CALLING her an ambassador for the environment feels like the understatement of the Millenium but that’s what Southern Grampians local, Suzan Muir, who is a current competitor on SBS’s ‘Alone Australia’, has been all about since childhood.

If you haven’t already heard of her, you must be living under a rock.

Which is ironic because that’s a description she has given of herself on social media and to which she feels an affinity.

“Rocks feel like kin to me,” she said.

“(They) break down into minerals and feed plants that feed our bodies, we are made of rocks.

“We have a similar role, recycling life into life.”

She is a huntress, with a vision that is long and sharp she said, and the ecosystem in which she hunts “deeply informs her relationship with land”.

“If we value the quality of the lives of our children and their children, we need to understand ourselves as part of nature.

“We need to place the regeneration of nature at the forefront of our national and international focus.

“This is my hope for humanity.”

With that as her testimony, it’s no surprise bets have been placed on her to emerge as the ultimate winner of the second series of SBS’s survival challenge filmed last year but currently screening on Wednesday nights on SBS.

Catch up episodes can be viewed on SBS On Demand.

Alone Australia is a 10-part documentary with 10 competitors pitted against each as they vie for $250,000 in prize money.

Along with her many accomplishments in life, competing on the television show tested Ms Muir’s survival skills, which was this time filmed in Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa (South Island, New Zealand).

The participants were completely isolated from the world, and each other, stripped of modern possessions, contact and comforts, to self-document their experience as they try to be the last one standing.

With no camera crews or help from the production team, they must fend for themselves, sourcing food, water, shelter, and warmth using only their wits.

The challenges the competitors faced were the merciless forces of nature, hunger, and possibly the toughest challenge of all - loneliness.

They endured dehydration, starvation, relentless rain, snow, freezing subantarctic fronts, roaring forties’ winds and the always imminent threat of avalanches, earthquakes, and landslides.

As anticipated, Ms Muir is faring reasonably well in the series so far.

A wilderness adventure guide, she is well used to living off-grid as that’s how she does life with her husband Jon, and two dogs.

She is also no stranger to being on screen having produced a documentary, Suzy and the Simple Man; a documentary about the couple’s relationship, and nature.

During Episode 3, Ms Muir said on camera that she drew inspiration and strength from her partner, the acclaimed Jon Muir OAM, an equally accomplished human.

“Jon and I have the same passion for nature,” Ms Muir said as she scoured the harsh and unforgiving landscape of New Zealand for a protein source.

“The beauty of nature fills us in the same way and that is probably our most unifying common ground,” she said.

“I spend a lot of time adventuring with Jon - he is an incredible support.

“Without him, I’m going to have to lean into my own sense of self knowing about what is right.”

For decades, Ms Muir has lived a nature-based existence by harvesting resources for her lifestyle from the land she lives on.

She has a broad skill set including hunting and gathering, scavenging, shelter making and deep plant knowledge.

Her SBS biography described her as being intrinsically capable and, determined to prove that, even if lacking some of the physical strength of her competitors, older women have the life experience, patience and wisdom to survive and thrive beyond expectation.

“I want to showcase my 40-plus years of survival skills and show that an older woman can use wisdom and experience to compensate for declining physical strength,” she said.

 “I’m very at ease being alone in wild places.

“My joy was found in that wild South Island of New Zealand through relationship with incredible ancient trees, amazing bird encounters and the lake herself. However, I missed the land where I live at home in the forest with Jon.

“I missed the sandstone escarpment and the emus, echidnas, macropods and the wrens and eagles and of course our two little Jack Russells Charlie and Toby.

“I’ve been learning from my homeland for over 20 years now and being away from that particular place, which I have come to know so well, was really difficult. Whilst I was out there, I felt Jon’s presence with me as something almost palpable, so I didn’t feel apart from him.

“I learnt that I can entertain myself for hours on end, every day, simply by creating an ongoing story in my head.

“I so looked forward to snuggling into my sleeping bag at night and continuing the next chapter of the story.”

Ms Muir said she was surprised by how satisfied she was, by simply engaging with her imagination.

“I also learnt that I have become bonded to the land where I live so deeply that it feels like a spiritual pain when I am absent from it for too long,” she said.

As for the most challenging aspects of Alone Australia she said that everyone without exception began to starve.

“It’s really difficult,” she said.

“Trying to survive in that unfamiliar landscape, in the middle of winter, whilst rapidly losing weight and also filming that survival effort, is like trying to cram two full time jobs into one day.

“Perhaps a bit like trying to be a parent in the modern world but with no food in the fridge or the cupboard.”

Ms Muir said next, she and her husband Jon would be playing hosts with their former yacht transformed into accommodation.

 “Jon and I sailed an old ocean yacht from Fiji to Australia and we have made it into an amazing accommodation on our land in the Grampians surrounded by kangaroos, wallabies and emus,” she said.

“I’ll be hosting this space and also offering bush tucker and edible weed walks and introduction to animal tracking sessions as well as some women’s retreats.”