After three months of back breaking hard work, lots of nerves and plenty of teary moments, 38 year old mum of three Julie Goodwin was crowned the winner of MasterChef Australia 2009 - and what a journey it has been.  

A working mum from the Central Coast in NSW with her own IT consulting business, Julie’s culinary experience was simple, she loved to cook and found pure joy in creating wholesome, home-made food for her family and friends.  And that’s about the sum of it - until she tried out for MasterChef Australia and impressed the judges, especially Matt Preston, with her simple yet homely lamb and mash dish. 

Julie’s journey has been filled with tremendous highs and plunging lows and right from the start the pressure was on!  She was involved in the very first pressure test when she made the worst dish of the day, facing off with two other contestants over a French classic, apple tarte tatin.  Emerging victorious, she failed again three more times, finding herself back at square one fighting for her MasterChef right.  And each time she came back with aplomb, proving herself a worthy contender for the title. 

Many times Julie lost her way, finding herself in the bottom of the competition facing elimination.  She was always in the spotlight, entering four pressure tests for being at the bottom of the competition and winning two invention tests for the best dish of the day. 

Her fourth pressure test in Hong Kong was one of her highlights, where she faced off with Justine in the Sweet and Sour challenge, and came out on top once again. 

Julie finally found herself in the top three of the competition after three months of blood, sweat and tears, facing a grand-final challenge.  So when she knocked favourite Chris Badenoch off his pedestal, no one could’ve been more surprised than Julie herself, who had battled and fought hard to get to the top of her game.  And there she stays, as MasterChef winner of 2009, with a wholesome $100,000 in her back pocket to open her very own restaurant in downtown central coast.