“I could see from the ecology and from the rock formation that it was going to be a windswept, harsh, wet environment.<\/p>\n
“But it was so, so quiet. Just the waves on the rocks and the occasional sounds of birds \u2026 It was so beautiful.”<\/p>\n
Soul Search<\/a><\/p>\n Soul Search explores contemporary religion and spirituality from the inside out.<\/p>\n The 39-year-old wasn’t sightseeing. She was a contestant on the popular reality TV show, Alone Australia, and was being tested to see how long she could survive entirely by herself.<\/p>\n The show sees 10 people dropped off into different areas of a remote and unforgiving landscape with limited equipment and no contact with the outside world.<\/p>\n This season, the setting was a rugged, mountainous region of lutruwita\/Tasmania.<\/p>\n Contestants are required to film themselves enduring the challenges of their environment (and pass health checks) for as long as possible. The last person standing wins $250,000.<\/p>\n After a season in New Zealand, Alone Australia returned to Tasmania for its third season. (Supplied: SBS)<\/p>\n Though Ooms isn’t a dyed-in-the-wool survivalist \u2014 she left her job as a food safety consultant to appear on the show \u2014 she withstood 70 days in the wild before “tapping out”. She finished as second runner-up and was the last woman to leave the competition.<\/p>\n The experience changed her forever.<\/p>\n “Even now, I still have trouble articulating the connection I felt with myself and with the land,” she says.<\/p>\n “The cameras do not and will not capture it. It was a beautiful place.<\/p>\n “I never considered myself a spiritual person, but \u2026 I can now relate to how people interpret spirituality.”<\/p>\n Running wild in Scotland<\/p>\n Ooms was born in Glasgow but moved to the Scottish Highlands as a child.<\/p>\n An independent and outdoorsy only child, she learned foraging from her dad and describes herself as “a nine-year-old with an axe”, playing in the rough, mountainous countryside.<\/p>\n Ooms spent her formative years foraging and exploring the Scottish countryside. (Supplied: Corinne Ooms)<\/p>\n Her adventurous spirit continued into adulthood, and she backpacked around the world before settling in Tasmania 12 years ago.<\/p>\n She says her decision to go on Alone Australia was motivated by self-exploration.<\/p>\n “How much do you know about yourself if you keep going through the same routines and don’t push yourself out of your comfort zone?” she says.<\/p>\n “I knew I was going to suffer; I wanted to reach that point and push past it.”<\/p>\n But Ooms was very different from the experienced survivalists the show \u2014 and its US counterpart \u2014 usually attracts.<\/p>\n “I had not done something like this before; this was a brand new experience,” she says.<\/p>\n “I hadn’t spent more than five days on my own and probably 10 days out in the wilderness without a phone or technology, so I really didn’t know what to expect.”<\/p>\n She never assumed she’d get particularly far in the competition, even telling her clients she’d be back soon.<\/p>\n “I really didn’t expect to last as long as I did \u2014 I thought I’d be out within a month,” she says.<\/p>\n Honing her senses<\/p>\n At first, Ooms found the demands of the environment \u2014 and the show \u2014 overwhelming. While she had experience with foraging and setting up camp outdoors, being completely self-reliant was a challenge.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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