He talked the talk and now, Rod Moore has walked the walk.
The underwater walker successfully completed his biggest and toughest adventure yet on Wednesday when he walked on the bottom of Sydney Harbour.
It took him a gruelling six hours to walk five kilometres of one of the world’s most famous waterways from Rose Bay to Rushcutters Bay, where he reached depths of up to 15 metres.
The Hunter man described it as a murky and sandstone boulder-studded slog.
Rod Moore described Sydney Harbour as almost twice as long, more than double the depth, and immeasurably harder than his recent Lake Macquarie underwater walk
‘It was like mountain climbing at times,’ Mr Moore told the Newcastle Herald.
‘The rocks were up to 10 feet high and covered in kelp.’
Mr Moore was fed air through a line from a support boat, which got entangled on the keel of a yacht near Double Bay.
‘It was pretty nerve-wracking at times,’ support crewman Mark Boyce said.
‘We had a few hiccups, but we got there.’
A relieved Rod Moore reached the finish line at Rushcutters Bay six hours after entering the waters of Sydney Harbour
Rod Moore said the harbour was in good condition, despite the limited visibility and stepping over a lot of rubbish
Mr Moore told the Herald: ‘It’s amazing how big those keels are. It’s dark down there on an overcast day.’
Mr Moore was relieved to not have come face-to-face with his biggest fear of bull sharks, which are common in the harbour.
The harbour walk was three months after walking three kilometres under Lake Macquarie from Marks Point to Belmont, where he raised $8000 for a Balinese orphanage.
He did the same underwater journey 30 years earlier, as a 25-year-old.
This week’s Sydney Harbour adventure raised awareness for Kiwanis International, which empowers members to pursue creative ways to serve the needs of children through local service projects and fundraising.’
‘Really happy that we all had a great day for Kiwanis,’ Mr Moore posted on Facebook.
He highly recommends the underwater walk and says it’s better than taking the ferry on the harbour.
‘This is much more exclusive,’ he said.