gorge irrevocably changed their lives, too, and reflect on the essence of this remarkable Australian.

How and why does Turia push herself to ever greater physical and mental limits? What does she see when she looks in the mirror? What lessons has she learned? And, crucially, how can each of us take those lessons and apply them to our own lives?

Against the backdrop of a series of remarkable achievements, including founding her goal-getting School of Champions, walking the Kokoda Track and competing in not one but two Ironman competitions, Unmasked reveals the woman behind the headlines, and uncovers the grace, humour and inner steel that gets Turia Pitt through every day and leaves the rest of us watching in amazement.

As I wheel Turia out of her room in the burns unit at Concord Hospital, my mind wanders. Three months earlier she could run for hours upon end. Now she cant even walk. Its hard not to rail at how unfair it seems, how I dont want our lives to be this.

We pass a tightly sealed window and glimpse the outside world a concrete jungle of houses, at that moment being covered with misty rain. Then out of nowhere a bright red-bellied king parrot appears, its olive-green wings spread. Turia, her mother and I watch as it lands on the railing in front of us. Look at the pretty parrot, Turia says softly. It checks us out. Everythings going to be all right, everythings going to be all right. Turia is trying her hardest to sing Bob Marleys lyrics.

I am overwhelmed with emotion. This moment will be with me for the rest of my life because it was then I knew that my girl was going to draw on every ounce of strength she had and charge on into her recovery; and I would be right by her side every step of the way.

As Turia slowly clawed her way back from death, her plastic surgeon told me, You have a mountain to climb, mate. Five years on, we have finally reached the peak. As you will discover in this book, Turia is pushing the boundaries of life, absorbing every precious second she has on earth. Most of all, she is happy to be living her life like a boss, as she likes to say.

Its been both humbling and fascinating to have witnessed the resilience of the human body, her transformation from near-death to profound strength. Yeah, its been hard. Hard for me. Harder for Turia. Testing on our relationship? Of course. But Im super-proud of the woman who is by my side. Im continually floored by her strength and tenacity, and by her will to live life to the extreme. She embodies the indomitable spirit of humanity, which we all have somewhere inside of us.

Enjoy her book!

Michael Hoskin
Ulladulla, January 2017

Sydney, spring 2015: Im dancing with five thousand strangers and feeling like an idiot. The music is pumping over loudspeakers, the auditorium is in darkness, lights flash as if were in a nightclub. Except that its eleven in the morning.

Not for the first time today, I wonder if this was such a good idea. My dad has always been a big fan of Tony Robbins, so when he heard the great man himself was coming to Sydney, he bought me tickets to see him. And certainly, reading the brochure, it seemed the day could be an interesting experience.

Entering the Sydney Entertainment Centre an hour ago and being ushered into a VIP section I had a regular ticket, but the organisers offered to upgrade me was confronting enough. The two hundred or so people here have paid a premium for a chance to sit up the front of the auditorium and enjoy a meet-and-greet with the man himself. I know people know who I am. Turia Pitt: the burns survivor. Ive never quite got used to walking into a room and have people I dont know recognise me.

Now, in a stadium filled with madly gyrating Tony-enthusiasts, I feel like a dick. If he comes on stage and, as I have heard, tells us to hug the person next to us, I might just have to leave. I throw a look of mortification at Jess the girl from Adelaide I have befriended. She seems to be treating all of this with the same mixture of cynicism and apprehension. She shakes her head laughing trying, like me, to look like dancing in the middle of the morning in the company of complete strangers is the most normal thing in the world.

The music increases in volume, the lights flash more intensely, and with a burst of game-show-host energy and baring a set of impossibly white teeth, the man mountain that is Tony Robbins bounds onto the stage. The crowd goes wild. Im more shocked than impressed, but I figure I might as well scream along. If you cant beat em

You are here to transform your life! Tony shouts at us, to thunderous applause. He doesnt so much talk as boom. Energy seems to radiate off him; he looks as though hes in some sort of trance.

Today we are going to dig deep. Look deep inside ourselves and identify what is holding us back. More cheers. Were going to learn how to put ourselves in a peak state to overcome any fears we might have and push our lives forward. Are you with me? Can I get an aye?

An aye rumbles forth from the crowd starting at the back of the auditorium and crashing over me like a wave. Were going to face off whatever issues you have, confront them, crush them and at the end of the day, were going to do the fire walk.

The what ? Im suddenly seized by panic. On the huge screen behind Tony footage flashes of uniformed men raking red hot coals in the car park outside. The crowd goes wild chanting, Tony! Tony! Tony!

And then I hear it: the noise of the coals crackling in the heat; a sound that is amplified over huge speakers and reverberates around the auditorium. It takes me back to the Kimberley, back to a gorge in the outback. Back to the race. I feel sick and instinctively look around me for somewhere to throw up. I cast a nervous glance across at Jess. This isnt funny anymore.

You dont have to do the fire walk! Tony shouts in his hoarse, breathless delivery, pausing for dramatic effect. But just think about how you will feel tomorrow if you dont.

It hangs in the air as a challenge. I am completely positive I will feel absolutely fine tomorrow if I dont do the fire walk. My mind starts to race. Is this some kind of sick game? Im gripped by an irrational fear that this whole charade has been concocted as a test for me: a poor-taste punk for the cameras, in which five thousand people are complicit.

Theres no way Im walking across those coals. No way, no how.

My life will be forever divided into two parts: before the fire and after the fire.

As much as I refuse to be defined by a few seconds, I cant escape the fact that what happened to me one September afternoon in 2011 will give shape to the rest of my story. Im determined it wont be the most important event in my life, but it will always be a significant one.