To celebrate her 50^th birthday, the former gymnast broke the world record for a handstand at the highest level, going upside at nearly 7000m high on a Nepalese mountain.

The co-founder of Wild Women on Top is bringing more than just her wild spirit back to her hometown.

Her charity hike, Coastrek, is walking away from the coastline and into the capital for the first time next year to raise money for the Heart Foundation.

Mother-of-three Di started her adventure tour business after a hike with her best friend broke her out of a midlife rut.

"I was in a bad marriage, I was on the working mum treadmill, I was about to turn 40, which is a crisis in itself," she said.

"I just knew I needed some sort of circuit breaker because I was languishing [and] not in a good place."

It worked.

"[I thought,] this is like the most amazing thing like there is. There is life after 40, there is life after kids, there is adventure out there. There's a chance to reconnect with yourself in nature, and to take on big challenges, even when you think most of your life's over."

Initially, Di put out an ad in the school newsletter asking if anyone wanted to join a hiking group.

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They started to train for big trips, up Mount Kilimanjaro and then the seven summits.

"I was only able to attract a very small number of women and I wanted lots of women," she said.

While men were welcome to join, she found they were more interested in getting to the finish line than socialising in the outdoors.

"That's not a criticism ... but women love walking and talking, and so it really suited women's personality," Di said.

The walk around Lake Burley Griffin recently featured on the SBS show, Great Australian Walks.

"The route around Lake Burley Griffin is absolutely epic. It's really an iconically beautiful, nature-based hike in the heart of one of the most beautiful cities in Australia," Di said.

Prior to becoming a wild women, Di was an audacious girl.

The Olympic gymnast won a national championship at age 16, even ending up on the front page of The Canberra Times in 1977.

"I have this up on my wall, so my kids have grown up looking at this, thinking their mum's a little bit weird," Di said.

She has kept very fit and healthy well into her 60s, having just got back from a hike up the Dolomites.

Heart disease is the number one killer of Australians.

International heart day was on Friday, and Di hopes Coastrek will encourage more people to keep fit and healthy.

Quoting a cardiologist, she said "hiking is a magic pill to prevent heart disease".

"It [allows] you to connect with other people and connect with nature, but it also gets your heart rate up and gets you moving," she said.

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