Dr Kate Leeming OAM

Dr Kate Leeming OAM is arguably one of Australia’s most accomplished adventurers.

Kate has cycled 106,000km – more than two and a half times the Earth’s circumference – on her major journeys.

In 2023 she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to adventure sport and she also received the Australian Geographic Society’s prestigious Spirit of Adventure award.

She has successfully completed expeditions on all seven continents and attained four world firsts. Educational and humanitarian missions are always an equally important part Kate’s projects.

She has published two books and produced award winning films and TV series which have been shown around the world.

On August 16th 2010 she became the first person to cycle an unbroken line from Africa’s most westerly to its most easterly point.

Cycling 22,040km over ten months through twenty countries, Kate’s Breaking the Cycle in Africa expedition was not only a physical quest but an odyssey to highlight the causes and effects of extreme poverty and specifically what is being done to give a ‘leg up’ rather than a ‘hand out’.

Kate’s previous expeditions include the 13,400km Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition (1993) when she became the first woman to cycle across the new Russia unsupported (aiding the children of Chernobyl), and the 25,000km Great Australian Cycle Expedition (2004/05), supported by UNESCO, which included the first bicycle crossing of the Canning Stock Route by a woman.

In 2023, Kate completed two unique fatbike journeys; across Queen Maud Land in Antarctica and Breaking the Cycle Across Australia, 8,617km from Australia’s most easterly point, Cape Byron, to its most westerly, Steep Point.

Kate is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (UK), a member of The Explorers Club (New York), an Honorary Advisor for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award and a Scout Ambassador.

In August 2025, Kate completed an epic 9,000km journey through Central Asia from Kyrgyzstan to  Afghanistan.

Through the story of her journeys, Kate speaks about her passions and purposes, what keeps her going through the difficult times and the importance of following each challenge from a ‘DREAM’ through to its completion.