Age: 41

Profession: World Heritage Aboriginal Programs Officer, VIC

Leanne’s love of the bush is a direct result of an upbringing spent largely in Barkandji practice, living on Country and fishing and foraging with family. A proud Barkandji woman who works as a World Heritage Aboriginal Officer, she is passionate about her work and her community, preserving culture and artifacts and documenting archaeology and history.

A woman whose identity and movements have been occupied by motherhood for more than a decade now, Leanne wants this opportunity to test and reconnect with herself and to find clarity about what’s important and what lies ahead for her. She says, “this is my time to go out, explore, adventure and in a way… find myself again.” She makes no apology for having the prize money in her sights. Winning means an opportunity to buy land on her traditional Country.

Leanne’s outdoor skills have been tested on dry, open, red dirt bush. The wild west of Aotearoa’s South Island is about to test her mettle for the exact opposite: a wet, dense and dark rainforest.