"What we hoped to get out of this was to win," Sister Therese Mills says, with zero mucking around.
Sister Therese and her long-time friend Sister Judy Bowe refused to be pushovers when they signed up to be part of The Amazing Race Australia, travelling across 12 countries in a race to win $250,000.
And Sister Judy says as daunting as the challenge was, there was no way they were going to shirk it. Because it also gave them a unique platform to show that nuns could be exciting and adventurous too.
"People think God is boring," she said.
"But when you give your life to God, everything else goes out the window and life becomes beautiful. Life becomes a big adventure."
There was nothing they wouldn't do as part of the race. Sister Judy, 54, even did flyboarding ("It was the coolest!") as part of a challenge.
"[The race] is crazy but we're crazy. So it's a good match," she said.
As The Canberra Times revealed earlier this month, the good sisters are Canberra's representatives in this year's race. Now, as the series premiere approaches, the network head honchos have allowed the nuns to speak. And they are a hoot.
"We're both on the crazy side," Sister Judy said.
"You're the crazy one," Sister Therese said.
We're sensing a theme here.
The Missionaries of God's Love Sisters are based in Kambah where Sister Judy is the leader and Sister Therese was the vocations director (she only recently relocated to Sydney).
The pair have been good friends for more than 20 years and have travelled a lot together.
A few of their fellow sisters were "fanatical" fans of The Amazing Race and it seemed destined Sister Judy and Sister Therese would be part of it.
The sisters were looking at "creative" ways to spend their sabbaticals that "didn't cost a lot of money". They considered the idea of applying for The Amazing Race, Sister Judy somehow convincing 45-year-old Sister Therese to be the team leader, never thinking she was a contender herself.
"Judy's a runner. I can't run. I thought, 'I can't go on The Amazing Race if I can't run'," Sister Therese said with a laugh (she runs on the show, don't worry).
Sister Judy thought one of the other younger sisters would complete the team but they were all busy studying.
So Sister Judy eventually signed on and, in the end, was happy to. "I think it was all part of God's plan," she said.
And it's turned out to be a formidable coupling.
"We know each other really well," Sister Judy said. "We've gone through a lot of challenges in life together."
The promos have already seen another team, "The Instagrammers" - Sid and Ash from NSW - risking God's wrath by stealing dumplings from the nuns during a challenge.
"We had no idea," Sister Therese said, with a laugh. The couple was soon forgiven, the nuns finding it impossible not to share a sense of kinship with the other competitors.
"There was a sense of, 'We're in this together'. Because we all do the same challenges and all with the same lack of sleep while being bossed around by the producers," Sister Therese said, cheekily.
If the nuns do win the $250,000 prize, they intend to use the money to help young people and the poor.
"If we win, we'd love to be able to send all our sisters out on mission and share our message of hope," Sister Judy said.
- The Amazing Race Australia will premiere Monday, October 28 at 7.30pm on the WIN Network
