Live Learn Survive - Help Yourself - Help Others.

When it all goes to plan, until it doesn't. Today the tech fairies did not allow our special guest to be with us, so in true Live Learn Survive fashion we soldiered on to bring you this catch up with Leigh and Maxi. This weeks Dad jokes are dedicated to our friend Ollie in England, what a little legend you are, keep shooting for the stars.

Paul Dorin is a station commander with Fire and Rescue NSW and in 2024 received the Australian Fire Service Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours for more than 30 years of service as a senior NSW firefighter. Based at Corrimal Fire Station in NSW Paul has a passion for helping others and has become a role model for his peers and local community which has seen Paul develop many safety initiativ...

Lifeguarding skills present opportunities to work all over the world, so just imagine working in Santa Teresa Costa Rica. Enjoy the replay of this inspiring chat is with Thomas Ritchie, founder of the Santa Teresa Lifeguards and his daughter Avalon, one of the volunteer lifeguards. A service founded by need in the community and run totally by volunteers enjoy the inspirational chat about what the...

Today on the Live Learn Survive podcast, we’re joined by none other than Professional Lifeguard Harrison Reid.   Born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, Harrison moved to Sydney to pursue his dream job of becoming a lifeguard and worked hard to earn his spot among the elite Waverley lifeguards, now working at Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches alongside Maxi and the team.  The spot...

Mieszko Szymeczko is the general manager and one of the founders of Baltic Rescue, a Lifeguard Association established in 2020 on the initiative of Polish Lifeguards. The aim of the organization being to promote lifeguarding in Poland and around the world. He has been a passionate lifeguard since 2009, a diving instructor, jet ski operator, and also a swimming instructor. He ha...

Tommy Herschell, a school teacher by trade he is now a full time facilitator in mental health, or as Tommy calls it mental mechanics, he is the driving force behind Find Ya Feet, which has a vision to empower everyone with the tools and skills to engage in conversations that go well past ‘how are ya.' He lists his achievement as still being married, and the fact he no longer feels like a victim, h...

Professor Greg Whyte OBE is a true inspiration, and we were so lucky to meet him in 2022. Awarded the OBE for services to Sport, Sport Science & Charity, he is an Olympian in modern pentathlon, and a European and World Championship medallist, Greg is the voice of authority for Exercise Physiology and Sports Exercise Performance in the UK. Especially well known for his role in Sports Relief whe...

 This week we are re-sharing the awesome interview with Mr Lawrie Williams as Leigh, Maxi and Lawrie were all finally able to meet in Bondi. Lawrie joined the Waverley Council professional lifeguards in 1978 when they were known as Beach Inspectors. A lifeguard through the late 1970s, the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, then re-joining as a casual last year it would be safe to say Lawrie h...

Harrison, into the jungle you go, we dedicate this episode to you. We are back and welcome to 2025 everyone and haven’t we started at a sprint, so much to celebrate in the first few days of this New Year. Over the next 3 weeks we will be following Harrison’s journey on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here as it he goes all out to become King of Jungle, as his nominated charity we could not be proud...

Allan is one of Australia’s most highly decorated citizens, being one of only five Australians in the past 49 years to receive Australia’s highest bravery decoration, The Cross of Valour, awarded in 1998 for saving the life of a small boy trapped in a flooded storm water pipe in Coffs Harbour.  In 2016, for another lifesaving rescue, Allan was awarded Australia’s fourth highest bravery decora...

Nathan Metcalfe is a qualified paramedic who joined New South Wales Ambulance Service in 2005. After spending  an incredible 17 years of dedicated service on road, he is now working for NSW Ambulance as an Aeromedical Control Centre Officer. Nathan’s career with NSWA included deployment with Team Alpha to aid in the 2011 Brisbane floods, as well as roles as Station Officer, Standby Control Ce...

To celebrate a New Year we have a special episode where we turn the hot seat on Maxi. A career well documented Leigh wants to know some of the other things that matter to Maxi. Why Live Learn Survive is so important to him, what legacy he wants to leave for future generations and what are the most important life lessons he has learned. A great conversation so we hope you enjoy this chat about what...

In this special episode for Christmas, we turn the hot seat on Leigh. Who is she? What did she do before Live Learn Survive and before she met Maxi? What and who influenced her growing up? Why is she so passionate about what she does? Always asking the questions, Maxi turned the spotlight on Leigh so we hope you enjoy this chat of what matters to our very own Founder.

Today we are in Outback Queensland with our friend Holly Thom who we met recently on our trip to the Maranoa region. Holly was raised in the local pub which is also the local hotel, many people may not realise these are often the same place in country towns across Australia. As a teenager Holly moved to the coast to study and gained a Diploma of Nursing at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital wh...

Emily and Matilda are two mums/paramedics/best friends who are also Founders of a business together called How to Save a Life. This incredible business teaches carers, soon to be parents and new parents, and in fact anyone who is around young children, Baby First Aid and CPR Training. Their business began in the front seat of an ambulance, they had spent many hours at university together, worked c...

Schools out for summer! This week saw our final school for 2024 in Sydney and what a great school it was with another warm welcome to greet Maxi. We wrap our year before we welcome so many guests to keep us company over summer, we really do hope you enjoy some of the amazing chats we have in store for you. Thanks to everyone who has been part of our journey this year, we have created over 3000 Lit...

This week, we talk about when a little dog becomes the smoke alarm, what a lucky owner he has got that is for sure and Maxi tells us about his old school tube rescue up against the rocks! Back in the office after a week on the road visiting awesome schools in Newcastle we are excited to have received delivery of our new superhero backpacks! Our Christmas cookies have arrived too and look...

Showing kindness is nice to do, but it really is a win win as there are so many more benefits to the giver as you will hear in our fast facts this week. Maxi had an action-packed day at the beach with some serious situations and the tip this week is all about safety around jetty’s and piers. So valuable as the weather heats up and storm season gets started, which led to quite a day for Leigh...

One of those days right, we all have them and today we share one of ours. We had no unfortunate event, until Leigh's internet collapsed and then the builders working next door to Maxi decided to provide the soundtrack to our podcast today, we think they want a spot in the Live Learn Survive playlist. We never promised you that we would be perfect, but we will always be real and we hope this makes...

Maxi the Lifeguard’s In Deep water is back! We dedicate this episode of the podcast to the book and why we wrote it, so children and adults could learn about rip currents whilst not even realising it, learn by simply having fun. Proudly written, illustrated printed and brought to life all here in Australia and we could not be happier to have it back, 6 years and 2 months after the first edition, w...

Hear it here first! Next week is going to a big week for us, and we are giving our podcast listeners a sneak peak of what is happening direct from us! We’ve waited a long time for this and are so grateful to everyone that has helped make it happen. In other news today, daylight saving also nearly caught us out, but it didn’t, and Maxi made it to school on time.

Lizzie Welborn is a 25 year old professional Surf Ironwoman from Sydney, Australia. Lizzie qualified for her first professional series when she was just 16, making her one of the youngest competitors to ever qualify, Lizzie has now competed in 9 professional series, placing in the top 3 multiple times and she has also represented Australia in the sport. Outside of surf sports Lizzie has also...

This week back to talk about the importance of learning how to float and the importance of being prepared as we head into storm season in Australia. A very special song added to the playlist this week, Sunny by Boney M as we dedicate this show to Sunny Jayne Maxwell, huge congrats to Trent and Tahlia, welcome to the world little one, your Dad can finally own his all Dad jokes 💗  

Professor Rob Brander, aka ‘Dr Rip’, is a coastal scientist, beach safety researcher and science communicator in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where he leads the UNSW Beach Safety Research Group. He has studied beaches for over 35 years starting in Canada where water temperatures convinced him to move to Aus...

It’s birthday week for Maxi and would you believe his birthday is also National Situational Awareness Day, a phrase he has said over a million (maybe) times as we have travelled around schools. Leig has been out and about and met the incredible PCYC Emergency Services Cadets and saw the Aqua Accessibility program launched by our friends at Bay Island Water Sports in Brisbane who have made water ac...