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Real Survival Stories

Tasmania Emergency: Needle of Rock in the Waves

Real Survival Stories

NOISER

History, Society & Culture, Wilderness, Sports, Documentary

4.81.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Celia Bull and her partner Paul set out to climb a sea-stack off the coast of Tasmania. Over 200 feet tall, this slender spire of rock is just 13 feet in diameter. The fact that it remains standing amidst the frothing waves seems to defy logic. When Paul is severely injured, he’s left dangling from a rope off the side of the monolith. It’s up to Celia to rescue him, before the rising tide can claim him… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Matt Peaty | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:01.9

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0:21.5

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0:26.8

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0:33.3

It's Friday, February the 13th, 1998.

0:36.7

In Tasmania, an island state of striking natural beauty,

0:40.3

located some 150 miles south of the Australian mainland.

0:45.3

Judding out from the southeast coast of the island, the carved fluted cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula

0:51.3

plunged down towards the foaming waters of the South Pacific,

0:56.0

where chubby seals bask on sea-drenched rocks, while sleek-skinned dolphins frolic in the rolling

1:01.7

waves beyond. From the cliff tops, the horizon is an unbroken blue expanse of sea and sky.

1:10.0

It's like standing on the edge of the world. And there,

1:13.6

in a narrow cleft between the craggy cliffs, a tall, impossibly slender monolith rises from

1:21.1

the turbulent surf, its base battered continuously by waves on all sides.

1:28.3

This brittle, rocky spire is known as the totem pole.

1:33.3

Measuring over 200 feet in height, but just 13 feet in diameter, the fact that it remains standing almost seems to defy logic.

1:43.3

Midway up the needle-like pillar, a small, narrow ledge juts out from the stone, no wider than a single bed,

1:51.0

and crouching on top of it, frozen in shock, is a woman in her early 30s, locks of sandy hair flying around her sculpted cheekbones.

2:03.5

Celia Bull scrambles to the edge of the rocky shelf and peers down it, a sickening feeling

2:09.1

stealing over her as she stares towards the seething mass of waves surrounding the column.

2:15.6

There's like a few moments after the silence, and I looked down.

2:20.4

And when I looked down and saw him, I knew that we had a problem.

...

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