Support Blog

Just eight days into her epic voyage around Australia, solo Queensland adventurer Margaret Williams' biggest battle is to stay awake.

The 45-year-old doctor has been deprived of sleep for much of her first week at sea due to severe storms while trying to avoid being run down by tankers in a busy shipping lane.

Even so, Dr Williams was upbeat despite what has been a very stressful week.

"I felt very vulnerable sitting in the middle of a violent electrical storm 200 (nautical) miles out to sea and all alone," Dr Williams told her support team by radio on Thursday.

"I'm in desperate need of some decent sleep right now but am in better spirits and it's much less stressful now that I'm out of the shipping lane," she said.

Dr Williams set off from Mooloolaba, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, in the 12 metre sloop Against All Odds, on October 19.