Brave Enough Now : The Book

“Thunderous water gushed all around me. I surrendered my body as I was swept away by the ravaging floodwaters. I saw my life playing out like a series of snapshots. I knew I couldn’t get to safety and so I let go…”

“It is still winter at home. But the golden wattles are coming into bloom. Just as these young men and women were in the flower of their youth. And when we are back in Australia, we will remember how the flowers and the perfume and the pollen of their and our homeland were carried down the river where they died to Lake Brienz in this beautiful country on the far side of the world.” Sir William Deane, Former Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, (excerpt of speech ‘It Is Still Winter At Home’).

Before the Bali Bombings, the Tsunami and 9/11 there was the Swiss Canyoning Disaster – the single largest peacetime tragedy offshore in Australian history. Twenty-one people lost their lives at Saxetenbach Gorge in Interlaken, Switzerland on July 27, 1999 when a sudden, pronounced downpour swelled the mountain stream into a torrent.

The raging muddy waters swept three guides and eighteen participants to their death including fourteen young Australians. Tiffany Johnson, was one of the survivors who were in the water when the flood hit who somehow managed to survive that day. Wedged between a boulder and a log, gasping for air, having sustained life changing injuries, she watched as her dead friends floated by.

Brave Enough Now deals with the tragedy, how Tiffany came to find herself there on that day and how it changed her life. As a result of her injuries (including the loss of her pancreas), Tiffany lives with insulin dependent diabetes and is now on a pump that regulates insulin into her blood stream – essentially keeping her alive.

The book also includes the moving speech from the then Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Sir William Deane which is now a part of the NSW HSC curriculum. Titled “It Is Still Winter At Home” the speech details the significant loss to Australia at the time and is a poignant end to a beautiful book.

Published by Independent Ink the book on July 15, 2019 it retails for $29.95. A book launch event was held in September 2019 at Parliament House, Victoria.

Brave Enough Now is available online at TiffanyJohnson.com.au and Amazon and is distributed through Ingram Sparks online.

The prologue of Brave Enough Now is available to media to publish on the anniversary of the disaster. This is a moving piece outlining the moment Tiffany found herself a part of the Swiss Canyoning Disaster and her life changed forever.