Rob Lukin lives life in the fast lane.
He’s clocked 90 km per hour in his buggy.
But is always looking for more speed.
Rob’s in an elite group of extreme kiters.
I always wanted to do kite surfing but I'm no good in the water now.
He discovered kite buggying at Port Douglas.
They had a buggy there.
I said, can I do that?
He said, why not?
He fights his body every day to move and talk.
His friends say he has buckets of courage, perseverance and patience
He used to lay on the beach with the harness on and learn how to control the kite, and
he would often just get dragged around the beach quite comfortably every other day, to
learn how to do it, and I just thought that's so crazy.
He's just an incredible human.
It was a lot of hard work and perseverance but once I felt the power from the kite, I
was hooked.
Rob Almost died when he was 24
I caught a virus, encephalitis.
They're pretty certain it was probably from a mosquito in the Murray River.
It damaged all my brain stem, so all my motor stuff.
To begin with I was completely paralysed.
I was that far from dying.
I think to even survive was a bit of a miracle.
His rehab was lengthy.
I've never once in all the years heard him sit back and go, poor me.
Why did this happen to me?
His attitude was just, life has kicked me in the butt, well I'm not going to let it
do it again.
I'm going to pick myself up and get on and live and make the most of it.
Rob was a professional fisherman.
He is a twin, born into a Port Lincoln fishing family.
Always was an active, active guy right from when he was young.
He surfed windsurfed.
He did hang gliding, heli-skiing in New Zealand, so getting dropped at the top of a mountain
with a helicopter and skiing down, motorbike riding.
He was always the active, adventurous, bit of an adrenalin junky kind of guy and I think
he's just continued that now and after he got sick he played wheelchair rugby, he just
hasn't given in.
He's just said, well I'm going to find what I can do.
Now he's got his kite-buggying which he's just brilliant at that.
I think he's up there with some of the best in the country and he loves it.
He's a madman I think, he's a madman.
He had to reinvent himself.
It took a few years but I managed to go to uni.
That took me five years but I got my computer science degree.
He was retrenched but saw a silver lining.
I got a payout and then went to follow my dream and go around the world.
I decided to go for a year.
I picked my first destination, then you just play it by ear.
The year blew out to two-and-a-half-years.
I had a goal to prove to myself that I could do it cheap and the same as anyone else.
I think at times I went overboard.
He towed a suitcase behind his wheelchair until he was
mugged.
I had too much stuff and they did me a favour.
He didn’t always have a bed.
I was sleeping on a bench with my arm through my backpack so no one pinched it.
I slept in some dodgy places.
He came home because his back was sore
He’s since broken a few vertebrae kite buggying.
But that hasn’t stopped him.
I guess I'm chasing the adrenalin rush.
He’s only just getting help for set up and pack down.
He’s done it himself for 12 years.
Driven, just very driven, very motivated.
He's just got a zest for life.
He's just got a very positive attitude.
He never feels sorry for himself.
On days when I can't go out, if the wind's good, he'll go out on his own nine times out
of 10.
It's pretty hard for him to do it obviously with his condition but the pack down, after
doing it for, he's out there for sometimes three or four hours, it would just be so exhausting.
I don't know how he does it.
He’s found a way to do what he loves on his own terms
He’ll be 60 this year.
but isn’t slowing down
You're milking it for that extra bit.