Lyn Battle considers her isolation more a blessing than a curse.

Nestled in the crook of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Sweers Island is one of the remotest places in Australia, and Lyn and Tex make up its entire permanent population.

While everything runs on island time here, free time is often scarce for the couple as they host guests who flock to their resort hoping to reel in a big one.

“Whether it’s fishing, cleaning the boats, cooking meals for guests, washing linen; during the tourist season we’re definitely kept busy,” Lyn said.

“Part of our job involves being social with the guests. We sit down and have meals with them, and you have a few drinks in the evening.”

Lyn said she found the drinks were sometimes flowing too freely.

“You go home and want to sit down and have a nightcap to relax. I just found that I was drinking more wine, topping up my glass,” she said.

“You wake and you feel a bit groggy, you never feel 100 per cent.”

Five years ago, Lyn swapped the pinot for a paddle and hasn’t stopped kayaking since.

“Instead of seeing that you’re missing something, you look at what you’re gaining and that’s when I took on the paddle challenge. It gave me something else to focus on,” she explained.

Dugongs, turtles and crabs

In 2018, Lyn took her 30-day no alcohol challenge to the extreme by becoming the first documented person to circumnavigate Sweers Island non-stop.

It took her 6.5 hours to complete the 28-kilometre trip.

This month, she did it for the fifth time.

“I didn’t even have a boat when I decided to take this on. Giving up the wine, I could save up to change that,” she said.

Lyn relishes her solitude on the water, with nothing but water around her and her thoughts keeping her company.

Out here, the steady rhythm of her paddle slicing the sea is only broken by the breeze and curious wildlife.

“I’ve seen dugong, turtles, crabs swimming on the surface. They don’t run away like with a motorised dinghy,” she said.

Safety a priority on remote island

But there’s also a danger to being alone in such a remote part of the world and Lyn takes no chances.

“I carry a marine VHF radio and personal locator beacon on my person, so that even if I fell overboard and got separated from the vessel, I would have access to emergency comms,” she said.

“I also keep tethered to the boat by a long line just in case. Kayaks can be blown out of reach very quickly.”

Five years into her alcohol-free lifestyle, Lyn feels healthier and happier than ever as she and her husband eye off retirement on the mainland.

Wherever they end up, the kayak’s going too.