Girlie Goody has run her Central Queensland cattle property solo for 45 years - battling drought, downturns and disbelieving bank managers. But she’s done more than just survive in her tough environment, she’s thrived - cultivating a rich life she reveals to the Weekly.

“Don’t bend that bar,” Girlie Goody teases, as I bounce like a human pinball around the cab of her Toyota LandCruiser with a white-knuckle grip on the safety rail. We’re lurching into a washed-out creek that cuts through the hills of her cattle property near Monto, 150 kilometres south west of Gladstone in Central Queensland, and we’re on the hunt for cattle hiding in the scrub. Peering over the wheel, Girlie reaches down to “add more horses” and knock the ute into four-wheel drive. She’s covered this track every one of her 83 years - first in a saddle, then later on four wheels when her joyrides became matters of business - and she knows the country as well as she knows herself.