Resilience is a word that is bandied about and the experts are still unsure how it forms. After

speaking to women on the land, week in, week out, Emily Herbert has the sense that robustness is forged from walking through the fire. Living through the mess. Picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and putting one foot in front of the other. Just like every other muscle, it seems emotional sturdiness is made stronger through use.

Today's guest is Yolande Woods – mother, beef producer, designer, private pilot and I

know she won’t love me saying this, but also, warrior. Yolande’s life story weaves and turns like the Macintyre river she and husband, Bruce have built their home on in Goondiwindi, on the border of Queensland and NSW.

Like any river, her life has had pockets of extraordinary change; floods, droughts and rapids –

accidents, divorce and breast cancer – yet Yolande doesn’t see it as unique or any different to

anyone else. Raised in the outback, her bush roots hold strong, seemingly no matter what rushes her way. Aptitude seems her strength and if she’s not training for a marathon during radiation treatment, she’s learning to fly, fixing fences, working as an interior designer, raising cattle or starting a new business.