F1 star Mark Webber's epic race across a rugged Tasmanian landscape
For me, a holiday means being able to switch off completely. Of course, taking a long break is impossible during the Formula 1 season, which this year started in Melbourne in March and will end in Brazil in November.
Other than a few mini-breaks to the South of France or Italy, my last major holiday was in November and December when I went home to Australia.
I enjoyed a few days with the family in my hometown of Queanbeyan, near Canberra, and I also went to Tasmania, which is an incredible part of the world. It's also where the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge is returning this December after a three-year break.
Taking to the water: Mark tackles a section of the 220-mile Tasmania Challenge course with teammate Emma Weitnauer
It is a five-day adventure across 220 miles of the island's most spectacular landscape involving trekking, mountain-biking, swimming and kayaking all of the outdoor sports I love.
The Challenge is open to a maximum of 80 people, from total beginners to elite athletes. People can enter as part of a team or as individuals. We have staged four of them so far, and every one has been fantastic. Competitors range in age from their late teens to their mid-50s.
In the past, we have attracted everyone from Olympic gold-medal winners to accountants and councillors.
Among the celebrities who have taken part are rower James Cracknell, former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh and tennis player Pat Rafter.
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The really competitive guys love to stay at the front of the pack, but there are a lot of tough women out there too. They have a higher pain threshold than men, are more resilient and don't whinge as much.
For others, just competing is enough, but they always surprise themselves at how well they can perform when pushed. It's such an incredible experience. I reckon 60 per cent of people who've done it say it has changed their lives.
It helps that the camaraderie during the five days is amazing back at base camp each night, everyone is interested in how everyone else is doing. This is where the competitors swap tales of their adventure thus far while they rest and recover ahead of the next day's exertions.
A splash of luxury: The new five-star Saffire-Freycinet Resort occupies a sensational spot on the island's east coast
Everyone uses the Challenge for different goals for some it is just to get fitter and lose weight. By the time they finish, some people are unrecognisable, both physically and mentally, from when they signed up to compete. The finishing rate is exceptional.
Organisers supply race kit, all meals, tents and specialist equipment such as kayaks, and there is a full support crew in attendance, including medics, massage therapists and mechanics.
The Cha! llenge a lso raises money for the Mark Webber Foundation, which has supported charities such as the Leukaemia Foundation and the Save The Tasmanian Devil campaign.
It's so rewarding to receive letters afterwards from people we have helped. I plan to take part in at least some of this year's race myself. Itwill certainly help keep me in shape people don't realise just how fit you have to be to drive a Formula 1 racing car. It can be pretty exhausting.
Tough of the track: Cycling, running and kayaking ensure an all-round challenge
Within reason, I have to maintain my fitness all the time. I exercise and train every day for two or three hours, and that includes when I'm on holiday. Unfortunately, I can't tuck into too many milkshakes or eat too much ice cream when I am away. I have to be careful with my diet it wouldn't look good if I couldn't fit into the car's cockpit.
Fortunately, I enjoy being active, and driving a Formula 1 car has helped me in other walks of life in terms of discipline and focus. I suffered a pretty bad leg fracture a few years ago, so running has taken a bit of a hit.
However, I would like to get back into it. I would like to complete a skydive one day, too. Taking yourself through something that is going to test you physically and mentally is always very rewarding. And I would like to get my pilot's licence.
As long as I've done some kind of keep-fit activity during the day, particularly in the morning, then I feel I can switch off and unwind later on. Still, you won't catch me sitting on the beach reading a book for too long.
For me, holidays are about sharing time with other people. So I spend half my breaks just with Annie, my partner of 15 years. The rest of the time we see other couples, fri! ends and family.
Generally, Annie and I like the same things. Luckily neither of us enjoys big cities and wouldn't want to go to New York, for example. Like me, she prefers quiet, remote places, and we both like animals. We have two dogs Shadow, a Weimaraner, and Simba, a Rhodesian Ridgeback a Siberian cat called Kiska, Oliver, a rescue donkey, plus alpacas and chickens.
I would like to take Annie to South Africa for a safari and also to visit Cape Town, and I'd love to go to Patagonia and New Zealand. It's always nice to have a bit of time away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and go somewhere reasonably remote.
Formula 1 has become more high-profile in recent years, attracting much more media coverage. Luckily, I've had plenty of top-three finishes over the past few seasons, including winning last year's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Being successful changes things now it means I get recognised in the street. The reaction around Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, where I live, has been amazing. People are happy to see me and talk to me at the petrol station most of the time and realise I'm just a normal bloke.
I was out on my bike recently with Mitch Evans, a young driver I have been mentoring, and we rode to the top of a hill where two women were looking at a map. I tried to help them out, and one of them said: 'Goodness, you look just like Mark Webber.' I just rolled with it. 'Yeah, a lot of people say that,' I replied. Then she said: 'You've even got an Australian accent.'
Great Outdoors: Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake are two spectacular sights in Tasmania
I've lived in Britain since 1996 and have made a lot of good friends here. The country has certainly grown on me. The weather is something I've learned to live with, but it hasn'! t been t oo massive an adjustment: the weather in Canberra can be pretty cold, too. Generally, I prefer warm weather, though I don't mind curling up next to a fire in a little log cabin in the Scottish Highlands.
There are lots of beautiful places in Britain that rival any in the world in terms of scenery Scotland with its lochs and mountain ranges, the Lake District, the Cotswolds and Cornwall are all pretty spectacular. I've seen a lot of the country I once rode my bike from John O'Groats to Land's End.
Holiday hell for me is queues and packed areas. Weather plays a role, too. I don't mind taking on the elements to a degree, but being penned in a location, sick of each other's company, isn't good.
Sometimes you can put a lot of effort and planning into a holiday and not enjoy it nearly as much as a spur-of the- moment decision. For example, four or five years ago, Annie and I went to Tahiti. It was a bit of an undertaking to get there and it was so disappointing. We were unlucky with the weather, the resort was a bit tired and there were lots of flies and mosquitoes (Annie's not big on the insects).
On the flip-side, a trip to the Maldives was phenomenal. I enjoyed the scuba-diving, the people were great, and it was superb to be in the middle of nowhere.
Through my racing, I have visited many places but my mind has to be on my job, so usually I get only a snapshot of what these various countries are really like. It's often the more far-flung venues on the Formula 1 circuit that I get some chance to explore places such as Malaysia, Canada and Shanghai. That's because the drivers tend to fly to these locations early to get over any jet-lag.
All-action hero: Mark runs part of the course, people are often surprised by the levels of fitness a Formula 1 driver needs to maintai! n
Sometimes I use these extra days to do a little mountain-biking. I also like looking in the local motorbike shops. I grew up with bikes as my father ran a Yamaha dealership for 20 years, and I love watching motorbikes on TV.
I have great memories of childhood holidays with my parents. We used to go to Batemans Bay, one of the most beautiful towns on the Eurobodalla nature coast in New South Wales.
We would mess around in the ocean all the time and feed birds. Eurobodalla it means Land of Many Waters is about 60 miles of spectacular coastline, with 83 beaches, mountains, forests, lakes and a huge amount of wildlife. While you are there you can learn to surf, kayak or even sky-dive.
And of course, I love Tasmania it's a stunning piece of land. The scenery blows people away, even those from other parts of Australia. That's why the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge is a trip of a lifetime for many. We go to some of the best places in Tasmania, locations other tourists rarely stumble across.
Cradle Mountain is amazing, Dove Lake is pretty spectacular, Port Arthur and the east coast are stunning. Freycinet is fantastic too.
Nearby is the 50-mile South West Track that usually takes between five and six days to walk. It's pretty rough, but highly recommended for anyone who likes long walks. During the Challenge, the racers camp.
But if you are just visiting Tasmania, the island has some great hotels and lodges. The Freycinet Lodge, the Henry Jones Art Hotel in Hobart, Launceston Country Club and the new five-star Saffire-Freycinet are all recommended. If you can't make the Challenge but will be in Tasmania at the same time as us, why not come down and cheer us on?
Mark Webber was talking to Wendy Gomersall.
Travel Facts
For more information on the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge, visit www.markwebbertasmaniachallenge.c! om.
For further information on Tasmania, go to www.discovertasmania.com. STA Travel (0844 8440228, www.statravel.co.uk) offers flights to Tasmania from 799 return price valid from August 16 to December 8, 2011. STA also offers a six-day Taste of Tasmania tour from 388pp with accommodation to suit all budgets.
Turquoise Holidays (www.turquoiseholidays.co.uk), Tailor Made Travel (www.tailormade.co.uk), Black Tomato (www.blacktomato.co.uk), Audley Travel (www.audleytravel.com) and Austravel (www.austravel.com) all offer tailor-made trips to Tasmania.
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