Alone Australia’s Alyce’s love of the outdoors began with a trip she took with her mother – a journey that would ultimately change the course of her life.
“I wasn’t an outdoorsy kid,” the 36-year-old Aboriginal Community Engagement advisor tells TV WEEK.
“I was the type who did well academically. I spent a lot of my early adulthood partying and generally being asleep in life.
“But then Mum and I went to Patagonia when I was 24. It was the first time either of us had been hiking, and we both fell in love with it.”
The pair immediately started dreaming about their next adventure.
“We said our next trip would be the Himalayas,” Alyce recalls. “But, less than two years later, Mum was gone and I’ve spent my time ever since immersing myself in adventure – for me and for her.”
Alyce’s mother, Yvette, who emigrated from Lebanon to Australia after enduring years of hardship, died in a car accident at the age of 64.
“I lost my mum when she was on her way home from visiting me at university,” Alyce says. “Overcoming that grief has been the hardest journey of my life.”
In the years since, Alyce has climbed mountains all over the world, including trekking to Everest Base Camp and launching her own trekking business. Now she finds herself battling the Arctic on Alone Australia.
And it’s a journey that has not been without setbacks.
“The hip injury I got from picking up a bag of rocks totally threw me,” she admits. “I don’t think the footage truly captures the physical pain I was in. I couldn’t bear weight on my left leg without a 9/10 level of pain.
“I honestly thought that was the end of my time in the wilderness, and I was completely devastated.”
Alone Australia is on Wednesday’s at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.
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