Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Exploring the Wilderness: An Interview with Tony Crooke from GME

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Exploring the Wilderness: An Interview with Tony Crooke from GME · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
0:08
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I'm joined today by a
0:11
Speaker 1: legend in the Australian Overland community, Tony Crook, and he
0:15
Speaker 1: is the marketing manager for gm ME. Thanks so much
0:17
Speaker 1: Tony for being on the podcast with me today.
0:21
Speaker 2: It's an honor debate. He's gott I really appreciate him.
0:23
Speaker 1: Man, No, totally watching your YouTube videos. The stuff that
0:27
Speaker 1: you guys are doing and producing is just unbelievable and
0:31
Speaker 1: also super fun. There's just a lot of humor and
0:34
Speaker 1: you guys are having a lot of joy in your travels,
0:38
Speaker 1: which I think is important for people to remember. And
0:40
Speaker 1: then you've also got just a long history of enjoying
0:43
Speaker 1: cars in general, the outdoors in general. You're a passionate outdoorsman.
0:48
Speaker 1: So there's a lot that we can talk about. We
0:50
Speaker 1: could spend hours talking about all the things that you love,
0:53
Speaker 1: but let's start off with something that I would like
0:56
Speaker 1: to understand a little bit more of. But what do
0:59
Speaker 1: you what does bushwalking mean? H Scott here, I just
1:04
Speaker 1: wanted to take a minute to talk a little bit
1:07
Speaker 1: about expedition portal dot com. Expedition Portal dot Com is
1:12
Speaker 1: our website and it's also our community forum. We are
1:16
Speaker 1: celebrating twenty years of expedition Portal dot com this year
1:19
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, and there are nearly three hundred
1:24
Speaker 1: thousand members on the community forum that talk about incredibly
1:27
Speaker 1: diverse topics all around the world, unique vehicles, things like
1:32
Speaker 1: land cruisers and land rovers, and what to do at
1:35
Speaker 1: the border with Ethiopia and Africa, all the way to
1:39
Speaker 1: some of the favorite campsites and adventure stories from the community.
1:43
Speaker 1: We also have the homepage which is filled with nearly
1:47
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1:51
Speaker 1: free right there on expedition portal dot com. We have
1:55
Speaker 1: two to five articles per day that go up on
1:58
Speaker 1: the website written by our very experienced staff, which includes
2:03
Speaker 1: global travelers like Bram Bell and Ashley Giordano. I have
2:08
Speaker 1: many articles on there and many contributors like Dan Grek
2:12
Speaker 1: and others from around the world. So please take a
2:14
Speaker 1: minute and check out Expedition Portal dot com. It's a
2:18
Speaker 1: great way to support the podcast and to connect with
2:21
Speaker 1: the community.
2:26
Speaker 2: What does bushwalking mean. It's pretty literal. In Australia, We're
2:30
Speaker 2: pretty literal people. What it sounds like is I'm trying
2:33
Speaker 2: to think what you guys would call it states. I
2:37
Speaker 2: think in Australia there's a little bit of a distinction
2:40
Speaker 2: between a bushwalk and a hike. A hike generally suggests
2:44
Speaker 2: a little bit more preparation. You've got to pack, generally
2:48
Speaker 2: speaking overnighting. You've got your lightweight hiking equipment, tents and
2:52
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff and got it here. When
2:55
Speaker 2: we say we're going hiking, it's seen as a little
2:57
Speaker 2: bit more serious. You can go for a bushwalk anytime
2:59
Speaker 2: you like. You don't even have to wear shoes if
3:02
Speaker 2: you don't want to. It's really just walking around in nature.
3:05
Speaker 2: It's walking around in the wilderness. So what you guys
3:07
Speaker 2: would call, I guess, the forest, we call them bush
3:11
Speaker 2: So bushwalking is what it sounds like, mate, just walking
3:13
Speaker 2: around in the bush.
3:15
Speaker 1: Now. I love it, And it's actually something that's come
3:17
Speaker 1: up in several of your interviews and part of your
3:20
Speaker 1: personal history. Is that something that you really enjoy doing?
3:24
Speaker 1: So what do you find how does that help you
3:27
Speaker 1: in your day to day What are the takeaways that
3:29
Speaker 1: you have from going on a walk in the bush
3:32
Speaker 1: in Australia.
3:34
Speaker 2: Oh man, there's so much I wouldn't say I'm a
3:37
Speaker 2: deeply spiritual person, but there is something at a subconscious
3:44
Speaker 2: level that just makes me feel really content when I'm
3:49
Speaker 2: in nature. So whether that's being at the beach, being
3:53
Speaker 2: in the forest, anywhere anything outdoors, it slows me down,
3:58
Speaker 2: it levels me out. And the sort of work that
4:01
Speaker 2: I do in marketing, it's all digital, it's social, it's
4:05
Speaker 2: doing twenty things at once. And I'm sure you can
4:07
Speaker 2: relate to this, and I'm sure a lot of your
4:09
Speaker 2: listeners could relate to it as well. In the world
4:12
Speaker 2: that we live in today, and it's only accelerating, there's
4:15
Speaker 2: so much stimulus all the time, and we've got screens
4:19
Speaker 2: all around us, and there's so much head noise going
4:22
Speaker 2: into nature. It's just like a little bit of a
4:24
Speaker 2: reset and it taps into some I don't know, instinctive
4:29
Speaker 2: part of our bodies and our minds, and it just
4:32
Speaker 2: makes everything slow down a little bit, and that makes
4:35
Speaker 2: me happy.
4:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you, and I think so much of
4:39
Speaker 1: human history that's what we did, Like you and I
4:42
Speaker 1: would be walking together right now if it was a
4:45
Speaker 1: thousand years ago. Of course, there wasn't technology that supported that.
4:49
Speaker 1: We would have gone for a walk, or we would
4:51
Speaker 1: have sat around a fire and we would have had
4:53
Speaker 1: this conversation as two travelers. But now all of that
4:58
Speaker 1: isolates us from that experience so often. And man, I
5:02
Speaker 1: love That's one of the things that I love about Australia.
5:04
Speaker 1: There is a sense of ancientness to the police and
5:08
Speaker 1: it is the oldest continent. It's a very ancient continent.
5:12
Speaker 1: And there's something about being in the outback of Australia
5:16
Speaker 1: that is so unusual. It's just so different.
5:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're really lucky to have what we have down here.
5:23
Speaker 2: We've got such a diverse landscape. We've got mountains, not
5:26
Speaker 2: like you guys have got, but we've got mountains. We've
5:28
Speaker 2: got snow, we've got amazing beaches, we've got deserts, we've
5:31
Speaker 2: got rainforests, the native Australian bush. We've got everything here.
5:36
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool, man, Yeah, you really do.
5:39
Speaker 1: It's funny. I'm actually recording this side of the podcast
5:42
Speaker 1: at the same elevation as Kaskiasco.
5:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is just my office.
5:49
Speaker 2: That's right. And I just got back from Colorado this
5:51
Speaker 2: week and it was funny. I was in a I
5:54
Speaker 2: was in a shields store, and I was just being
5:56
Speaker 2: silly with one of our friends and we raced each
5:57
Speaker 2: other up the staircase inside and I got to the
6:00
Speaker 2: top and I was puffing, and I was out of breath,
6:02
Speaker 2: and I'm like, man, I swear I'm not that unfit.
6:04
Speaker 2: And then I remembered I was at like six thousand feet,
6:07
Speaker 2: which that's really considerably high than where I lived my life.
6:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, so much of the Australian populations on the coast,
6:15
Speaker 1: and you have such a beautiful coastline. Recently, you and
6:18
Speaker 1: I were both in You live in Australia, but we
6:20
Speaker 1: were both in the same part of Australia just recently.
6:23
Speaker 1: You were, if I remember correctly, you were doing some
6:25
Speaker 1: filming for twenty four to seven up in Cape York
6:29
Speaker 1: and I was in Cape York at the same time
6:31
Speaker 1: with arb and we were darn near close enough that
6:34
Speaker 1: we could have gotten a hold of each other on
6:36
Speaker 1: a couple radios at a few times during the weeks
6:39
Speaker 1: that I was up there. But man, what a special
6:41
Speaker 1: part of the country.
6:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, phenomenal. Man. We were like two ships passing in
6:45
Speaker 2: the night. It was actually a point there where I'm
6:48
Speaker 2: pretty sure we drove past each other on the Peninsula
6:50
Speaker 2: Development Road. I went past the convoy. But yeah, look,
6:53
Speaker 2: it was my first time up in Cape York. It
6:56
Speaker 2: is a truly special place. I talked about the feeling,
7:01
Speaker 2: that subconscious feeling of being in nature. It's that one
7:05
Speaker 2: hundred x up there. You can feel the culture, you
7:09
Speaker 2: can feel the history in that place. It is a
7:12
Speaker 2: truly special part of the world. And Australia is a
7:16
Speaker 2: very big country in terms of land mass, but the
7:19
Speaker 2: majority of our population is quite concentrated on the East
7:22
Speaker 2: Coast and in the capital cities. You go to places
7:24
Speaker 2: like Cape York, you go to places like the Simpson Desert,
7:27
Speaker 2: and you feel so unbelievably remote. And for me and
7:33
Speaker 2: for I'm sure many of your listeners and people who
7:35
Speaker 2: are into the overland lifestyle, that's what we're chasing, right,
7:39
Speaker 2: We're chasing that adventure, that sense of exploration. And we
7:43
Speaker 2: did one trail there in Cape York, and we were
7:46
Speaker 2: on that one trail for seven days and we did
7:49
Speaker 2: three hundred kilometers what's that two hundredish miles or something.
7:53
Speaker 2: It was slow going, but that feeling of just being
7:57
Speaker 2: in complete wilderness, man, that was I wouldn't say it
8:01
Speaker 2: was life changing, but it definitely is something that I'll
8:04
Speaker 2: remember until the DIODA.
8:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just about every time that I'd get a
8:08
Speaker 1: hold of you, you'd be like, yeah, this truck just
8:10
Speaker 1: blew up a burfield or whatever. You guys were in it.
8:13
Speaker 1: You guys were in the thick of it, and we
8:16
Speaker 1: were on a track that I would consider very challenging
8:19
Speaker 1: for a stock vehicle. So we were on the telegraph track.
8:23
Speaker 1: You certainly could drive a stock Rubicon through there with
8:26
Speaker 1: a Snorkel or a Stock seventy series if you had
8:30
Speaker 1: some driving experience, but it was really challenging. It was
8:34
Speaker 1: very challenging, and it sounded like what you guys were
8:36
Speaker 1: doing was about three levels higher than that, and it
8:40
Speaker 1: seems like that's a little bit harder to find in Australia,
8:42
Speaker 1: that really extreme terrain.
8:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it is, and it isn't I think even
8:48
Speaker 2: with the old teletrack, because we drove that after you
8:50
Speaker 2: guys had done it. There's an eyelon a baylon in
8:54
Speaker 2: a ceylon, So it's a little bit of a chooser
8:56
Speaker 2: at the church, that's true. So if you choose the
8:58
Speaker 2: eyelons through everything, you can make it pretty difficult in Australia,
9:03
Speaker 2: though a lot of our most hardcore technical trails you
9:07
Speaker 2: would never see on YouTube or on Instagram. There's quite
9:12
Speaker 2: a divide in terms of the I guess the general
9:16
Speaker 2: overlanding population or what we call Fallell drive touring in Australia.
9:21
Speaker 2: The Telei track for a lot of people would be
9:23
Speaker 2: considered quite a hardcore track. If they're in a stock
9:28
Speaker 2: three hundred series Lancers, they're going to hesitate before they
9:31
Speaker 2: send it down Palm Creek or Gunshot Creek. So for
9:35
Speaker 2: those guys and girls, the Telly's pretty challenging. There's a
9:40
Speaker 2: sub community of really hardcore guys and girls here that
9:45
Speaker 2: I guess is a little bit more like your rock
9:47
Speaker 2: crawling kind of community in America. And there's some properly
9:51
Speaker 2: hardcore trails here, but they probably don't even have names.
9:55
Speaker 2: The locals will know what the name of that trail is,
9:57
Speaker 2: theyn't know how to get there, but they would never
10:00
Speaker 2: post any videos or photos of it on the Internet
10:02
Speaker 2: because they don't want it to get closed down.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a challenge that we even have here. That's
10:07
Speaker 1: one of the things that I know in your position
10:10
Speaker 1: that you have a huge audience and for us too.
10:14
Speaker 1: We just we really focus on how do we preserve
10:17
Speaker 1: these trails for future generations. What are some of the
10:20
Speaker 1: things that you guys are doing in Australia to try
10:23
Speaker 1: to educate the other four drive tours on helping them
10:28
Speaker 1: minimize their impact keep these trails open. What are some
10:30
Speaker 1: of the things that you guys find you're working on
10:33
Speaker 1: as a community in Australia to do that.
10:36
Speaker 2: I think it's really reinforcing to the community a sense
10:39
Speaker 2: of ownership and responsibility. That there's a very famous David
10:42
Speaker 2: Attenbrook quote and I won't try and say it because
10:45
Speaker 2: I'll get it wrong, but it's something along the lines
10:47
Speaker 2: of people won't care about things that they can't see,
10:52
Speaker 2: and so the best way to get people to care
10:54
Speaker 2: about the wilderness and public land is by getting people
10:58
Speaker 2: to use public land and wilderness responsibly. And I think
11:02
Speaker 2: all of us have a part to play, whether it's
11:04
Speaker 2: in the United States, whether it's in Australia, or whether
11:07
Speaker 2: anywhere in the world. For those of us who enjoy
11:10
Speaker 2: being in the outdoors and exploring those wilderness areas, then
11:13
Speaker 2: we need to have a sense of ownership. It blows
11:17
Speaker 2: me away that in twenty twenty five. We still need
11:20
Speaker 2: to tell adults to pick up their trash, don't leave
11:24
Speaker 2: campfires burning when you leave your campsite. It's all if
11:27
Speaker 2: the trails if it's been raining for a couple of weeks,
11:31
Speaker 2: and there's a way of not destroying the trail, and
11:35
Speaker 2: maybe think about that. It's that really basic stuff. But
11:37
Speaker 2: I think it's about getting people to really own the
11:40
Speaker 2: public land because it is ours ultimately. And I've seen
11:44
Speaker 2: the fight going on in the States over the last
11:46
Speaker 2: couple of months and it was amazing for me to
11:48
Speaker 2: see the whole community unite, you know, from really famous
11:54
Speaker 2: public figures right down to the grassroots. Everyone was together
11:58
Speaker 2: and pushing back and trying to protect that blm land
12:01
Speaker 2: and saying that is ours. You can't sell it. It's
12:03
Speaker 2: not for sale, it's for the people.
12:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
12:06
Speaker 2: And we're facing similar challenges here in Australia. We're losing
12:10
Speaker 2: access to public land every day. There's a lot of
12:13
Speaker 2: wilderness areas that have been locked up by the government
12:15
Speaker 2: and no one's allowed to go in there anymore. And
12:18
Speaker 2: the problem that creates is that we've got a growing
12:21
Speaker 2: full drive community, so there's more people, there's more vehicles
12:24
Speaker 2: and they're being condensed into an ever shrinking era of
12:27
Speaker 2: public land, which puts more pressure on the land. And
12:31
Speaker 2: for me, I'm a father. I've got a young daughter
12:34
Speaker 2: and I want her to be able to experience the
12:37
Speaker 2: same things that I've experienced in my life. And the
12:40
Speaker 2: way it's going at the moment, I think we all
12:42
Speaker 2: need to be more active in standing up for our
12:46
Speaker 2: access to public land. And that's globally. I think it's
12:49
Speaker 2: an issue that affects all of us.
12:53
Speaker 1: No, I agree with you, and it is interesting. In Australia,
12:57
Speaker 1: I do find that the trails are better cared for.
13:00
Speaker 1: There's less trash, there's a lot more respect amongst travelers,
13:06
Speaker 1: like helping each other out. There's a lot more of
13:09
Speaker 1: a sense of community on the trail itself, unless you're
13:13
Speaker 1: trying to cross Nolan's Creek and they're all lined up
13:16
Speaker 1: with their beers and chairs and they're gonna they're gonna try,
13:20
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to take a piss out of you,
13:22
Speaker 1: as you guys would say.
13:23
Speaker 2: So they yeah, you go and drive Gunshot Creek on
13:26
Speaker 2: the old telegraph track and there's a huge group of
13:29
Speaker 2: people that haven't driven the big drop in themselves, but
13:33
Speaker 2: they're really hoping that something goes wrong when you do it.
13:35
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right that that sense of community is one
13:38
Speaker 2: of the things that I love the most about fall
13:40
Speaker 2: drives and overlanding and having spent a bit of time
13:43
Speaker 2: into States over the last year. It's phenomenal how that
13:47
Speaker 2: common interest. I can meet a guy from Arizona who
13:50
Speaker 2: I've never met before, and then by the end of
13:53
Speaker 2: the day we're best mates because we've been We've got
13:55
Speaker 2: that shared interest and that common understanding, and it's great man.
13:59
Speaker 2: And for someone like yourself that'sland traveled overland around the world,
14:04
Speaker 2: I'm sure you've sayen that, but regardless of our culture
14:07
Speaker 2: or background or experience, we can all come together over
14:09
Speaker 2: that common love of vehicles and travel.
14:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, and sharing those experiences together, helping the next traveler
14:17
Speaker 1: find their way or get across that border crossing or whatever.
14:21
Speaker 1: It's all part of the joy of it, and it's
14:23
Speaker 1: certainly something that you guys have done a great job.
14:26
Speaker 1: You're Let's talk a little bit about your podcast, because
14:29
Speaker 1: I want my listeners to know about what you're doing.
14:32
Speaker 1: So you started this fairly recent, but you have been
14:36
Speaker 1: very active on it. You've got fifty four episodes or
14:38
Speaker 1: fifty five episodes the last that I checked, and it's
14:41
Speaker 1: called the Outer Side Podcast. There's a lot of humor.
14:44
Speaker 1: You'ven interviewed some cool people. Tell me what inspired you
14:48
Speaker 1: to do that. Give a little bit of an overview
14:50
Speaker 1: of what the podcast is all about.
14:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. So I started the out of Side podcast
14:55
Speaker 2: twelve months ago. It's a weakly show, so I do
14:59
Speaker 2: a baut a one hour episode every week. I release
15:02
Speaker 2: it on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, so I've got
15:05
Speaker 2: video and audio. I try and do them all face
15:08
Speaker 2: to face, which is extremely challenging. But for me, I
15:13
Speaker 2: love that face to face interaction with people. And the
15:17
Speaker 2: reason that I started it is I love talking to people.
15:20
Speaker 2: It's that simple. I just love having conversations with people.
15:24
Speaker 2: I meet so many interesting folks through the work that
15:29
Speaker 2: I do, through what I do in my spare time,
15:32
Speaker 2: and I feel really lucky that I get to meet
15:35
Speaker 2: these fascinating people and learn about them and hear their stories.
15:38
Speaker 2: And as humans, we're storytellers. That's how we've evolved. And
15:44
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say I felt selfish, but I felt like
15:48
Speaker 2: so many of the conversations that I was having I
15:51
Speaker 2: wanted to share with other people. I thought, you know what,
15:53
Speaker 2: I get so much enjoyment from having these conversations. Why
15:56
Speaker 2: don't I share them? Why don't I film them? So
15:58
Speaker 2: I started it. Yeah, that's twelve months ago, and one
16:01
Speaker 2: of the big things for me personally is and I
16:04
Speaker 2: talk about this on the show all the time, like
16:05
Speaker 2: I've got ADHD. I was medicated for a long time
16:08
Speaker 2: and that's a big part of why I immersed myself
16:10
Speaker 2: in nature to help level myself out. I'm always chasing.
16:16
Speaker 2: I'm always chasing stimulus, right, and you just ask my wife.
16:20
Speaker 2: I'm always on my phone or I'm always doing five
16:22
Speaker 2: things at once. The podcast is a way of forcing
16:26
Speaker 2: myself to sit in one place for an hour with
16:30
Speaker 2: no distractions and have a deep conversation with somebody. And
16:35
Speaker 2: it's not often that we do that in this day
16:37
Speaker 2: and age. I often say to people, when was the
16:40
Speaker 2: last time you called your buddy and had a one
16:42
Speaker 2: hour conversation with no distractions, And for most people, they
16:45
Speaker 2: just don't do that. It's it's designed as an interview
16:49
Speaker 2: style podcast, but it's not that serious. If you've watched
16:52
Speaker 2: any of the episodes or listen to them. It's pretty casual.
16:55
Speaker 2: It's designed to be a campfire chat, the sort of
16:59
Speaker 2: stuff that we talk about with your buddies sitting around
17:01
Speaker 2: a campfire. There's no format, there's no structure. The conversation meander's.
17:06
Speaker 2: It goes in all sorts of places, and it goes
17:08
Speaker 2: into places that I never thought it would. And the
17:11
Speaker 2: best thing and the most rewarding thing for me is
17:13
Speaker 2: a lot of the people that I've interviewed and had
17:15
Speaker 2: on the show are buddies of mine that I've known
17:17
Speaker 2: for a long time, and in every single time I
17:20
Speaker 2: sit down and shoot one of those episodes, I learned
17:22
Speaker 2: something about them that I didn't already know. And because yeah,
17:29
Speaker 2: I was just going to say, because we're Ossie's, we
17:31
Speaker 2: can't help be a little bit silly and have a laugh.
17:34
Speaker 2: That's all party.
17:36
Speaker 1: Oh it's great, there's some great humor in there. Sorry,
17:39
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of a lag there on
17:41
Speaker 1: your audio. But you had Benji on on your podcast,
17:46
Speaker 1: if I remember it correctly, tell me a couple of
17:48
Speaker 1: things you learned from that guy, because he's one of
17:50
Speaker 1: the most interesting people I know, and I love them
17:53
Speaker 1: dearly as a friend and like What were some of
17:55
Speaker 1: the things you took away from the conversation with Benji.
17:58
Speaker 2: Benji Davenport Man what a guy. I think he was
18:01
Speaker 2: episode number five, so he was quite early on and
18:05
Speaker 2: I will absolutely have Benji back on the show. There
18:09
Speaker 2: is no way that you can hear even ten percent
18:12
Speaker 2: of what that guy has done in an hour long episode.
18:15
Speaker 1: That's right.
18:15
Speaker 2: I don't even remember how I met Benji, but Benji's
18:20
Speaker 2: just Benji's like an institution in the Australian fall drive community.
18:25
Speaker 2: Everybody knows him. He's everywhere, he's at every show. I've
18:31
Speaker 2: never heard anyone say a bad word about him. He's
18:33
Speaker 2: a phenomenal bloke. And in terms of what the purpose
18:38
Speaker 2: of the Outer Side is, which is trying to motivate
18:40
Speaker 2: people to spend time outside and go and live their
18:43
Speaker 2: best possible life of adventure, he epitomizes everything that I
18:47
Speaker 2: am trying to convey in that show. What I learned
18:50
Speaker 2: from Benji is regardless of who you are, where you are,
18:54
Speaker 2: or what your life situation is, if you want to
18:57
Speaker 2: go on an adventure, you can just do it. And
19:01
Speaker 2: for a guy like him who just decided, hey, I'm
19:03
Speaker 2: going to drive my lander over across the planet and
19:06
Speaker 2: he just did it. It's so inspirational. He's a great
19:10
Speaker 2: guy and I have.
19:11
Speaker 1: And he did it. He did it with a he
19:13
Speaker 1: did it with a serious he did it with a
19:16
Speaker 1: serious medical condition, basically as doctor told him, like, you
19:19
Speaker 1: could die at any moment trying to do what you're
19:22
Speaker 1: about to do. And Benji's yeah, it sounds worth it,
19:24
Speaker 1: it's worth it. Other than that, I'm gonna set Yeah,
19:29
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sit at home, and I'm still all we're
19:31
Speaker 1: all gonna die someday. So he knows that he understands
19:34
Speaker 1: that you might as well. You might as well see
19:37
Speaker 1: the world, and he did. He went went all the
19:39
Speaker 1: way around the world, through Russia and everything else, and
19:41
Speaker 1: then all the way through the length of the Americas,
19:44
Speaker 1: and we had him here and pressed it for some time.
19:47
Speaker 1: He worked for one of my best friends on a
19:49
Speaker 1: horse farm, and he's just an incredible guy. And I
19:53
Speaker 1: think that those are the kinds of people that you
19:55
Speaker 1: and I get to spend time with that I feel
19:58
Speaker 1: like I take away so much more from the conversations
20:02
Speaker 1: that I give. So I learned so much from the
20:05
Speaker 1: people that I get to spend time with.
20:07
Speaker 2: Absolutely and I will say one thing about Benji. He's
20:10
Speaker 2: a close friend of mine, so I share things with
20:13
Speaker 2: him that I wouldn't share with others. And GMA, the
20:15
Speaker 2: company that I worked for, we just launched our brand
20:17
Speaker 2: in America at Overland Expo Mountain West just a week ago.
20:21
Speaker 2: But when we were doing the research phase of looking
20:25
Speaker 2: at North America as a market that we might like
20:27
Speaker 2: to enter, I spoke to Benji about it confidentially and
20:30
Speaker 2: he gave me a list of names of people that
20:32
Speaker 2: I needed to talk to, and you were one of them.
20:34
Speaker 2: And there was probably seven or eight guys that he said,
20:38
Speaker 2: You've got to talk to these people, And every single
20:41
Speaker 2: one of those people is now someone that I would
20:43
Speaker 2: consider a friend. And in terms of judge of character,
20:47
Speaker 2: I'd say Benji's got it dialed. If he says someone's
20:49
Speaker 2: a good person, then they're going to be a good person.
20:54
Speaker 1: Yeah he is, and he's Yeah, he's just an incredible
20:57
Speaker 1: I've just been able to spend time with him, like
20:59
Speaker 1: and we were in London for a couple of days
21:01
Speaker 1: together walking around was just Yeah, those are the kinds
21:04
Speaker 1: of people that we're so lucky to be able to meet.
21:07
Speaker 1: Let's go back in time a little bit again because
21:09
Speaker 1: we've not really talked with many people about their love
21:12
Speaker 1: of fishing on our podcast, but we do know that
21:15
Speaker 1: many Overlanders bring fishing rods along with them. Brian mcpickers
21:20
Speaker 1: from our team was just at the Mountain West Overland
21:23
Speaker 1: Expo with you and he brought his fly rod along
21:26
Speaker 1: and did some fishing on his way back. Talk a
21:28
Speaker 1: little bit about how do you incorporate fishing into your travels.
21:31
Speaker 1: Is it something you still do as much as when
21:34
Speaker 1: you were growing up or where are you at with
21:37
Speaker 1: that now?
21:38
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Man And another thing about being ADHD diagnosed and
21:43
Speaker 2: having that, I guess neurodivergencies. One of the things that
21:46
Speaker 2: people with ADHD will do is that will hyper focus
21:48
Speaker 2: on a particular activity or a topic for a period
21:52
Speaker 2: of time, and then they will stop doing that and
21:54
Speaker 2: it was like it never happened. The one thing that's
21:57
Speaker 2: been constant in my life is my love fishing, and
22:01
Speaker 2: particularly saltwater fishing in the ocean. It's something I've done
22:04
Speaker 2: my whole life and it's something that i still do
22:06
Speaker 2: to this day. I live a quarter of a mile
22:09
Speaker 2: from the coast, so I fish a lot, and when
22:13
Speaker 2: it comes to overland adventures with my family. If I'm
22:17
Speaker 2: going on an extended trip with my family, you best
22:20
Speaker 2: believe that there's going to be fishing opportunities. I will
22:23
Speaker 2: engineer trips so that we're in close proximity to good
22:28
Speaker 2: fishing grounds. We'll often tow the boat behind my eighty
22:31
Speaker 2: series land cruiser. We'll fish remote rivers, or any opportunity
22:35
Speaker 2: I have to go fishing, I will. I'll absolutely take.
22:38
Speaker 2: It's something again that it's a little bit selfish, because
22:42
Speaker 2: it's time where I get to just focus on doing
22:44
Speaker 2: one thing, often by myself, in complete silence, in most
22:48
Speaker 2: in nature, and it just makes me unbelievably happy.
22:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could see that as a constant theme for you,
22:57
Speaker 1: and that makes a lot of sense, and it parallels
22:59
Speaker 1: my own life. It's I'm always trying to find a
23:01
Speaker 1: way to get in nature, be outdoors as much as
23:04
Speaker 1: I can. In fact, I think, if I remember correctly
23:07
Speaker 1: your story, was you even got into overlanding because you
23:12
Speaker 1: couldn't really tow your boat with what was it a
23:14
Speaker 1: skyline or something that.
23:15
Speaker 2: You had on. Yeah. I was a streetcar guy. I
23:18
Speaker 2: was always into fast, pretty ludicrous streetcars. A lot of
23:23
Speaker 2: Japanese imports a lot of local Aussie sort of muscle
23:27
Speaker 2: cars and street machines, and they're not really good at
23:30
Speaker 2: towing boats. My first four by four that I ever
23:32
Speaker 2: bought was only bought to tow a boat. I had
23:36
Speaker 2: no interest in overland travel unless there was fishing involved.
23:40
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you what things have changed a little
23:42
Speaker 2: bit since then.
23:46
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about what you do with
23:49
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel. What's been your favorite trip that you've done?
23:52
Speaker 1: But what's the full title of the YouTube channel? So
23:55
Speaker 1: we get it right.
23:56
Speaker 2: So we've got Full Drive twenty four seventy four seven guys. Yeah,
24:00
Speaker 2: so they're a big advertising partner for us at GM.
24:03
Speaker 2: We've known those guys for a long time. And when
24:06
Speaker 2: I first got into four x fours, the brand was
24:10
Speaker 2: called Full Will Drive Action and it was a magazine.
24:13
Speaker 2: It was a print magazine, the DVD stuck on the
24:15
Speaker 2: cover of it, and as someone who was just discovering
24:20
Speaker 2: four x fours and all of the opportunities that they
24:23
Speaker 2: open up for us, I would look forward to that
24:25
Speaker 2: magazine every month, and as soon as that magazine hit
24:28
Speaker 2: the news stand, be taken home. Before you even opened
24:31
Speaker 2: the magazine, the DVD would go on the DVD player
24:33
Speaker 2: and you'd watch whichever adventure the Boys had been on
24:36
Speaker 2: most recently. And then as I started becoming more and
24:39
Speaker 2: more embedded in marketing at GMA, we were already working
24:43
Speaker 2: with the Boys, was Shorn and the team at Full
24:45
Speaker 2: Will Drive Action, and then as that business evolved became
24:48
Speaker 2: Full Wall Drive twenty four to seven, they started the
24:51
Speaker 2: YouTube channel. We doubled down and we could see the
24:55
Speaker 2: power that those guys had and the community that they'd
24:57
Speaker 2: built around their brand, and we became heavily involved with them,
25:02
Speaker 2: which then turned into me going on trips with the Boys.
25:05
Speaker 2: I've now done oh, I don't even know, maybe fourteen
25:09
Speaker 2: or fifteen episodes in two days. I'm actually about to
25:12
Speaker 2: jump into the eighty series and head north again to
25:14
Speaker 2: shoot a couple more episodes. But yeah, how lucky I
25:18
Speaker 2: am to be able to say that is work going
25:22
Speaker 2: on forward our trips with a bunch of guys that
25:25
Speaker 2: you know, are great fun to hang out with, sea
25:27
Speaker 2: places that maybe you'd never get to see, and get
25:30
Speaker 2: paid for it. It's pretty good.
25:32
Speaker 1: I want to thank all of you that are listening
25:34
Speaker 1: for your support of the Overland Journal podcast. There are
25:38
Speaker 1: times that our listeners reach out and ask for ways
25:41
Speaker 1: that they can support the podcast directly, and the best
25:45
Speaker 1: way to do that, the very best way to do
25:48
Speaker 1: that is to subscribe to Overland Journal. The print magazine
25:53
Speaker 1: can be accessed on our website digitally and you'll receive
25:56
Speaker 1: a beautiful one hundred and thirty to one hundred and
25:59
Speaker 1: fifty page book five times a year, which is all
26:03
Speaker 1: of the very best overland adventures that are occurring in
26:06
Speaker 1: the modern day. Historically, we do in depth evaluations of
26:10
Speaker 1: equipment that's featured as field tested and also our famous
26:15
Speaker 1: main gear reviews, where we still declare an editor's choice,
26:21
Speaker 1: very detailed pros and cons very deliberate testing of equipment
26:25
Speaker 1: in the field all the way around the world. So
26:27
Speaker 1: you can subscribe to Overland Journal by going to Overland
26:30
Speaker 1: Journal dot com. And for our podcast listeners, just for
26:35
Speaker 1: all of you listening, we actually have a twenty percent
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Speaker 1: off code and that code is Overland Podcast. So if
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Speaker 1: you use the code Overland Podcast to get twenty percent
26:44
Speaker 1: off your next work. Thank you again for all of
26:47
Speaker 1: your support. What was your favorite what's the favorite episode
26:51
Speaker 1: that you were involved in so that people can go
26:54
Speaker 1: and have a watch.
26:56
Speaker 2: Oh as, Yeah, that's a hot question. I would say
27:03
Speaker 2: probably the Cape York trip that I just did. In
27:05
Speaker 2: terms of adventure, we did a two part episode. We
27:10
Speaker 2: opened a track basically went from the west coast of
27:12
Speaker 2: Cape York to the east coast. A lot of the
27:14
Speaker 2: time we were on traditionally owned land, so land that
27:18
Speaker 2: belongs to part of the Aboriginal community up there. That
27:21
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. It was such a good adventure. And then
27:26
Speaker 2: I suppose equal but for very different reasons. Earlier in
27:30
Speaker 2: the year, we did a track called six Stage, which
27:33
Speaker 2: is not far from my house, maybe five hours from
27:35
Speaker 2: my place, and it was hardcore rock crawling in another
27:39
Speaker 2: car that we have, which is a Gqunits and patrol
27:42
Speaker 2: coil cabute. The track is maybe I don't know, three
27:46
Speaker 2: quarters of a mile long and it took us two
27:48
Speaker 2: days basically just vertical climb up a mountain, big rocks,
27:54
Speaker 2: lots of winching, and that was great fun. I really
27:56
Speaker 2: enjoyed that too.
27:58
Speaker 1: Oh, that sounds like a great one to watch for sure.
28:02
Speaker 1: So let's talk about your current rig. So you drive.
28:05
Speaker 1: If I recall an eighty series land Cruisers, that's still
28:08
Speaker 1: what you're driving.
28:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, mate.
28:12
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. What are the modifications that you've done.
28:14
Speaker 1: What are some of your favorite things about the car?
28:17
Speaker 2: Wow? So, I bought the car about eight years ago now,
28:21
Speaker 2: and the modifications started immediately and they haven't really stopped.
28:25
Speaker 2: I've done pretty much everything that you can do to
28:27
Speaker 2: an eighty series Lankers. It's had an engine conversion, so
28:31
Speaker 2: it's running a twenty four valve electronically fuel injected diesel
28:35
Speaker 2: one hd FTE, so that motor is actually out of
28:38
Speaker 2: a seventy nine series lan Cerise. I'm also running the
28:41
Speaker 2: seventy nine series of Lanker as a gearbox. It's twin locked,
28:44
Speaker 2: so I'm thirty five's. I've had a number of different
28:47
Speaker 2: suspension setups in it, from two inch to four inch,
28:49
Speaker 2: to five inch back to three inch, so at the
28:52
Speaker 2: moment we're running at a three inch lift, which I
28:54
Speaker 2: think is the sweet spot. The car is super stable,
28:57
Speaker 2: but I've still got that articulation and good clearance. I've
29:00
Speaker 2: got three hundred and sixty degree bar work around the car,
29:03
Speaker 2: an aftermarket riccaro interior, lots of twelve volce big lithium batteries, inverters,
29:11
Speaker 2: n you name it, mate, lots of lighting, It's it's
29:16
Speaker 2: pretty heavily modified obviously, But I daily drive that car.
29:19
Speaker 2: So that's the car that I drive to work, I
29:22
Speaker 2: take my daughter to swimming lessons in, I take it
29:24
Speaker 2: to the shops. But I can also get in it
29:27
Speaker 2: and drive across Australia tomorrow and I know that it'll
29:29
Speaker 2: be reliable and capable and it'll get me home. So yeah,
29:32
Speaker 2: it's no overlanding vehicle is perfect, but it's perfect for me.
29:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get it, man, I get it, And it's
29:42
Speaker 1: hard to go wrong with a land Cruiser. It's definitely
29:45
Speaker 1: one of those pinnacle vehicles. A land Cruiser or a
29:48
Speaker 1: gu Patrol or a g Wagon or a Defender or
29:52
Speaker 1: maybe even the new Grenadier. Will see how it holds
29:55
Speaker 1: up in the long haul. But like, those are all
29:57
Speaker 1: Pinnacle vehicles. If you pick one of those right off
30:00
Speaker 1: the bat, you're usually okay.
30:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a reason that they're so iconic. In every
30:05
Speaker 2: vehicle that you just mentioned then has a cult following,
30:08
Speaker 2: right because they're proven, they're capable, they're reliable, and they're
30:13
Speaker 2: just they're just cool. A lot of people think that
30:15
Speaker 2: I'm crazy for daily driving a thirty year old Lankers,
30:18
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't have it any other way. I get
30:21
Speaker 2: in a brand new car off the showroom floor and
30:24
Speaker 2: it just I don't feel anything, But I feel something
30:26
Speaker 2: every time I drive my Lankers.
30:30
Speaker 1: So when you park it in the parking lot and
30:32
Speaker 1: you walk away from it, do you turn around and
30:34
Speaker 1: go look back at it?
30:36
Speaker 2: Every single time?
30:37
Speaker 1: Turn around and give it another look, so you know
30:40
Speaker 1: you're driving.
30:41
Speaker 2: If you don't, then there's something wrong.
30:45
Speaker 1: There's something wrong. You bought the wrong car for sure.
30:48
Speaker 2: Yeah.
30:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Let's pivot the conversation a little bit to something
30:52
Speaker 1: that you have a lot of knowledge in, and at
30:55
Speaker 1: some point in time in the future, I'd really like
30:57
Speaker 1: to do a deep dive with you. Maybe we do
30:59
Speaker 1: a principle of overlanding episode around communications radio communications for travel,
31:05
Speaker 1: But there's a couple of different kinds of communications that
31:09
Speaker 1: overlanders use more traditionally would be a CB unit and
31:12
Speaker 1: then the HAM radios, which is going to be require
31:17
Speaker 1: a license in the United States, that's your VHF UHF frequencies.
31:23
Speaker 1: Those became very popular, and then in recent years we've
31:26
Speaker 1: seen like really the resurgence of kind of more of
31:29
Speaker 1: the open communication again or a very minor permitting requirement
31:33
Speaker 1: in the United States for using modern radio technology. What
31:38
Speaker 1: do you feel is a sweet spot for radio communications
31:42
Speaker 1: as far as bands that you're seeing currently.
31:46
Speaker 2: It's a good question, and it's a very interesting one
31:48
Speaker 2: because there's so many different ways to communicate. Now you
31:52
Speaker 2: mentioned there's HAM, there's the Family Radio Service, there's the
31:56
Speaker 2: General Mobile Radio Service, there's stylink, there's mesh communication networks.
32:01
Speaker 2: There's so many different options for an overlander, and even
32:04
Speaker 2: things like satellite phones and iridium satellite messages, and there's
32:08
Speaker 2: a myriad of different ways to communicate. But something that
32:12
Speaker 2: is used, i guess extensively in Australia is what we
32:16
Speaker 2: call UHFCB. And it's a little bit misleading because when
32:20
Speaker 2: you say CB, people think of AMCB radios that the
32:24
Speaker 2: truckers use. It's not that UHFCB. The closest equivalent is
32:29
Speaker 2: what you guys in the state's called General Mobile Radio
32:32
Speaker 2: Service or GMRS, and it's simple, it's free to use.
32:37
Speaker 2: It's an open communication platform. There is licensing requirements for
32:41
Speaker 2: GMRS in the United States, but it's very simple. You
32:44
Speaker 2: basically go online to the FCC website, fill out a
32:47
Speaker 2: few questions. Pay thirty five dollars, covers you for ten years,
32:50
Speaker 2: covers your whole family. It's a low barrier to entry.
32:54
Speaker 2: The cost of the devices when you compare them to
32:56
Speaker 2: something like a HAM radio, it's quite low cost. They're simple,
33:01
Speaker 2: they're robust, and they work. And the beauty of being
33:05
Speaker 2: FM you get really good audio quality when you compare
33:08
Speaker 2: it to something like a CB. And really it's about
33:11
Speaker 2: being able to communicate when you're out on the trail
33:13
Speaker 2: with your buddies. There's obviously a safety aspect to it,
33:16
Speaker 2: but really the main reason that people run gmrs or
33:20
Speaker 2: UHFCB it's for convoy comms. It's being able to have
33:23
Speaker 2: those conversations while you're exploring with your friends. You know,
33:27
Speaker 2: oh I took a left turn back there, or Hey,
33:29
Speaker 2: where are we going to stop for camp tonight? Oh
33:31
Speaker 2: did you see that bird? All that sort of stuff.
33:33
Speaker 2: It's that it's in the name General Mobile Radio. It's
33:37
Speaker 2: really just a way of being able to communicate without
33:39
Speaker 2: any infrastructure and without needing cell service, which is invariably
33:43
Speaker 2: where we want to be. We want to be in
33:46
Speaker 2: places where mobile phones don't work.
33:50
Speaker 1: Isn't that the truth? And it makes it just very simple.
33:52
Speaker 1: When you're in convoy, you have an oncoming vehicle, very
33:56
Speaker 1: simple to grab the mic oncoming car, communicate with those
34:01
Speaker 1: further back in the pack, or that you're making a turn, etc.
34:04
Speaker 1: All those things, especially when you have those big trucks
34:07
Speaker 1: coming at you in the outback, that makes such a
34:10
Speaker 1: huge difference. I think one of the big I think
34:12
Speaker 1: one of the big improvements in that area, and the
34:14
Speaker 1: reason why so many people use gmrs now is that
34:18
Speaker 1: the power has increased so significantly. Call it twenty years ago,
34:23
Speaker 1: you would buy an FRS radio and if I remember correctly,
34:27
Speaker 1: it was only like zero point seven watts. It was
34:29
Speaker 1: extremely low wattage, and there was a lot of regulation
34:33
Speaker 1: around how big the antenna could be, how much gain
34:36
Speaker 1: the antenna could have. And then over the last ten
34:40
Speaker 1: years or so, those regulations have eased quite a bit
34:44
Speaker 1: in gmrs, but to now allow for much bigger antennas.
34:49
Speaker 1: Of course, the higher we get above the vehicle, the
34:51
Speaker 1: higher that antenna gets, the better performance we're going to have,
34:54
Speaker 1: the more game we're going to have out of the antenna.
34:57
Speaker 1: And now I'm seeing GMRS radios that used to be
35:00
Speaker 1: just five watts. Now there like what are some of
35:02
Speaker 1: the wattages, the highest wattages that you've seen.
35:06
Speaker 2: In the United States, there's I believe it's eight channels
35:09
Speaker 2: that you can transmit up to fifty what so twenty
35:12
Speaker 2: five what radios, fifty what radios, which is quite unique.
35:16
Speaker 2: In Australia, we're limited to five what on UHFCB, and
35:20
Speaker 2: that's one of the things that I guess there's a
35:23
Speaker 2: bit of education that needs to occur in the market
35:25
Speaker 2: that big numbers aren't necessarily the bill and end all
35:28
Speaker 2: when it comes to communication. But absolutely, as you said,
35:32
Speaker 2: having an externally mounted antenna on the vehicle as high
35:35
Speaker 2: as possible on the roof rack is the best place
35:37
Speaker 2: for it. When we talk about UHF or gmrs, it's
35:41
Speaker 2: all line of sight, so it's really simple stuff. If
35:44
Speaker 2: you can see it. If you're up on a mountain
35:46
Speaker 2: and you can see twenty thirty miles into the distance,
35:49
Speaker 2: there's no reason that your radio shouldn't be able to
35:51
Speaker 2: transmit that far. So it's exciting times. It's it's really
35:55
Speaker 2: exciting to see changes in regulation to allow greater trend
36:00
Speaker 2: mission power and it's great to see companies stepping up
36:03
Speaker 2: and innovating and developing new technology to improve the communication
36:06
Speaker 2: for Ivland is at the end of the diaye. It
36:08
Speaker 2: just enables us to go well. And I think a Longa.
36:12
Speaker 1: And I think Australia is it's an interesting in all
36:16
Speaker 1: areas of overlanding. It's an interesting technology incubation region of
36:21
Speaker 1: the world because overlanders. Overlanding basically started in Australia. In fact,
36:25
Speaker 1: the word came from the cattle drovers that used to
36:29
Speaker 1: overland with their cattle across Australia. The South Africans and
36:32
Speaker 1: the Australians are who we owe all of this cool
36:36
Speaker 1: stuff to because if you think about the things that
36:39
Speaker 1: roof tents that are made in South Africa and the
36:41
Speaker 1: suspension systems that are made by like arb for example,
36:44
Speaker 1: in Australia. And I think it also applies to radios
36:48
Speaker 1: where you guys have really been because it's such a
36:50
Speaker 1: key component of safety. I don't have a trucker coming
36:54
Speaker 1: at me on a dirt road at one hundred kilometers
36:57
Speaker 1: an hour with three or four trailers behind them, or
37:03
Speaker 1: maybe even more than that. You lose count because you're
37:06
Speaker 1: terrified when they're coming at you. Australia is a unique
37:09
Speaker 1: market in the fact that it has to be so
37:11
Speaker 1: reliable because people's lives literally depend upon on it. So
37:16
Speaker 1: you end up with just like we would with red
37:18
Speaker 1: Arc or GME or any of them. You end up
37:20
Speaker 1: with these very reliable, well tested products that can endure
37:26
Speaker 1: thousands of kilometers of corrugations, dust, high heat. The antennas
37:31
Speaker 1: don't fail, the mounts don't fail, the springs don't fail,
37:35
Speaker 1: because if it does, that could mean an accident for someone.
37:40
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a pretty harsh environment down here in Australia.
37:44
Speaker 2: We've got some pretty rugged Terryan and I think, yeah,
37:47
Speaker 2: the people that haven't been here, and obviously you've done
37:50
Speaker 2: quite a bit of travel around Australia, you would appreciate
37:53
Speaker 2: just how remote some of these trials are. A few
37:56
Speaker 2: years ago I did a Simpson desert crossing and your
38:00
Speaker 2: three days drive from the nearest town. At some points
38:03
Speaker 2: there there's no gas, there's no facilities, there's nothing. There's
38:07
Speaker 2: just a lot of sand dunes and a lot of corrogations.
38:11
Speaker 2: So for companies like GM, red Arc, as you said,
38:15
Speaker 2: and many others, there's a huge overlanding industry in Australia
38:19
Speaker 2: in terms of product development. When we develop new products
38:23
Speaker 2: down here, we go and test them in some of
38:24
Speaker 2: the harshest terrain on the planet, and the South Africans
38:27
Speaker 2: are the same. On my personal car, I've got a
38:30
Speaker 2: number of products that were that are from South African companies.
38:33
Speaker 2: Those guys are the real deal. They know how to
38:36
Speaker 2: build things for the class and that's the name of
38:39
Speaker 2: the game. But might cost a little bit more to
38:40
Speaker 2: begin with, it's going to last and you know it's
38:42
Speaker 2: not going to let you down when you need it.
38:44
Speaker 2: And that's so important to have to have faith in
38:46
Speaker 2: your gear that it's going to be reliable when you
38:48
Speaker 2: need it, when you're out remote with your friends and family.
38:53
Speaker 1: And I just feel like my truck looks one hundred
38:55
Speaker 1: percent cooler when I've got like one of those big
38:58
Speaker 1: Australian in towns on the front bullbar like I do.
39:03
Speaker 2: Think it makes absolutely, it's absolutely And look how much
39:07
Speaker 2: of overlanding is about bolting things to your vehicle to
39:10
Speaker 2: make it look cooler.
39:11
Speaker 1: More than we would admits I think, more than we
39:13
Speaker 1: would admit to.
39:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, it's an accessory arms race, that's what
39:17
Speaker 2: it's all about.
39:21
Speaker 1: Well, let's let's work towards wrapping up here A little bit.
39:24
Speaker 1: You've got so much travel experience. What are your top
39:27
Speaker 1: two or three pieces of kit that you bring with
39:30
Speaker 1: you on every trip that you're like, I gotta have
39:33
Speaker 1: this when I go into the outback. What are some
39:35
Speaker 1: things that you bring with you?
39:37
Speaker 2: Good question. A jet boil. I don't know if you
39:42
Speaker 2: guys have got them in the States, but just the
39:44
Speaker 2: little propane canistar with the little cooker on the top.
39:48
Speaker 2: I cannot live without coffee. So for me being able
39:52
Speaker 2: to boil water quickly and effectively anywhere I am, jet
39:55
Speaker 2: boils the number one thing. It lives in my truck.
39:57
Speaker 2: It never comes out even when I drive to work.
39:59
Speaker 2: It's in the back. A personal located beacon. It's a
40:03
Speaker 2: little satellite emergency beacon. Again, lives in my truck. Never
40:07
Speaker 2: comes out in the glove box. My wife knows where
40:11
Speaker 2: it is, she knows how to activate it. Particularly down
40:14
Speaker 2: here in Australia, we've got a lot of pretty nasty snakes.
40:17
Speaker 2: You stand on one of those things and get bit
40:19
Speaker 2: and you need help pretty quickly or you're not going
40:22
Speaker 2: to make it. So having that beacon in the car
40:25
Speaker 2: means that no matter what happens, we push the button
40:27
Speaker 2: you sit there and you wait and help is on
40:29
Speaker 2: the way. And the last one very functional. I love knives,
40:34
Speaker 2: so I've always got a good folder or to really
40:37
Speaker 2: high quality, really high quality, really I guess robust knife
40:41
Speaker 2: in the car and when you're out and about in
40:43
Speaker 2: the adventures. You never know when you're going to need
40:46
Speaker 2: a knife, but you end up using it all the
40:47
Speaker 2: time when it's in your pocket. Yeah, A way to
40:49
Speaker 2: make coffee, an emergency beacon, and a good knife.
40:54
Speaker 1: What's some of your favorite knife brands?
40:57
Speaker 2: I actually just got a really nice knife bench made
41:00
Speaker 2: in the States. But the knives that I buy locally,
41:03
Speaker 2: there's a guy down here called dB Blades, and he's
41:06
Speaker 2: a I guess you'd call an artisan knife maker, all handmade,
41:10
Speaker 2: one off pieces, and I've got I've got a bunch
41:13
Speaker 2: of things from dB Blades. Just it's art. Man, it's
41:16
Speaker 2: almost like you don't want to use them, but they're
41:18
Speaker 2: that nice.
41:20
Speaker 1: But that's like, yeah, we get to have our own
41:22
Speaker 1: version of jewelry. Yeah, awesome. How do people find out
41:30
Speaker 1: more about you, Tony? How do people find more out
41:32
Speaker 1: more about gme? How do they follow you on Instagram
41:37
Speaker 1: and the other social media channels?
41:41
Speaker 2: Yeah? Cool? The best place to go is probably Instagram.
41:44
Speaker 2: That's where I'm most active. I've got two pages on Instagram.
41:47
Speaker 2: One of them is my I guess more my Wheeling
41:49
Speaker 2: and Overlanding Adventures, which is tunes so T Triple zero
41:53
Speaker 2: n Z. And then I've got at the Outer Side
41:56
Speaker 2: podcast on Instagram and that's got links to the YouTube
41:59
Speaker 2: channel and Spotify and everything else. And in terms of
42:02
Speaker 2: jma again on Instagram for USA or jmaus dot com,
42:07
Speaker 2: that's the best places to find everything we're up to
42:11
Speaker 2: and all the new products.
42:14
Speaker 1: That's great, Tony, Let's plan on having a deep dive
42:18
Speaker 1: conversation in the future about radios. Let's do it principles
42:22
Speaker 1: of overlanding on radios. Let's spend some time doing that
42:25
Speaker 1: here in the next couple of months. I think people
42:27
Speaker 1: would really enjoy it. And it's always so great to
42:31
Speaker 1: connect with you. You're such a pillar in the community
42:34
Speaker 1: and I'm really grateful to have you on the podcast today.
42:38
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Scott. I really appreciate that, man,
42:40
Speaker 2: And yeah, thanks for having me on. I love chatting
42:42
Speaker 2: to you.