Love Stories

Brooke McClymont rode her bike past Adam Eckersley 's house every morning on the way to school in Grafton. Most mornings he'd yell out that he was going to marry her one day. She'd yell back "in your dreams, mullet head."  Ten years later they ran into each other at the pub at Christmas. Adam was living in his van at Merewether Beach. Brooke had a record deal. They sat up all night over cabanossi and brie and eventually worked out that they were more than friends. Then they signed a six-month lease in case it didn't work. That was 18 years ago.  In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, the country music couple talk to Tiffany Dunk about making a marriage work in an industry that pulls people apart: the three-week rule for time on the road, the morning shift Adam took for years so Brooke could sleep, and the six weeks he spent alone with two kids in lockdown while Brooke was on I'm a Celebrity.  They also go to the hard places. The COVID year when they were about to lose the farm, and the idea that saved it. The month Adam stopped getting out of the ute to play with his daughter at the bus stop, and what that told him. And the night he asked Brooke to book him in to talk to someone, because he knew he'd turn up if she did.  Their third album Souls on Show is out now, and one track, 'In and Out of Love', is the closest thing they have to a marriage manifesto: stay together while you fall in and out of it. Two decades on, Adam still says Brooke has the best female voice in Australia, and she still says he's the best songwriter she's ever written with.     Buy Souls on Show or book tickets to their show here  Email [email protected] with your date and accommodation preference to book Hang at the Wang  Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes Australia.   You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice  Moments you’ll hear:  The teenage bike ride past Adam's house, the marriage proposal shouted from the front yard, and the two words Brooke yelled back Why Adam says his eldest son, not Brooke, was the first time he ever felt love, and why he still barely says the word Cabanossi, brie and an all-night talk: the least romantic "we're official" conversation you'll ever hear Living in a van at Merewether Beach, and the night-time toilet runs that finally convinced Brooke to get a lease A wedding on the Tamworth farm with Tom Gleeson on the mic, a mud-brown dress and a groom covered in scabies The three-week rule that stopped touring from quietly ending their marriage Six weeks alone with two kids in lockdown while Brooke was in the jungle, and the letter Adam sent in: "I'm a Parent, Get Me Out of Here" Nearly losing the farm during COVID, and the 40-fans-at-a-time idea that saved it The bus stop moment that made Adam realise he needed help, and why he asked Brooke to make the booking Date night is a fire in the bottom shed, and 20 years from now it's a veggie patch with Brooke on a throne Thank you for listening ❤️  Before you leave...  🗣️ Get in touch  What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au  Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]  If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories  Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽  Credits  Host: Tiffany Dunk  Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace  Production by Leah Porges  Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team  Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain  Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Content warning: This episode discusses veteran mental health, alcohol use, and suicide. Support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7).  On a 3am car ride home together, Mark and Cherelle Herewini discussed marriage – four weeks later they were husband and wife. Now, after nearly three decades and multiple East Timor deployments, they're still together. But the years right after Mark hung up his uniform were some of the hardest of their marriage.  In this episode, Mark and Cherelle sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about what deployment looked like for a new mum waiting by the phone, the sense of purpose Mark lost the moment he left the Army, and the drinking and distance that crept into their marriage once he was home.  They also talk candidly about what support really looks like for veteran families, why so many people don't reach out until it's a crisis, and how the work Mark does can support other veterans to find their way back to a sense of purpose.  To all veterans who may be watching or listening to this episode, we thank you for your service.  Moments you’ll hear:  The 3am decision that led to a wedding just four weeks later  Growing up an Army kid, and the promise Cherelle swore she'd never break  Racing home from East Timor and missing the birth of their daughter by 12 hours  The five-minute phone calls, and the letters Cherelle still has  Mark losing his sense of purpose the moment the uniform came off  The years of drinking and distance that followed, and how they found their way back  What Mark hopes people understand about veterans, and what Cherelle hopes for veteran families  Thank you for listening ❤️  Before you leave...   🗣️ Get in touch   What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au/love-stories-podcast   Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]   If you share your love story on social media, please tag us. We’re @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories  Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at magshop.com.au/LOVESTORIES 👈🏽   Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes Australia.   You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice   Need help now? Wounded Heroes crisis line 1300 532 112, 24/7, Australia wide.  Credits  Host: Tiffany Dunk  Edited by Leah Porges  Production by Leah Porges  Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team  Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain  Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Rogers met his wife Lorna in a small English town. The two connected over a shared obsession with VW Beetles. They married, had three children, and moved to Perth chasing sunshine. Life was good until Lorna was diagnosed with melanoma and tragically died within a few years, leaving Jim a single father to three children under nine.  Eighteen months later, his parents sent him on a holiday he didn't want to go on. There, he met a man named Tyler. What followed was a relationship neither of them expected, kept quietly in the background of family life for years, and one that's now lasted 26 years.  In this episode, Jim and Millie sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the process of writing Jim's memoir together: the hardest parts to put into words, what it was like for Millie to hear new stories about her mum and her dad's early relationship with Tyler, and Jim's more recent diagnosis of young-onset Alzheimer's, which he's chosen to speak about publicly rather than hide.  Plus, Jim talks about the podcast he co-hosts with Hamish MacDonald, Hold the Moment, and what he hopes it can do to de-stigmatise Alzheimer's and help people with the diagnosis feel less alone.  Moments you’ll hear:  How Jim met Lorna, and the VW Beetle that started it all  Millie's memory of the day her dad told her and her siblings their mum had died  The holiday Jim didn't want to go on, and the man he met there  Millie's first inkling that her dad's friend was more than a friend  The proposal on top of the Empire State Building, and the surprise engagement at home  Jim's young-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis  Why Jim decided to write it all down, "warts and all"  Photo Credit: Rob Palmer  You can listen to Jim’s podcast, Hold The Moment, here.  Find Jim & Millie’s book, Holding on to Happiness, here.  Thank you for listening ❤️  Before you leave...  🗣️ Get in touch  What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au  Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]  If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories  Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽  Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.  You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice  Credits  Host: Tiffany Dunk  Edited by Leah Porges  Production by Leah Porges  Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team  Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain  Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, mental health issues, grief and the loss of a parent and child to illness. If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14.  Find more support services here: Need help? Support services and crisis helplines in Australia - The Australian Women's Weekly  In 2009, Gavin Larkin sat his wife Maryanne and their closest friends down at the dinner table and told them about an idea he'd been carrying since his own father died by suicide years earlier. It was a simple question that could change everything: "Are you okay?"  Allison "Ally" Langdon, a journalist and friend who was part of that conversation, knew instantly she had to help get the message out. What followed was R U OK? Day which has since grown into a national movement. But what followed was something that neither Ally nor Maryanne could have imagined.  In this episode, Ally and Maryanne sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the early, uncomfortable days of getting a newsroom to even say the word "suicide," what it actually looked like for Ally to show up for her friend in the hardest years of her life, and the quiet, everyday ways two women have held a friendship together, and a legacy alive, for close to two decades.  Moments you'll hear:  The dinner table conversation in 2009 that became R U OK? Day  Why newsrooms wouldn't touch the word "suicide," and the pushback Ally got  Maryanne on losing both Gavin and her eldest son Gus, and why moving into her late son's bedroom with her two younger kids helped them all grieve  The small, practical ways Ally and their friend group showed up during the hardest years  What it means to keep telling stories about someone you've lost  Nearly 20 years on, what they still hope for each other  Visit the R U OK? Day website here.  Learn more about Ally and Maryanne's friendship in our exclusive interview here Thank you for listening ❤️  Before you leave...  🗣️ Get in touch  What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au  Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]  If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories  Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽  Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin  Vixin real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au  Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now!  Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.  You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice  Credits  Host: Tiffany Dunk  Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace  Production by Leah Porges  Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team  Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain  Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Kavalee still remembers the exact moment he fell for his wife, and it happened on his TV screen, watching her compete as Angel on Gladiators.  In this episode, Tiff Hall and Ed Kavalee sit down with Tiffany Dunk (or podcast Tiff as Ed calls her) to talk about how a TV crush turned into an 18-year love story, including the radio interview Ed engineered just to meet her, the moment he got cold feet six months in, and the blender that won her back.  They also open up about becoming parents, Ed's own childhood without a father in the picture, and how that's shaped the kind of dad he wants to be. Plus, Tiff talks candidly about rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids, and why she built a business helping other women do the same.  Moments you’ll hear:  The night Ed first saw "Angel" on Gladiators, and his friend's prediction  The interview Ed engineered just to meet her (and the second one he asked for)  Their first date, and the book Ed used to test her sense of humour  The moment Ed got cold feet, and the gift that won Tiff back  Their engagement story – including a secretly pre-planned visit to a very famous jewellery store  Ed opening up about growing up without a dad, and what it means to him now  Tiff's journey to rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids  Find out more about Tiff’s self-defence classes here.  Check out Tiff's work with 28 by Sam Wood here.  Find Tiff Hall on Instagram here.  Keep up with Ed Kavalee on Instagram here.  Thank you for listening ❤️  Before you leave...  🗣️ Get in touch  What did you think? We are a new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at www.womensweekly.com.au   Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected]  If you share your love story on social media, please tag us @womensweeklymag and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories  Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽  Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin  Vixin: real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au  Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now!  Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.  You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice  Credits:  Host: Tiffany Dunk  Edited by Leah Porges  Production by Leah Porges  Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team  Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain  Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.