Monique Forestier could be the poster child for trying new things. She is one of Australia’s best rock climbers, being one of only two Australian women to complete a route graded 34.

But the only reason she started rock climbing was because someone gave her a free pass to a climbing gym in St Leonards when she was in her early 20s. She thought she’d give it a go, and loved it straight away.

“I thought it was incredible – I didn’t think I was going to do anything with rock climbing but it’s changed my life,” she said.

Ms Forestier said climbing was not about brute force and she loved the problem-solving aspect. As a child, she did gymnastics and reached elite level in the national stream but she quit at 14 and took up swimming for fitness rather than competition.

“The reason I quit was because I got too scared of the skills I was doing,” she said. “A lot of people say ‘oh you’re crazy doing rock climbing’ but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve got a rope and when I was a gymnast I didn’t have a rope so that was far more intimidating and extreme compared to what I’m doing now.”