Sure there’s exercise and fitness, but doing it in Sydney on Bondi Beach, glistening under the southern sun in a balmy 25-degrees is nothing compared to doing it in the freezing cold in Hobart. Or up an even colder mountain.
But, when you and a contingent of six other faces and folks in the Aussie fitness industry get on a plane and head south from Sydney to do just that as guests of Tasmanian born-and-raised protein supplement manufacturer Bulk Nutrients, you know you’re in for something quite unique.
Bulk Nutrients and its founder, Ben Crowley were keen to show off the best that Tasmania – his home state and the home to his upwards of $27 million business based in Grove just out of Hobart – had to offer. And that they did.
With a group of personal trainers, fitness writers, Instagrammers and bloggers in-tow, the Bulk team put themselves and their group through our paces to test the benefits of what Bulk Nutrients protein supplements can do. And after and two day assault on the bod, it seemed pretty unanimous – they work!
Here’s what we took-on, what we recovered with and what we personally back.
Day one with Bulk Nutrients:
Arrive at Hobart airport. It’s cold. Super cold. Like, single digits cold. Coming from Sydney, it’s a shock to the system, but we all survive, order our green teas and coffee at the single cafe in the terminal before piling in to the seven-seater people mover to head to destination number one: Raw Challenge Tasmania out in the picturesque region of Marion Bay, north of Hobart. It’s actually on the site of Falls Festival in Tasmania, so we know we’re in for seclusion, greenery and heaps of space.
We don’t know quite what to expect when we get there – they kept it all under-wraps – but the excitement and trepidation is pretty noticeable.
Owner-operator KB from Raw Challenge Tasmania is waiting for us. Smile on her face and a mean look in her eye. The next seven kilometres aren’t going to be easy, she says, but we’ll survive. Apparently.
We warm-up. It sorts the more competitive from the less competitive immediately. Hockey player Anna Flannagan knock the group out in the warm-up before we start the hour-or-so-long jog to the onslaught of challenges.
From zig-zagging along springboards, scaling eight-metre high wooden hoardings, running up and over huge incline ramps and – the funniest moment of the whole challenge – attempting to cross an almost frozen dam on incredibly unstable floating pontoons, the challenge is just that.
Raw Challenge Tasmania puts you through your paces – and so does KB and her army of fitness instructors/pushers. It’s fun, a challenge, gives you blisters and the occasional bruise, but it’s a challenge that makes you realise what you can do – or, try to do – if there’s a will.
Bulk Nutrients to get you through:
We pre-juiced up with the Bulk Nutrients Pre-Workout 101. It’s a HASTA approved pre-workout formula that is the ideal stimulant for anything cardio or weights-based. With flavours like strawberry lime, grape orange and berry lemonade, they’re as nice to drink as they are to feel the effects of and give you that itchy-yet-energised tingle you need when tackling something quite hard on the body. Read more about it at the link.
Day two with Bulk Nutrients:
After a brief stint on board an oyster farmer’s boat in Marion Bay, where we were introduced to the wild and wonderfully weird world of the oyster, it was time to head back to Hobart, atop their famous Mount Wellington.
Mount Wellington is 1269km high, so the view from the top is particularly stunning. Sweeping views of Hobart below. The waterways that make-up the archipelago of nodes and inlets of Greater Hobart and if you turn and face away from the city, all you see is nothingness. Fun fact is that if you go west from Hobart – and just keep going – the next town you’ll come across is in South Africa. It’s still so nice and ruggedly remote.
Ascending to the top of the Mountain takes you the better part of half an hour and a few stops for road sickness. But the view is worth it.
Bulk Nutrients stuck us on the back of some bikes and put us under the charge of Benedict from Mount Wellington Descent, a little tour operation on the mountain that crazily enough, encourages you to ride down the mountain, brakes-free and wind through your hair (if you’re comfy enough).
The cruising element was simple enough. A breeze. But it’s the cross-country tail end, 800 metres at the end that really puts you through your paces. Core engaged. Body ready to be thrown off the front or side at any moment. It’s a welcome challenge after the casual descent and does away with any of that frozen feeling you’re left with after riding head-on into 0-degree winds.
Bulk Nutrients to get your though:
We capped-off the descent with healthy dose (two mounded spoonfuls) of some of Bulk Nutrients’ own whey protein isolate – the more expensive, yet effective of the options. It starts at $36 for a 1 kilo bag and goes up from there, but when they’re working with such winning flavours as chocolate (their top seller), coffee, salted caramel (a personal favourite), peppermint slice (the newest flavour) and strawberry – and many more – you know it’s worth every dollar.
See the full range of Bulk Nutrients’ whey protein isolate here.
A full tour of the Bulk Nutrients operation in Grove, Tasmania
Just outside of Hobart is Grove. A quiet suburb with not much going on except for the huge operation that is Bulk Nutrients. Australia Post trucks come-and-go all day, filling order-after-order of Bulk Nutrients’ top product. They’re the single biggest reason Australia Post is as busy as they are in Tasmania. And that’s not a joke.
It’s not a small operation, either. For a company to turn-over $27 million a year, you need a team of reliable, friendly people. And that’s what Bulk Nutrients has. Whether they’re from the Congo, other parts of Australia or locals, born and bred, what Bulk has going on is nothing short of the ultimate tale of Australian success, wrapped-up in a nice little airtight bag.
The factory is included in this fitness onslaught wrap, because it’s so huge, it was one hell of an effort to complete, under the charge of owner-operator Ben Crowley. It’s a place that smells as delicious as the product it produces and has an infectious sense of casualty, but hard work to it that kind of rubs off on you. They’ve got a good thing going on and the people who work there know it. Here’s what the tour looked like…
And then, because what else do you do when you’re in a protein factory? We made protein balls using some of the best recipes that hero their protein supplements out there, all crafted in-house.
Bulk Nutrients has a wonderful thing going on for themselves. Their products are affordable (a LOT more than the other big guys), effective, tasty and fast. Any order you place arrives within a day if it’s under 3kgs; they automatically stick it in an Express Post bag with Australia Post (each delivery has a $7 postage fee).
The man who started it all, Ben, knows where he’s been, can see where they’re going and is stopping nowhere until they get it. See more about the story behind Bulk Nutrients and their full range of products at their website: bulknutrients.com.au