‘The hardest year... but we do not regret it for a second’: Giaan Rooney on tree change
After Covid forced a life rethink, Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney and husband Sam Levett packed up their city life and moved their family to a farm in northern NSW.
VWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from VWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Giaan Rooney is happier on the farm than she ever was in the pool.
It’s been 16 years since the Olympic Gold medallist retired from the sport she once loved – but she’s never looked back, and her life today is worlds apart from the strict regimen of monotony professional swimming turned her days into.
A year ago, she and husband Sam Levett, 38, along with their children Zander, 8, and Alexa, 5, and their rescue dachshund cross kelpie, Roy, moved from the Gold Coast to their macadamia farm in northern NSW about 30 minutes’ drive from Lismore, where no two days are the same.
And after the hardest 12 months of their lives due to Covid, devastating floods and dropping nut prices – the truth is, they would do it all over again. Because even in the worst of times, it’s home. Exactly as it should be.
“In terms of what we have gained, it’s been amazing – we just absolutely love it,” the swimming commentator and media personality says from her piece of paradise outside of Clunes, slowly drying out after their first dry spell since January.
“Personally I would like to have more time to help on the farm and less time away – but that shows you how much we love it.
“Also because I’m not a naturally glamorous person, I have to work at that side of it.
“I’m actually far more comfortable with dirt under my fingernails and a pair of old boots on – all of a sudden, it’s getting harder and harder to get to the glamorous Giaan.”
While the romantic notion of a tree or sea change has swept up city dwellers like Rooney, and those enamoured by the prospect of a slower life prompted by the pandemic – that new life has been anything but easy.
Wrapped up in border closures, lockdowns and homeschooling along with the rest of the country, the farm jobs never stopped – and then came the rain.
“We have had nearly 3000mm of rain since January – the normal yearly rainfall in our area is 1200mm – we had 1015mm in two days when the floods hit our closest town, Lismore, and it only really stopped eight days ago,” she said recently.
“The mud is next level, our farm workload has doubled if not tripled, our machinery needs cleaning every day, the harvesters get bogged and need pulling out every few rows and our de-husking equipment blocks constantly due to wet nuts.
“Keeping the grass mown is near impossible and all of our animals are on agistment on drier farms. The macadamia nut price is depressingly low.
“But not only do we still not regret the move, we know we are the lucky ones.
“Many nut farmers in our area are putting a line through the season as they simply can’t get on to their farms to harvest their nuts – Sam just refuses to accept this reality, so ploughs on.
“So many friends and families in the area have lost their businesses, so many are suffering from anxiety due to the never ending rain and the number of people who will require extensive trauma counselling due to the flood events will be enormous.
“Sam and I are both very lucky that we are very positive people. We’re optimists – realists, but optimists – and I think that’s a really good mix in this environment.
“I think it speaks volumes to the fact that the year that we’ve been here, everyone will say across the industry, across the area, that this has been the hardest year these areas have ever had in recent times.
“So for us to have picked up our family life and moved here during that, and had the hardest year that this area has ever had – and that we still do not regret it for a second – shows not only how much we love this little community, but we know it can’t always be like this.
“And if we can survive this, imagine how good the good times are going to be.”
The 39 year old’s big city childhood was far removed from Levett’s rural background – something they both wanted for their children.
So their 22ha macadamia farm – originally bought in December 2020 as a weekend holiday home – became their future. So much in fact, they bought next door – 56ha all together – and made the big move.
“I had no farming background whatsoever,” Rooney laughs.
“I was born in Brisbane, lived most of my life on the Gold Coast and then spent 13 years in Melbourne where I met Sam, who is a fifth generation cattle farmer and when we met he was a mustering helicopter pilot and had taken a job out of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
“I love learning about his world, and the more I get into it, the more I love it.
“We were looking for a weekend holiday house, but it had to be able to pay for itself.
“Sam’s got an online advertising agency for livestock, so we were looking for a cattle property within two hours of the Gold Coast so we could do weekends there – but we couldn’t afford the amount of land needed for a cattle property in the areas that we wanted to be in.
“And then we stumbled across this macadamia farm.
“And Sam, being Sam – nothing fazes him – he’s got such a strong sense of self.
“He’s not a risk taker, but he’s like … ‘well, what’s the worst that can happen? We don’t like it? It doesn’t work? How hard can maccas be, you know?’
“We spent the whole school holidays down here after we bought it in December 2020 and we fell in love with the area – we found our little community, with everything.
“So when the neighbouring property came up for sale – it was twice the size of ours with a proper setup, and we don’t even share a fence – we were like, do we do this?
“The kids loved it, we loved it – my little girl had a pony, my son had a four wheeler, and they were out and there was … space.
“And I fell in love with the space, the light, and all of that.
“So we made the full-time move on June 8 last year – and our lives have changed completely. I mean, I had an incredible childhood growing up in Queensland – you were always outside, and our curfew on the Gold Coast was when the streetlights came on to come inside for dinner.
“And Sam’s childhood on a working cattle farm was incredible.
“Now we feel like we’ve been able to give our kids the best of both worlds. We’re rural, but we’re not driving an hour and a half to our closest town, or anything like that.
“We’re not isolated, but we can’t see a neighbour. It’s the best of both worlds.”
A 15-minute, traffic-free drive away, there are 80 kids in the whole school, with nowhere for Zander and Lexi to fall through the academic cracks. Everyone knows everyone, and that’s the way Rooney likes it.
Zander wants to drive every piece of machinery – he’s devastated when he’s not allowed to operate the tractor by himself, Rooney laughs. And Lexi, who just turned five, loves animals and being on the harvester with her dad – but she’s the girly-girl farmer in boots and a pretty dress.
“It’s truly ticked every box for the best childhood we could think to give our children,” Rooney says.
“For me, my job is very much working for the most part in cities, and talking and listening to people’s stories and having that very public life.
“And then I get to come home. And it’s so peaceful. I sit on the back deck and watch the sunset, and it’s restorative. For some people that’s jumping in the ocean – which I still
love – but for me, seeing the greenery and the light that is here, and the peaceful nature of not seeing a neighbour … I feel like it’s my little sanctuary.
“And because I travel for work, time together as a family is not quantity of time, it’s quality.
“So when we’re together, we’re together.
“And when we’re doing jobs together, the kids are very much a part of those jobs.
“I love that they’re learning so many skills that aren’t necessarily taught in the classroom, but life skills they’re picking up organically along the way.
“Zander has almost taken on like a foreman role where he’s quite happy to put his helmet on, head off on his bike and go find Dad to be part of it when he comes home from school, which I love.
“And Lexi’s a very girly girl which is so interesting for me because I was a complete tomboy growing up … but here she is wanting to wear a dress and then put her farm boots on.
“They’ve both thrived in this environment, so we haven’t had a moment of regret.”
Despite battling mother nature as well as a pandemic, this life is forever – or at least until the kids grow up and decide what kind of life they want, and whether that would change their family direction.
“I think we’d all struggle now to move back to suburbia, and a big city,” Rooney says.
“I even think we’d probably struggle to move out of the area, actually.
“We will stay and work it as long as it works for us.
“I love being a primary producer, and I love that connection to the farming community of Australia.
“I’ve got such respect for farmers, Australia wide. They have the hardest job in the world, completely at the mercy of mother nature, who can be so cruel.
“Look at us, we’re in flood, and then there’s still half of the country that’s in drought. I mean, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.
“But I love being part of that community, and feeling like we’re contributing to it.”
Rooney’s career in the pool started when she was 11, training with the likes of Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski.
Making her international swimming debut for Australia at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the 15 year old won a gold medal in the 100m backstroke and was part of Australia’s gold-medal winning 4×100m medley relay team.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics she won two silver medals as part of relays and, four years later, took home a gold medal in world record time in the women’s 4×100m medley relay.
Captaining the swimming team in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she won silver medals in the 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke. It was after that meet, it all changed. Swimming, for her, was over.
She was just 23, and at the top of her game. And while she loved racing – and winning – she hated training. So why waste time doing something you hate?
“I actually haven’t swum a lap since then either,” she says.
“I am so grateful for my career in swimming but, also, the day I retired I had no regrets.
“I was the best athlete that I had the capabilities of being.
“It’s not like I could have worked harder.
“It’s not like I could have raced better – there was nothing I could have done to have been any better than the athlete that I was.
“So I’m really content with my swimming career, and I walked away at the top of my game when I was ready – at my choosing.
“And that has allowed me to transition with no regrets into the next phase of my life. I’m happy just to leave it where it is and feel no need to revisit it. There’s nothing more that I can get out of swimming laps that I haven’t already got, so it’s a really healthy place to be. Because when you retire at 23, it’s the monotony of the training cycle that I knew I didn’t want to replicate in my life after swimming.
“And now, I’ve completely got no routine in my life.
“There are no two days that are the same … and that’s what I needed after the groundhog day experience of a swimming career.
“So I feel fortunate that I’ve had both sides.
“At the end of the day, you don’t get anything without hard work.
“But if you actually enjoy the work, then that’s part of the journey to happiness.
“And I don’t think happiness is a destination – it has got to be achieved in the sometimes mundane of everyday.
“But if you love what you do, then it’s not a job at all.”
On the other side of the world from her sanctuary, the Commonwealth Games start in the UK on Thursday, July 28.
Rooney won’t be poolside, but she will be providing expert analysis from the Sydney Sunrise studios every morning for the entirety of the meet.
“That’s what I did during the Olympics last year, and loved it,” she says.
“I obviously have still a huge connection to swimming, and still probably the most favourite part of my job is being given the opportunity to tell athletes’ stories, and to be able to share their stories and when they don’t have a voice, I can be that voice for them.
“I see it as a huge responsibility, because I also know the questions I hated being asked when I swam or if any information of mine was wrong or not told properly.
“I love using my experiences in the pool, of what I learned about myself, to be able to hopefully give others some tools about what works in life. And especially getting out of your comfort zone.
“One of my life mottos is that you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
“And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Because every time I’ve got out of my comfort zone, that’s when magical things have happened.”
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘The hardest year... but we do not regret it for a second’: Giaan Rooney on tree change
The 89 secrets behind RecipeTin Eats’ meteoric rise
From accountant to food success story writing the biggest-selling book in Australia in 2023, Nagi Maehashi reveals the secrets of her success.
‘Who the f–k am I about to piss off?’: Mackenzie Arnold’s revelation
Mackenzie Arnold has shared the behind the scenes story of the extreme highs and lows of being the Matildas’ top goalkeeper.