Freya Hoffmeister (pictured on the right above) was born on the 10th of May, 1964 and she is a German business owner and athlete who holds several sea kayaking endurance records.

In 2009 she completed a circumnavigation of Australia solo and unassisted, becoming the first woman and only the second person to do so. On May 3, 2015, she became the first person to solo circumnavigate the continent of South America.

Hoffmeister's Australian trip commenced from Queenscliff, Victoria on January 18, 2009. She paddled in an anti-clockwise direction along the Australian mainland coastline and completed the 13,790 kilometres (8,570 mi) voyage in 322 days, of which 245 were paddling. Hoffmeister reached the approximate half-way mark at Broome, Western Australia in 171 days on 29 June 2009, and finished back at Queenscliff on December 15, 2009. To take a "shortcut", she paddled across the Gulf of Carpentaria from Jackson River to Nhulunbuy a distance of 575 kilometres (357 mi). The crossing took seven nights and eight days and required sleeping in the kayak at sea.

She had to deal with "salt water crocodiles, sharks, sea snakes and deadly jellyfish"on her journey, and "at one point a shark bit the stern, leaving two holes in the side of the kayak".

More Info: en.wikipedia.org