She got to work on team Delta Goodrem, has supported the likes of Colin Hay and Daryl Braithwaite, moved to Cessnock ... but most importantly, learned some of life's hard lessons.

And it has taken its toll, including periods of depression and anxiety.

On the music side of things, after a burst of activity and a four albums, the last few years has been very quiet indeed.

But just as good things come from bad, so it was for Anna - her struggles with anxiety proving fertile ground for her musical creativity.

She's on the phone talking about her new single Climb.

"I wrote it about a friend of mine who was going through a tough period," she said. "It's about climbing out of dark places and into the sunlight. But as I was writing it I suddenly realised I was writing about myself too.

"Looking back on it, I'd say I was suffering from anxiety when I was appearing on The Voice all those years ago."

Related content: Watch Anna sing Climb

Climb comes off the still-in-progress Crossing The Sea album - her first album in more than 10 years.

"I really wanted to get it right," she said. "It means a lot to me. It took me a long time to find the right people to work with, which includes my husband Tim Burcham who has co-written some of the songs.

"The music has influences from bands I love ... Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, The Divinyls, The Pretenders.

"It's more personal to me on so many levels. I can't wait for the current travel bans to lift so I can get back to Melbourne and continue recording."

Early feedback on Climb has been overwhelmingly positive. The smoky, sultry sound - in her own words a cross between alt pop and alt rock, "but not quite either" - has had 7000 views on facebook, and "is still chugging away" on Youtube. She is working on a radio promotion to accompany it.

When filmmaker Leanne Hanley, who was in change of doing the video clip, heard the song she was swept away.

"She loved it and said it was crying out to be shot in the desert, so we spent time in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California ... but I love the whole feel of it."

In the meantime, she does some cellar door work at Brokenwood winery and will be livestreaming on their facebook page at 3pm on Sunday.