Embarking on Adventure: The Genesis of ExplorOz and the Journey so Far

Have you ever wondered where the spirit of adventure can lead? Embark on a captivating journey with us as we unravel the genesis of our podcast, ExplorOz and how our free-range upbringing ignited our passion for exploration. Reminisce with us about the thrilling treks with our dad, minimalist camping, and the influence of these experiences on our current venture.

From the adrenaline rush of David's solo walk to Everest Base Camp to our training as scuba diving instructors, we have many extraordinary experiences to share. Listen in as we discuss the intriguing balance between business and recreational pursuits and how we've grown ExplorOz from a simple idea to what it is today. Be a part of our journey, and don't miss out on the upcoming episodes with even more exciting content. Subscribe now!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:04

So I want to have a bit of a chat about telling our listeners a bit about why the word explorals really does epitomise our whole attitude and the whole ethos to what we publish and where it comes from, because it definitely does take roots in the way that you and I both approach just living with that sort of adventurous spirit. I mean, one of the things I suppose is a little bit different in my upbringing is that I was apparently, according to my parents, raised as a free-range kid, which meant that, unlike kids today who have boundaries about where they can go, I just did roam around and I lived on the back of a bush block in the Kringey Chase National Park and my father encouraged as much outdoor time, and my mother too, but they encouraged me to just get out in nature and explore, and there were other kids in my street too and we just roamed around and that's sort of something that has stayed with me and I love the whole idea of just exploring and roaming around without a plan. My dad was really into bushwalking and there's many family stories about him taking us on enormous big, long walks, like I've been on some of them again now and I don't understand how I did them at seven years old love its leap in the Blue Mountains. It's a seven year old apparently canning it up there in the back of Cowan Creek in the Kringey Chase National Park down near Bobbin Head. So really really long heights and we didn't have water bladders and packs and special shoes and all of that stuff. It was pretty raw. So I think, with a background in that you know, some of the hardships of what you encounter when you're on an outback four-wheel drive trip aren't that hard.

Speaker 1: 2:54

David and I have really embraced camping in such a way that is really minimalist and I think that's enabled us to travel light and go without a fixed plan and be a lot more reactive to what we find around. And I keep seeing this in the way that I communicate with other people, the way that we use maps, for example. I like looking at a map and going, oh, I wonder what's down there and not having to actually know ahead of time what's down there is. Go well, let's just go and have a look and not being afraid of that adventure and having a bit of confidence in ourselves that we can cope with. Oh my God, there might be a snake or we might fall down a hole or break our leg, or it might be 20 kilometres. I mean, I'm not saying we're being unresponsible, because of course we do have all those necessary safety checks in mind, but we've got a bit of self-confidence in ourselves. I think Some of the things that people may not know David has walked solo to Everest Base Camp.

Speaker 1: 3:58

He did that back in the early 1990s and he did that just before we started Explorers. You know there are a few things like that that we've got tucked under our arm as skills. We also people may not know be trained as scuba diving instructors. We did have a vision at some point that that might be our new life when we left our corporate lifestyle. But like everything we do, we tend to sort of research and plan and get ourselves to a point where we're skilled up and then we go, yeah, but I don't really want that lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 4:33

So we did really enjoy the diving and we did a lot of deep diving and exploratory wreck diving and that sort of thing. But yeah, that wasn't for us as a business, that was fun as a recreation. So striking the balance in our life between what is business and what is fun, that sort of then became a real thing that we had to keep a hold of once we did start Explorers and once we did start traveling I should say prior to Explorers, because we actually did quit our jobs and we travelled for two years without an income, without work, while we travelled around Australia in the late 1990s, and the whole idea of that was to never go back to computers, which is what. That's a joke. I've always promised myself I would get out of IT. I know I've always said it, but I've never done it.

Speaker 1: 5:27

And here we are, so clearly that didn't work. Yeah, that didn't work. That wasn't a lifestyle choice. That worked, I know, but we really did enjoy the travelling. And so, look, a lot of the past has led to the future in its own natural evolution, because we literally never really had a clear-cut plan. And that's okay, do we still? We talk and things evolve. They just sort of drop out and it's a good idea or it's a bad idea and, yeah, we thresh it out and somehow make it work. So thanks for listening to that part of our story. I hope you've enjoyed it. Don't forget to subscribe and continue following the rest of the episodes that we've got coming in our podcast series. Thank you.