HUGE salt water crocodiles, sharks, venomous sea snakes and deadly jelly fish, hundreds of kilometres of sheer cliffs without any landing zones and destructive cyclones - all while averaging up to 60km per day for one year.

That is just part of the adventure German woman Freya Hoffmeister has undertaken as she passed through Esperance last week on what will probably be the last leg of her circumnavigation of Australia.

She is on a mission to paddle around Australia, an achievement that was last completed 27 years ago, a journey that is expected to be 15,000km.

Ms Hoffmeister started her voyage in Melbourne in January this year and has paddled a kayak approximately 11,000km around Australia so far.

She keeps a blog on-line and wrote on day 274 of her journey, on Sunday October 18: “Tomorrow will be 15-25kn following, I should make it around Cape Arid then, 70km.

“Tuesday has low following winds, Israelite Bay is the destination.

“And then headwinds again, but maybe low enough to get at least a bit further.”

If she makes it, she’ll become the first woman to complete the journey and only the second person since Paul Caffyn, her friend and mentor.

She camps on the beaches wherever she finishes each night, carrying all her equipment (70kg) with her on the kayak.

In 2007, she circumnavigated Iceland in a record 33 days. Three month later, she set out to become the first woman to round the South Island of New Zealand, solo and unsupported.

For information on how Freya is going you can follow her progress on http://qajaqunderground.com/freya s-blog/