Real Trail Talk

We sit down with Neil McCulloch from the First Hike Project, a not for profit organisation that takes newly arrived youth from refugee and migrant backgrounds out on hiking trips in the Australian bush to help introduce them to the outdoors and build confidence. Discussing what is involved with the trips, who participates and the effort required, this was a really fascinating chat with a man that is doing a lot of great things in the community.

If you'd like to help out in any way send the FHP an email at contact@firsthikeproject.org.au, anything you can do will be greatly appreciated.

In this episode we interview Jess Beckerling from the WA Forest Alliance to discuss the threats facing the forests of the South West of WA, the transition away from native logging, the future of the forests and how you can help save their beautiful ecosystems. 

Hopping on the mountain bike for 2020, Donovan has started a sectional end to end of the Munda Biddi, a 1000km long distance trail running from Mundaring to Albany. Running North to South we are doing a series on the track starting with the Mundaring to Jarrahdale section that runs through the Darling Range. 

Our mission for this episode was to come up with the ultimate South West Road Trip given a time frame of roughly two weeks that could be realistically accomplished. We both map out our hypothetical routes and discuss how we would fill each day (which of course included a lot of trails). 

In this episode we get into a discussion about hiking gear, what we use, how we came to choose that gear, a brief chat about ultralight gear, sustainability and what gear we'd like heading into the future. 

After finally finishing his sectional end to end, Mark discusses his thoughts on the entire Bibbulmun Track and how life has changed over that time. 

We are joined again by WA outdoor adventure enthusiast Shavaurn to discuss the world class snorkelling locations up and down the northern part of Western Australia. With some of the most stunning spots in the whole of the state (and perhaps the country), the snorkelling at places like Ningaloo is beyond amazing. 

We are joined by WA outdoor adventure enthusiast Shavaurn to discuss the various snorkelling spots around Perth and South West. With summer meaning a break in the hiking season, we like to get out into the water and explore a different type of scene. Thanks to the Leeuwin Current there is a variety of sea life and coral to see so close to shore.

The second of our two Great Walks of New Zealand discussions, we talk about the Tongariro Northern Circuit that was completed by The Long Way's Better at the end of 2019.

This four day hike takes you around the active volcanoes of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe (used as Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings) with public huts along the way to stay in. 

Hear all about the adventure as Donovan and Alissa recount their journey through this remarkable landscape. 

In this episode we are joined by the other half of The Long Way's Better to discuss their Christmas expedition on the Abel Tasman Coast Track in New Zealand. This 4.5 day coastal hike is a relaxing escape from the usual rigours of multi-day hiking with stunning scenery, nice huts to stay in and some casual distances on each day.