Tonight on Sunday ` how to save money on meat. Lots of money. COW LOWS Cowpooling. Is there really such a thing? Cowpooling. Is there really such a thing? Cowpooling. Yes. Sick of supermarket prices? Yes. Going thirds in a cow. We put this new consumer trend to the test to show you how you could save thousands. We ended up paying about $8 a kg over the entire cow. Prime cuts, cheap as chips. A purpose-built, highly tuned killing machine. You're prepared to die? You're prepared to die? Very much so. Husband, father and hero. I engaged and killed him. The Victoria Cross Anzac talks about love, honour and loss. Sorry, mate. Sorry, mate. Nah, nah, it's cool, mate. It's really... LIGHTNING CRASHES Oh my God! (SCREAMS) Mum stresses every time I come over here. The tornado tourist. Oh my God! Oh, there's a funnel cloud right above us. There's two of 'em! ELECTRIC GUITAR MUSIC Oh, wow! Oh my God! www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. Interested in buying prime beef at less than half price ` say, around $7 a kilo? We're not talking about stewing steak. We're talking about the choice cuts ` T-bone, porterhouse, eye fillet ` every cut you can imagine for $7.65 a kilo ` not to mention the sausages and mince. That's what cowpoolers pay. They're a frugal and proud lot. They've crunched the numbers, sharpened the knives and are leading an assault against supermarkets. Tonight we put cowpooling to the test, and the results are dollar-saving amazing. MAJESTIC MUSIC In the land of milk and honey, there is a quiet consumer revolution taking place. Frugal Kiwis with a taste for cheap meat are banding together, embracing a new movement, a new phenomenon, a new buzzword called... WHISTLING cowpooling. COW LOWS Cowpooling. Is there really such a thing? Cowpooling. Yes. (CHUCKLES) Yes. Going thirds in a cow. SIZZLING Everybody's looking for that bargain, and this is the bargain. SIZZLING We've got this whole trend towards self-sufficiency, you know ` being in control of your own destiny. So cowpooling is a part of that. URBAN MUSIC Jill Caldwell is not a cowpooler. She's a specialist on social trends. And she's fascinated by the rise of the cowpooler ` Mum-and-Dad meat eaters buying their own beasts and filling the freezer with home kill. During the early part of this century, it was all about affluence. It was all about flying in your whitebait from the West Coast and, you know, getting your champagne from France and, you know, living the good life and being very hedonistic. I think what's happened with the economic downturn is that it's made people really, kind of, think about what's important to them about food and where value lies. Does that meant we're getting tight? Does that meant we're getting tight? (CHUCKLES) We are... frugal. We're more frugal. Some ` not all ` but some of you will remember the days when we had meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner... COUNTRY MUSIC ...and the Sunday roast was a regular feature on the table. Times have changed. Is meat becoming unaffordable? You know, there is that feeling that those` those more expensive cuts ` the classic Sunday roast ` is becoming unaffordable for, you know, a normal family. So, yes. To be fair, people have always complained about the price of meat. Well, I think it's exorbitant. But fortunately we're living on what we've got in the freezer, cos we buy a side of beef at a time and so many sides of lambs` you know, of mutton. We haven't really felt it yet, cos I'm going to live off it until we have to start buying again, and hope things may have improved by then. That solution now seems to be coming back into vogue. I can see more and more families wanting to do it. I mean, but, yeah, once you've eaten home kill, I don't think you'd try anything else. GENTLE MUSIC Frugal and proud, Melanie McMinn is a dedicated cowpooler. Once you start thinking about meat outside of the grocery store, you see that it's much cheaper and the quality of meat is much higher. MEAT SIZZLES Cowpooling, she says, is common sense. In our syndicate, we ended up paying about $8 a kg over the entire cow. So, that includes mince; that includes eye fillet; that includes everything ` all of the cuts. So, it's hard enough to get mince at those prices, much less eye fillet. So, how easy is it to become a cowpooler and get your hands on some cheap meat? It's as easy as searching 'freezer beasts' on Trade Me, checking out a few prices, finding one you like,... clicking the 'buy now'. There you go. That done, I'm now on the road to becoming a cowpooler. COUNTRY MUSIC Meet Miss Moo. If you prefer to keep the image of meat safely separated from the image of an actual animal, then cowpooling is not for you. I must say, it's quite disconcerting to actually look into the eyes of a steak. MUSIC CONTINUES I can understand that consumers want to play a greater part in knowing where their food comes from, but, um, sounds a bit like a fad. Katherine Rich heads the NZ Food and Grocery Council ` a lobby group which represents manufacturers and suppliers to the grocery industry. There will be anecdotal examples of good experiences, but equally there will be examples of where things have gone horribly wrong and suddenly you're left with this huge animal in a chest freezer, and you've got to gnaw your way through it. A word of warning ` before you can legally kill your beast and avoid a $20,000 fine, you must own it for 28 days and be involved in its day-to-day care. She's quite cute, really, eh? Which means Miss Moo, who was destined for the freezing works before we sought her services, gets to enjoy a month in the back paddock before she's killed. There's more and more people growing their own food, even in city areas. Um, there's more and more people going hunting and gathering and things like that. So I can just, sort of, see that this movement towards being in control of your own food is just going to` it's not going to go away. It's something that pleases people, you know? It gives them a sense of being in control in a world that's not very controllable at the moment. So I think it's going to grow. In the deep south there is a quiet revolution taking place. WHISTLING Canny farmers who traditionally supplied the freezing works are finding there's good money to be had selling direct to the public. Do you see yourself as pioneers? Um, pioneers... Possibly. Quite possibly. Don't see too many others doing what we're doing. What Mark and Paul Heslip have done is effectively cut out all the middlemen. We've always home-killed our own, for ourselves. Um, and when visitors came, they thought it was great, and they suggested that we should share it with others, which is what we've had a crack at. And, uh, it's just gone` blossomed, really. You're, um, hanging it on the bone? You're, um, hanging it on the bone? Yeah. You're, um, hanging it on the bone? Yeah. That's where your quality comes in. All of their animals are killed and butchered to order and then sold direct to the public. Tender as tender. Yeah. URBAN MUSIC You can buy a whole beast, half a beast or a quarter of a beast. < Is it cheaper? Is it cheaper? I think it is cheaper. Our customers say it is. ROCK MUSIC According to our calculations, their prime Angus will cost you roughly half what you'd pay at the supermarket. And if you live in Otago and Southland, the Heslips will deliver for free. So that's all your steaks, free-flow, individually wrapped. Would you consider yourselves frugal people? BOTH: Yes. BOTH: Yes. (LAUGHS) I think we are. It comes down to the taste and the quality, really. Um, it's like espresso and instant. We're getting better quality. We know what we're getting. And we're happy with the price. ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES Nine boxes. I can't really buy supermarket meat now, because it just doesn't have the same flavour. Get in behind, Don! At a time when family incomes are falling and the pressure is on to give up expensive foods, the Heslip brothers are offering an affordable alternative. Um, really, if you bought half a cattle beast, for instance, and you bought a freezer, by the time you've finished that half cattle beast, the freezer would be paid off. The Heslips are convinced they're on to a winner. Are you guys getting rich? Are you guys getting rich? Uh, I wouldn't say it's` It helps. Definitely helps, yeah. Definitely helps. For the Heslips' customers it's all about affordability and quality ` something they say they don't get from the supermarkets. < Are consumers getting ripped off? < Are consumers getting ripped off? Well, affordability of goods is very much in the eye of the beholder. I s'pose myself as an urban dweller, I like to buy at a supermarket or my local butcher in Kelburn, is that I only need to buy the cuts of a certain quality when I want it, and it's fresh. I'm not dealing with a, you know, frozen block out of my freezer. But a lot of the cowpoolers we've spoken to say they're sick of getting ripped off by supermarkets. Well, some people might think that they are making a savings, but if they factor in all of those hidden costs of vet bills and paddocks and killing your own meat, uh, and, you know, running a freezer for over a year, etc, you know, there are a lot of other costs. After the break, Miss Moo makes the supreme sacrifice to show just how much bang you get for your bucks when you go cowpooling. Do you think people would be amazed at how much meat they get? Do you think people would be amazed at how much meat they get? I think they'd be stunned. Bed-wetting can be embarrassing for kids. Thankfully, drynites.co.nz can help you manage the bed-wetting stage by providing expert advice. Plus, you can even try a DryNites sample for free. POSH ACCENT: When observing proper English tea etiquette, never grasp the teacup with the palm of one's hand. When stirring tea, never let the spoon clink the sides of the cup. Ladies should never dip biscuits into their tea, and a gentleman never forgets to thank the host. Choysa. Our tea, our way. and be actively engaged in its day-to-day maintenance before you can legally get it home-killed. BANG! It should be treated with caution, because there will be issues with regard to food safety. DRAMATIC MUSIC Things aren't as simple as they might seem with the production of meat. You've got to be very careful about disease management. WHACK! WHACK! Most of us think very carefully about what we put on our family's table. Every one of us wants to be assured that the food we put in front of our family is safe. In saying that, not many farmers are dying from eating home kill. Not at all. And that's why, certainly, home kill is very much a part of the NZ way of life. Miss Moo, and a month's grazing, cost us $850. Excellent. We rate them as we go ` one being edible, but only just. 10 being perfect. And that's an eight and a half. And that's an eight and a half. < That's all right. And that's an eight and a half. < That's all right. That's a nice beast. It would cost us another $465.18 to get it killed and butchered. Being a beef breed, you'll probably get a 65% yield ` a lot of meat. But a lot of different, various cuts too. You're not just gonna get porterhouse and fillet steak. You're gonna get from stewing steak and sausages right through the whole mix and match of it. For the record, these guys did check to make sure our beast was healthy. If you buy goods from your butcher or your supermarket, you know it's been looked at by veterinarians or meat inspectors. You can be guaranteed that it's safe. If you don't like it or it's a bit tough, you can take it back. It's a bit hard to do that if you've got an entire chest freezer full of a cattle beast. Well, I don't know of anyone who ever died from home kill, but, um, yes, that's the big bogey. Um, and that's the way, you know, a corporate might respond to a threat from, sort of, local suppliers. But, I mean, I just don't think it'll wash in this case. SLOW URBAN MUSIC After a week hanging in the freezer, it was time for the butchering process to begin. These guys are just one of hundreds of home-kill operators around the country. They alone will butcher and process more than 2000 beasts this year. Business is good. Demand, they say, is on the rise. Be interesting to see what MAF think of cowpooling, but they'd` You know, if you're sitting in the middle of Kelburn, it's a bit hard to argue that you've got active, day-to-day maintenance of a cattle beast that might be on a farm in the Wairarapa. When you've got this deep emotional desire in really uncertain times to at least have some control over your food, and somebody says, 'No. Hygiene regulations mean you can't do it.' And you know perfectly well that, you know, the way that it's being done is perfectly hygienic, people won't stand for that. That's the kind of thing that they'll just get up in arms about. How many cattle beasts do you think are getting home-killed each year? There are some who think that perhaps 5% of the current volume of meat is home kill. But I have heard estimates right up to 25%. So it's a big issue in NZ. There's a, sort of, a long-held resentment in NZ that we don't get export quality in NZ. Um, and that value side of the equation ` being able to get really good meat at a good price ` is a` is a sort of a` is something that people aspire to do. So, how much bang do you get for your bucks? There's a fair bit, isn't it? It took just 15 minutes for these guys to process our beast, and what we got was a truckload of meat. T-bone steaks. T-bone steaks. T-bone steaks. T-bone steaks. T-bone steaks. Three boxes ` 9.8. Two boxes of rump. Two boxes of rump. Rump times two. 8.9. Fillet steak - 2.25. Scotch fillet - 3.8. Blade steak times two. Blade steak times two. 7.95. One box of porterhouse equals` One box of porterhouse equals` 4.15. That's quite a bit of steak, isn't it? Schnitzel. Schnitzel. 15.8. Whoa. That's a lot of burgers. Whoa. That's a lot of burgers. 31.15kg. Corned beef. Corned beef. 19.15. Nearly 20 kilos of corned beef. Roasts up next. Roasts up next. 22.25. Stewing steak. Stewing steak. 5.7kg. So there's not going to be a lot of stew. Last, but least ` saussies. Saussies ` 35.35kg. That's a lot of bangers and a lot of barbecues. Our investment of $1315.18 returned us just under 172kg of prime beef, which works out at just under $7.65 a kilo. The million dollar question is what would all that prime beef cost us if we had to buy it at the supermarket? Corned beef at $6.49 a kilo was the cheapest. It's cheaper than our meat. From there, the prices kept going up. No wonder so many people are going vegetarian. The grand total came as a bit of a shock. Bloody hell. That's what it would have cost us if we bought all the meat here. So, cowpooling works out at $7.65 per kilo on average. Supermarket meat works out at $17.70 on average. Of course, you could save yourself a bit by picking up on the specials, but we managed to save ourselves a whopping $1700. Both the major supermarkets take the issue of meat quality very very seriously. The thing with meat in a supermarket is that you can be assured that it is of a certain quality and it's fresh. Rather than being a frozen product, it's chilled. But certainly, if there are any issues, that's the beauty of purchasing through` through that network. If you don't like it, you can take it back. Hard to do that when you've got an entire cattle beast sitting in your chest freezer. CATTLE LOW I wouldn't be surprised to see if, you know, if it becomes mainstream in a few years. Like, you've got to factor in the fact that there's the quality of the meat; there's the price of the meat; there's the time that it takes. Um, and for many people it's far more efficient to, sort of, go do one big shop, get half a cattle beast. Which is what people in the country have been doing for decades. For those tempted, but squeamish about the thought of getting to know your meat, there is an unwritten rule that should always be obeyed. Don't name your beast. Don't name your food. (CHUCKLES) Don't name your beast. Don't name your food. (CHUCKLES) Why not? Um, it's very much harder to kill a friend than it is to kill a perfect stranger. Yes, indeed. It probably inspires as many vegetarians as it does home-kill enthusiasts, I imagine. If you want more information, or to get in touch with a home-kill operator, go to our Facebook page for contact details. Well, after the break, an elite soldier and Victoria Cross winner talks of love, loss, children and honour. Shirt off, yeah. Yeah, perfect, perfect. That's the way. Turn to me at the shoulders. Bit more. That's it. Yeah, good. Good, good, good. Just lick your teeth. Lick your lips. Yeah, that's the way. Get a few more people out here watching, don't ya? Yeah, that's the way. Get a few more people out here watching, don't ya? Yeah. Be good. Seldom does a soldier, especially an elite, highly tuned SAS soldier, bare his soul. Tonight, Cpl Ben Roberts-Smith, veteran of five tours of duty in Afghanistan, does just that. Now, he's matter-of-fact about the day he won his Victoria Cross ` how, out-numbered and out-gunned, his unit beat the odds, and the Taliban. But talk about the love for his wife, daughters and country and his mates, and he cries. Ben Roberts-Smith VC is with Mike Willesee. PEACEFUL MUSIC You've got a beautiful wife and two beautiful girls, so the obvious question is why do you go back? To have the girls was, um,... easily the best day of my life because it took us a long time to have the kids... through IVF, but I very much believe in what we're doing. I'm privy to a lot of information and intelligence that leads us to the places we go. I know what we're doing is actually stemming the flow of terrorism into this country. I know that. You're prepared to die? Very much so. We kicked the hornets' nest when we got in there. One, two, three! We were certainly outpositioned and outgunned. It was pretty apparent that it wasn't a typical mission. I threw a grenade over the wall into the compound. One burst could have killed all three of us. What he did turned the tide of that battle, but it also saved the lives of his two mates. I wasn't going to sit there and do nothing and just watch my mates die. He is the most highly decorated soldier in the Australian Defence Force today. He is somebody who has done something remarkable. Ben. You know, who dares wins. GENTLE ROCK MUSIC Big Ben was once little. A Perth boy who at 17 joined the army. Eight years later, Ben Roberts-Smith set his sights on entering the SAS ` the toughest, fittest and smartest soldiers in the military. Nine out of every 10 who try fail the brutal selection process. I think it comes down to desire. You have to want to do it, because if there is one ounce of doubt, you will definitely not succeed. You are the elite of the elite. That's a way of putting it, yeah. (LAUGHS) We consider ourselves probably the government's answer to any complex military problem. On the 11th June 2010 in northern Kandahar, Ben's unit was assigned a high-priority mission... to capture or kill a high-ranking Taliban leader. We had a 'four Blackhawk and two Apache' package, which meant we had four helicopters to carry the bikes and two Apache gunships to support us. That's you in...? That's you sitting there? That's how you went in? Yeah, I mean that's` that actually` that is the photo. That was the day we left for Tizak. It was early in the morning, about 8.30. The Australians knew their target was important. What they didn't know was that he'd come to meet 10 other senior commanders who were protected by over 100 battle-hardened and well-armed militia. As we started to circle the target, we immediately starting to take fire from the high ground. Ben watched as, 50m below, one of the Taliban aimed a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG, at the Blackhawk he was in. The insurgent was able to get the rocket away. The pilot was able to do a minor evasive manoeuvre. The rocket basically went straight underneath the airframe. That's probably the most vulnerable I felt all day, cos you're not in control. The American pilots did a pretty impressive job. They showed a lot of courage. We were taking pretty effective machine-gun fire and we got hit, um, and then the round came right through the cockpit between my feet. I thought that was it. I was pretty sure that I was missing a foot or something, but it worked out. I kept the bullet casing, the round that came through the cockpit and, uh, I just keep it as a reminder. That was it. > (CHUCKLES) That's as close as you can go. It is. Pretty much. Millimetres. It's all measured in millimetres. Ben and his unit, six men and all, leapt from their helicopter into the battle. Already, two soldiers had been wounded. We didn't realise what we'd come up against, and, in the end, it was basically four-to-one odds, and we were certainly outpositioned and outgunned. 70m from the enemy. Ben's troop was in a fig orchard being fired on from a walled compound above. We were hit pretty hard. We were up against more than one machine gun. It just got so heavy we couldn't physically get up and fire and move, so we just started to crawl. Despite being shot at from three different machine-gun positions, they crawled forward to within 40m of the Taliban, until they could go no further. Then Ben noticed a small structure just outside the enemy compound that could provide cover from the onslaught. I yelled to the guy on my right. At that point I was in the middle with a guy either side of me. We had fought that way all the way forward. I said, 'I'm going to clear the building.' So we got up. He put in some covering fire and I just made a dash about 15m. If you can understand, it was not what you would consider an outhouse, but a small rundown little shed. Shed. Shed. Yeah, shed. Uh, I started to clear it through the window, and, as I did that, an RPG gunner had just, uh, started to protrude his weapon system outside of the, uh` outside of the window. Uh, and I was able to engage him point-blank. Wait a minute. You say you were able to engage him. That sort of takes the humanity out of it. What happened? You saw this guy face to face? Yeah, it was very quick, obviously. I've seen him standing there with an RPG launcher on his shoulder. I'm looking through the window. As I've come in to a point where I've clearly identified that he was an armed insurgent, I engaged and killed him. As enemy fire continued to pour down, Ben held up a grenade as a signal to one of his unit. He knew what I wanted, so he, sort of, gave me the nod and we were just screaming out a three-count, which meant I knew at 'three' he was going to jump up and start` and put some covering fire in so I could get a grenade away, which he did, in front of three machine guns that were all firing and AK-47 fire. He exposed himself. He exposed himself. Yeah, this guy just popped up directly in front of the guns and dropped a clip into the enemy position. While he did that, I jumped out from behind the rubble. But Ben's grenade had little effect and his unit was still in deadly danger. Still pinned down by the withering machine-gun fire aimed directly at them. When you're pushing your face into the dirt, which isn't doing anything, it's not helping you in any way, but it makes you feel better, that's when you know you're taking` you're taking some rounds. So they were taking a lot of fire. Um,... (SIGHS) you know, and it just came down to the, uh, the point that someone had to do something. Had to, you know. I wasn't going to sit there and do nothing and just watch my mates die. I would rather that be me than have to go home and face their families if they died. So I just ran at the, uh` ran at the wall. In the face of two machine guns firing? And some AK-47s. Yeah. Um... (LAUGHS) It seemed like a good plan at the time. Uh, got to the wall, engaged the first machine gunner. Um, so I engaged him and killed him and continued along the wall a couple of metres, uh, hit the next one. You killed him? You took out two machine guns? You killed him? You took out two machine guns? Yeah. Of course, Ben didn't know it then, but this bravery, his courage, would earn him the Victoria Cross. It saved the lives of his mates, and he knew he had to do that, but the other thing ` it regained the initiative. It turned the tide of that action and enabled the momentum, which is essential in any attack, to keep going. With Ben drawing fire away from his unit, his patrol commander hurled a grenade and silenced the third machine gun. The fighting would continue for another seven hours. That was the start of what then turned out to be a fight that went all day. We killed 22 insurgents, captured five PK machine guns in an area that was 200m wide. Uh, and that to me, just, um, quantifies the excellent leadership that was shown by those guys. They were more than up for it. The fighting that they did and utter disregard for their own safety, because that's what we do. You know, that's, uh, you know, who dares wins. You went very close to being killed that day. Quite a few times. As did everyone. Yeah, well, next ` when brave men cry. Ben Roberts-Smith, the crack SAS soldier who's prepared to die for his family and freedom, reveals his softer side. (CLEARS THROAT) Ben, I wasn't trying to make you emotional, but you're more than just a professional soldier ` you're a man. And he was a great mate. Mm-hmm. (CLEARS THROAT) Ben Roberts-Smith's bravery is legendary, but even a hero can have a hero. Ben's was fellow SAS soldier and close mate Sgt Matthew Locke, who won the prestigious Medal for Gallantry in 2006. Now we hear what mateship and family mean to Ben. In 2006, Sgt Matthew Locke was killed by a Taliban sniper in Afghanistan, leaving behind his wife, Leigh, and young son, Keegan. Matthew was Ben's friend and second in command of their patrol. They won the Medal for Gallantry together. Ben was about to go on leave when he last saw his mate. You know, it was like it always is ` the boys having a laugh and taking the piss out of each other. I remember, like you always do, I just said, 'Hey, don't do anything I wouldn't do.' It was a bit of a laugh, because you are always trying to outdo each other. Um, and then I left. I met up with my wife and we went to Thailand for a holiday. Um, that was the last day. 10 days later, we had just got back to Perth Airport and stepped off the plane and heard it on the car radio. Um... < It hurt you. (SNIFFS) < Did it also motivate you? Yeah. (CLEARS THROAT) < Take a sip. (CLEARS THROAT) Ben, I wasn't trying to make you emotional, but you're more than just a professional soldier ` you're a man. And he was a great mate. (CLEARS THROAT) (SNIFFS) Sorry. No, no. It's cool, mate. It's really... It's you. It's important. Matthew Locke is a great example of the mateship. You know, I mean, you've got a great mateship thing with all the guys you work with and I picked one that was special to you. How important is mateship? It makes a` it makes a massive difference to you when you're actually fighting with people that you, one, really care about and, two, uh, really respect, and that's why I think, you know, when I get awarded something like a Victoria Cross it's hard to wear amongst the calibre of men that I work with because there are a lot of people that don't get recognised that have done some pretty amazing things. A lot of people don't understand that you have the opportunity to accept or reject the Victoria Cross. That's right. So when you were faced with that decision, what did you do? Um, look,... (LAUGHS) I, uh, it took me about an hour talking to, uh, the chief, the chief of the army at the time. They stitched me up and told me I was going to a defence-housing meeting. (LAUGHS) And, uh, the chief of the army was waiting in a hotel room with a letter from the Queen, so it did come as a little bit of a shock. And I didn't` No one thinks that will ever happen to them. So it's a little bit overwhelming, and my initial concern was, 'Well, you know, if I take it, what does that mean? Do I have to stop being a soldier?' So I said to the chief, 'Look,' much like Mark Donaldson had done, 'as long as I can still go back, 'I'm happy to accept it.' I wear it for the squadron for what they achieved that day and for my unit. Because that day is just another day for us. And you're prepared to go back? Yeah, very much so. I'm looking forward to it. It's a bit of a break, actually. (LAUGHS) The PR is killing me. Did you see that? Did you see that? Shirt off, yeah. Perfect. That's the way. Turn to me at the shoulders. A bit more. That's it. Yeah, good, good, good, good. Lick your teeth. Lick your lips. You've got to.... That's right. That's the way. In May, Ben will be on the front cover of Men's Fitness magazine. You need more people watching, don't ya (?) Yeah (!) (LAUGHS) Yeah (!) (LAUGHS) That would be good (!) No amount of SAS training prepares you for this. You're too wide. Narrow yourself in a wee bit for me. But his toughest role is the one he loves most. Bubble. Bubble. Bubbles. As husband to Emma and father to twins Eve and Elizabeth, now 18 months old. To have the girls was the easily the best day of my life because it took us a long time to have the kids. When you come back from an operation, you literally flip the switch. You go back within the space of two days. You're back at home, having dinner with your family, and then two weeks later you're deployed. So while I can, and I will this year, I, uh, I will go back. Why is it important? It's important because it needs to be done. It's important because it needs to be done. You're prepared to die? Very much so. And I only say that. I don't mean that in a, you know, a theatrical sense or a... I'm not being silly about it. I know what we're doing is actually stemming the flow of terrorism into this country. I know that. So for me, and for everyone in my unit, if that was to happen, as with Matt, it isn't` we don't consider it a waste, as some people say, or that it was fruitless. It serves a purpose. I think if I go away and I was to get killed on the next trip and that was the way that my life was meant to play out, um, you know, then so be it. At least I've done it serving my country and making this country that we love, all of us, a better place for our children. You see a direct relationship between what you do and making us safer? Certainly. Definitely. Thanks, Ben. Thanks, Ben. Pleasure. That was great, mate. Thank you. That was great, mate. Thank you. Thanks. It's hard to reconcile the life of a soldier with that of a father. But I guess that's the role, the responsibility he's accepted. And it does, of course, take courage. Well, when we come back, tornado tourists ` people who like to holiday on the edge. The power lines ` look at that! (CHEERS) Oh, wow! Oh my God! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no, no, no. ROCK MUSIC Look at that. Oh my goodness. A week ago, we asked these mothers to try the new BabyLove, and this is what they had to say. Impressed. We had no changes, and you had a very good sleep. And she was dry all night. She was fantastic. BabyLove's new DriWave layer absorbs liquid instantly time and time again, for a dry night and a dry morning. I've had great results, so I'm changing. I've had great results, so I'm changing. (LAUGHS) For drier nights, new BabyLove. We've still got a couple of hours before things could start going. And when they go, yeah, it's gonna be all action stations. LIGHTNING CRACKLES Tornados likely moderate. Jamie Schulhin is on a tornado-hunting holiday in the United States. Come on. You can do it. Come on. You can do it. LIGHTNING CRACKLES Yeah, some good lightning. And I'm higher than everything else. (CHUCKLES) LIGHTNING CRACKLES The father-of-four from Canberra and a band of like-minded storm chasers are scanning the skies for bad weather. Oh my God! (SCREAMS) Mum stresses every time I come over here. Oh my God! Oh my God! Keep going. There's a funnel cloud right above us. There's two of 'em. And this is why his mum stresses. On one of Jamie's recent tornado vacations, he got exactly what he came for,... and a whole lot more. Oh, right there! Right behind you! This is not good. Now, the incredible video Jamie captured... along with the most frightening and sobering experience of his life ` a storm he hoped for, that came and re-wrote tornado history. While storm chasers might enjoy watching the power of a tornado, this is the reality when it hits a community. This particular tornado, with its winds of more than 300km/h, blasted its way through here, destroying just about everything. Cars, houses, hospital, a school ` nothing was spared. And walking through here now, it's just almost impossible to convey how bad it really is. We wondered whether witnessing this would change the people who pay to chase tornados. I've never seen anything like this. Wow. Looks like we're going to go north on Highway 6. Between March and July every year, the most powerful tornados on earth touch down in middle America. LOUD GUITAR MUSIC The power lines ` look at that! (CHEERS) Oh my God. Oh my God! Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no, no. GUITAR MUSIC CONTINUES Look at that. Oh my goodness. This week, twisters in Dallas... and more devastation. Unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this. Actually lifting these huge trailers and just flinging them around like they're just` like they're nothing. Last year we were in Wakita, where they filmed the movie 'Twister'. And the next day we actually had those massive tornados just down the road. The day would turn out to be one of the most incredible ever captured on video. It began with the spotting of a small tornado from inside Jamie's car. We pulled up on the side of the road, and we watched a small little tornado come down off in the distance ` probably about 5, 10 miles away. And then we looked up. And the whole sky above our heads was rotating. There's a debris cloud. There it is. We've officially got a tornado. We've officially got a tornado. CHEERING 'Oh, well, better get out of here in a hurry.' So we jumped in the cars, and the trouble was there was about 50 chaser cars on a little one-lane road in the back country. And we're all going in the same direction. The storm was coming to us at about 70mph. Right there! Right behind you. Oh, look behind us! Multi-vortex. I'm filming it through the rear-view mirror. Suddenly the tornado hunters became the hunted. Oh my God! (CHEERS) Power line! You guys back there? One of the cars pulled off to the side of the road, hoping the danger would pass. But they became a sitting duck. A tornado made a direct hit. Oh my God. CRASH! Oh my God, the window just blew in. <BLEEP>. Holy <BLEEP>. Stay down. Are you videotaping it? Are you videotaping it? Yeah. Are you videotaping it? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Did you see that? Unfortunately, we couldn't pull up to help them straightaways, because we had a tornado on the road behind us. So we had to actually keep going until the tornado veered off the road. OVERLAPPING CHATTER No one was seriously hurt. The car, a wreck. Are you OK? Yeah, that's fine. If anything, the experience made Jamie and the others even more eager to chase tornados. May have some issues chasing tomorrow. May have some issues chasing tomorrow. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) They're back on the hunt again. Wow. A lot of storm chasing is waiting, which is what we're doing right now. So, out this way we have plenty of rain, thunder, lightning and a bit of hail as well ` everything except a tornado. But the weather out here can change in a blink. LIGHTNING CRASHES That afternoon, a twister with 300km/h winds devoured the pretty little American town of Joplin. 160 people died. Oh my God. You were in there? Oh my God. You were in there? BOTH: Yeah. Oh my God. You were in there? BOTH: Yeah. We were in there. The whole thing. Nothing's left of it. This is the first time Jamie has seen the pain caused by his great passion. I guess this sort of brings home how lucky we were to be just ahead of this thing. I kind of feel weird at the moment. I feel like I'm intruding on people's private lives in their time of grief, because they're` they've just had their lives devastated. Incredibly, the experience hasn't weakened Jamie's fascination with tornados. A few days later, he was hunting again ` scouring the skies and hoping for wind. SLOW, ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC So, here's hoping. ZIP FASTENS 'Here's hoping?' Seems a bit wrong, really, doesn't it? That's our show for tonight. Check us out on Facebook. Thanks for joining us, and enjoy your week. Nga mihi nui. Hei kona.