Willie Cook is known as the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. I caught up with Willie at his home in the Adelaide River region of the Northern Territory to hear the incredible story of how he and his young family came to be in Australia. However, that story is coming next week. Today, I’m sharing the very beginning of our chat, where Willie told me about his early years in New Zealand. 

Willie Cook is known as the bull-catching, helicopter-flying Kiwi from the ABC tv series “Outback Ringer”. I caught up with Willie at his home in the Adelaide River region of the Northern Territory to hear the incredible story of how he and his young family came to be in Australia. However, that story is coming next week. Today, I’m sharing the very beginning of our chat, where Willie told me about his early years in New Zealand. <hr>

True stories from the Australian Outback, told by the people who live them.

Meet the men and women who live and work on some of Australia’s most remote cattle stations.

There are tales of mustering, stock camps, working dogs, rogue cattle and hard bloody yakka, but also the fun of a bush wedding or kicking back at a rodeo.

There’s the simple wonder of living in an amazing landscape, but also the downside: the ravages of flood, fire and drought.

And always there’s the inherent danger of isolation – times when the Flying Doctor came to the rescue, but also times when lives have been tragically cut short.

These compelling true-life stories show what outback life is really like – and why many wouldn’t live anywhere else.

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