Heartbreaking reason this woman rode 5500km through outback

An Australian woman grieving the loss of both her parents has set off on a mammoth outback trek, riding two horses through 5500 kilometres of desert and bushland.

Sarah Wheeler's dad died unexpectedly in 2010, when she was just 12-years-old.

"I was sent away to boarding school, like many kids from the bush and he called me one night and I had no idea that it would be the last time I would ever hear his voice," Sarah told Today.

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The tragedy made Sarah, her mum and her siblings hold each other just that little bit tighter, but 12 years later, heartbreak struck again.

"My mum passed away from stage four bile duct cancer in February 2022, so I decided that I really wanted to do something to honour their memory," she said.

Sarah bought herself two geldings and set off from her home in Rowena, a small town in the far northeast of NSW, on a nine-month, 5502 kilometre adventure, all while raising funds for early detection research and treatment of upper GI cancers through the PanCare Foundation.

She visited multiple rural towns and locations and met hundreds of locals along the way.

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"I came across camels, wild dogs and emus and I had a stock whip my father bought me when I was a young girl so I could defend my horses," she said.

"When I finished the trek, I rode back into my hometown of Rowena and went to the pub where my sister came running up with a schooner.

"But just seeing all those people there and all the welcome home signs, it was a really beautiful feeling and a really beautiful sight."

Sarah has so far raised more than $480,000 and was inspired to create her own charity, A Daughter's Way, where she hopes to help others who have lost loved ones to navigate their grief.
Hear Sarah's full chat with Today in the video above