The Desert Swimmer
Brendan Cullen · Paul Mitchell
Mar 2026 · Wavesound from W. F. Howes Limited · Narrated by Shane Emmett
headphones
Audiobook
6 hr
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
Want a free 38 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
The inspirational true story of an Aussie bloke from the outback, crippled with depression, who challenges himself to swim the English Channel as a way of managing his mental health struggles.
Brendan Cullen manages Kars Station, a 10,000-head sheep property 65 kilometres outside Broken Hill, New South Wales. In 2022, despite his nearest beach being more than 600 kilometres away, he swam the English Channel.
Taking up swimming was part of Brendan's recovery from severe depression, an illness that had seen him cope in highly unhealthy ways – drinking, overwork, being emotionally absent – for years. But then he found the strength to walk through the doors of Broken Hill Hospital and ask for help.
After watching his brother compete in an open-water swim in 2015, a year later Brendan was doing the same. Despite it being exhausting and challenging, it made him feel vitally alive. In 2018 he happened to see an advertisement encouraging swimmers to take on the English Channel. A spark of an idea was lit.
Through COVID-19 restrictions, he trained for hours at dawn in the murky Menindee Lake system, and in icy local waters, determined to take on one of the world's most challenging ocean swims. And he did, completing the Channel crossing in 17 hours, after strong currents dragged him off course and extended his journey to 64 kilometres – almost double the shortest possible distance a swimmer might cover to make it across.
The Desert Swimmer shows the good that comes from facing challenges head on.
Brendan Cullen manages Kars Station, a 10,000-head sheep property 65 kilometres outside Broken Hill, New South Wales. In 2022, despite his nearest beach being more than 600 kilometres away, he swam the English Channel.
Taking up swimming was part of Brendan's recovery from severe depression, an illness that had seen him cope in highly unhealthy ways – drinking, overwork, being emotionally absent – for years. But then he found the strength to walk through the doors of Broken Hill Hospital and ask for help.
After watching his brother compete in an open-water swim in 2015, a year later Brendan was doing the same. Despite it being exhausting and challenging, it made him feel vitally alive. In 2018 he happened to see an advertisement encouraging swimmers to take on the English Channel. A spark of an idea was lit.
Through COVID-19 restrictions, he trained for hours at dawn in the murky Menindee Lake system, and in icy local waters, determined to take on one of the world's most challenging ocean swims. And he did, completing the Channel crossing in 17 hours, after strong currents dragged him off course and extended his journey to 64 kilometres – almost double the shortest possible distance a swimmer might cover to make it across.
The Desert Swimmer shows the good that comes from facing challenges head on.
The inspirational true story of an Aussie bloke from the outback, crippled with depression, who challenges himself to swim the English Channel as a way of managing his mental health struggles.
Brendan Cullen manages Kars Station, a 10,000-head sheep property 65 kilometres outside Broken Hill, N...
Discover more
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
