Saturday 10 September 2022 11:40 PM What Tracy Grimshaw will do next as she returns to farm life trends now

Tracy Grrimshaw's schedule is wide open for the first time in 40 years. 

The TV veteran, 62, shocked the nation on Monday night by announcing she will be quitting A Current Affair in November, leaving behind an illustrious broadcasting career that spans four decades. 

So what will Australia's favourite news hound do with all her spare time? 

While Grimshaw hasn't announced what she plans to do next, it's safe to say she'll be spending plenty of time tending to her acreage property on the outskirts of Sydney. 

Grimshaw, who is fiercely private about her personal life, is known to enjoy her solitude and currently lives alone on the sprawling farm estate. 

Photos taken in 2016 show the presenter dressed in farmyard attire as she mowed the grass on an industrial ride-on mower.

She protected her ears with large noise-cancelling headphones and obscured her face beneath a baseball cap pulled down past her eyes. 

Given the esteemed journalist rarely attends A-list industry events, it's likely she will choose to live out her retirement outside the public eye. 

Indeed, a report by New Idea magazine previously claimed Grimshaw suffered from crippling 'shyness' and finds solitude 'less daunting'. 

'Tracy has battled shyness her entire career... she is so introverted it actually affects her daily life,' a source told the magazine in 2016. 

'The person you see on TV is not the same person you would meet on the street,' they said of Grimshaw, who is known to exude confidence in her role on A Current Affair.'

Quitting A Current Affair will help Grimshaw find more time to indulge in her passion for horse riding.

Her property boasts a horse stables and plenty of room for equestrian activities.  

In 2016, she was famously knocked off her horse in a horrific riding accident and had to be flown via helicopter to the emergency room.  

The crew that treated her at the scene suggested that her horse was spooked by the sound of a lawnmower.

They also reported that she may have been unconscious for up to 15 minutes. 

Luckily, Tracy was wearing a helmet at the time - a decision that likely saved her life.  

Grimshaw announced she was stepping down from A Current Affair during Monday night's episode. 

'Normally right about now we'd be telling you what to expect tomorrow night, but lately I've personally been thinking longer term, and I have some news that I wanted you to hear from me before you hear it from anyone else,' Grimshaw began.

'I've decided to finish up with A Current Affair this year.

'It's been a big decision and before the gossip websites start telling you rubbish, I want you to know it's been my decision alone and I'm not being shoved out the door by the boys' club because I'm too old.

'I'm not too old, I'm just a bit tired. And for the record both the boys and the girls have asked me to stay,' Grimshaw continued. 

'But I've basically been a shift worker for 26 years, driving to work before dawn for nine years on the Today show, and the past 17 years driving home after dark here on A Current Affair and it's time for less of that daily obligation.'

'I was just a kid in 1971 when Mike Willesee started it, and in our family it was required viewing each night as Michael either forensically dismantled some politician or maybe laughed along with Hoges.

'Back then, I was going to be a vet or a flight attendant, so if you'd told me that one day I'd sit in this chair, let alone occupy it for 17 years, I'd have thought you were mad. Well, lucky me.

'You've let me indulge my love of interviewing here.

'I've talked to people who've made us all laugh and cry, who've shared their

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