Tracy Jones: Beyond the Beaten Track: Access for All

In this month’s episode of Trail Tales WA, we’re switching it up. Tracy Jones is in the hot seat and the lady behind the scenes, Cindy Jones is hosting. We’ll be exploring a story built on passion, persistence, and the belief that nature should be accessible to every body. Tracy — Founder and Director of Off The Beaten Track WA, creator of Hike Ability, and one of WA’s leading voices in accessible tourism — is joining us to talk about how it all started, the meaningful work behind OTBT and the profound impact inclusive hiking has had on people with disabilities, families, carers, and communities across Western Australia.

As we dive deeper, we’ll also reflect on a special milestone in Tracy’s journey: being awarded Gold in Excellence in Accessible Tourism at the 2023 and the 2025 Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards and most recently took home the Bronze for the Excellence in Accessible Tourism at the 2025 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards (that’s recognition on a national level!!)  — a moment that recognises far more than a program. It celebrates lives changed, barriers broken, and a community committed to making the trails welcoming for all.

Read the blog that has helped so many hikers on the trails, including Tracy and Cindy - The Life of Py 

Find a trail to hike in WA on Trails WA

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To find out more about our podcast and the tours Off The Beaten Track has to offer, including information on Hike Ability visit - https://offthebeatentrackwa.com.au/trail-tales-podcast

Music by - Music by Andrii Poradovskyi from Pixabay

Hosted By: Cindy Jones

Produced By: Cindy Jones

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Trail Tales WA acknowledges the Wachak people of the Nungar Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which we this podcast is recorded. We recognize their deep and continuing connection to land, waters, skies, and community. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening today. We are grateful to share stories from the trail on this beautiful country, where we walk, reflect, and connect with nature. From here on Wadjuk Nungar Land and wherever you're tuning in, we honour the enduring strength, culture, and care of First Nations peoples across Australia. Welcome to TrailTales WA, the podcast where we break down barriers and share the stories we hear on the trails. I'm your host and producer for today's episode, Cindy Jones, and I'm excited to be stepping in while Tracy takes the guest seek for a change. Today we're exploring a story built on passion, persistence, and the belief that nature should be accessible to everybody. Tracy Jones, founder and director of Off the Beat Track WA, creator of Mic Ability and one of WA's leading voices in accessible tourism is joining us to talk about the meaningful work behind OGBT and the profound impact inclusive hiking has had on people with disabilities, families, carers, and communities across Western Australia. As we dive deeper, we'll also reflect on some special milestones in her journey. Being awarded gold in excellence in accessible tourism at the 2023 and the 2025 Earth Airport WA Tourism Awards, and most recently, she took home the bronze for the excellence in accessible tourism at the 2025 Quantus Australian Tourism Awards. A moment that recognises far more than a programme. It celebrates life's change, barriers broken, and a community committed to making the trails welcoming for all. So let's get into it. Tracy, thank you for stepping us over to the other side of the bike today. This will be fun. Yeah, I can't wait. So this is a fun roll reversal. You're usually leading the conversation, so how does it feel to be the one being interviewed today?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Well, I have no idea what you're gonna ask me, so I'm a little bit nervous to be honest. I do like to be prepared. So yeah, this is a little out of my comfort zone, but hey, I'm here. Let's let's chat. Let's chat.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Let's start at the core of your work. You've poured years into building off the bean track WA, so I'd love you to share why or how OTBT all started.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Oh jellies, let's uh rewind. Like 10, I think it was about 10 years ago now that um OTBT was officially founded as a business, but I guess the story began prior to that. So for me, I was well, I was in a corporate day job, super flat out, busy. The place where I worked was really I was a number and I didn't enjoy being a number. And you know, I had young children, so I was looking very much for something for me to get out and do for myself. And I actually stumbled across Life of Pies blog. And anyone that has even sniffed out hiking before in WA, they will know very well of Mark Pivas's or Life of Pies hiking blog, which is pretty awesome. It's a great blog, it really is. And I had a look at what was relatively close to me, and I decided to go and tackle Baldwin's bluff. That was like super unfit. Um so I yeah, I went out there by myself, which was really nice to have just some mental space. I got like halfway up that hill, and I literally thought I was gonna pass out. I I was yeah, I was finding it really hard to breathe. I was really not feeling so super awesome at that point, but I, you know, I just kept going, put one foot in front of the other, got to the top, chopped it right, went out to the the lookout over the Serpee Falls, and I just had this like huge aha moment and realized how friggin' amazing I felt in that moment because I'd just pushed through and just kept walking, and for the rest of that entire day, I felt amazing. Like you would think walking out, you know, going for a 6k walk up a massive hill, feeling like you're gonna die, would make you just not ever want to do that again. But it was actually the complete reverse because I felt amazing. My brain was clear, I had all this energy, and I just wanted more. So I get pretty obsessed with things like that. So for me it was like, okay, what's my next trail? So I started going out like every week, every weekend, I'm ticking off a trail, I took the kids out with me as well, and I really loved it. And then I actually started seeing some of my friends taking their kids out because they'd seen my photos on my socials, and then they were going out and they were asking me, Hey, well, you've been here, like can you tell me like where to park or what to take? So I actually thought that there was an opportunity for me to reach a wider audience of people that might want that information and didn't know where to find it. So I decided I wanted to start a Facebook page where I could provide information and more just share my own adventures, kind of like a blog. It turns out that one of my friends, Steph, was going through a bit of a challenging time at that time as well. So I said to her, Hey, let's go for a hike. We went out to Bulbins Bluff and we walked and talked the whole way and got to the top, and you know, of course, I packed snacks, so we sat out the top, ate some snacks, and looked at the views and we had a chat, and then I just said to her, I was really like thinking about doing this, you know, like a blog page or something, but you know, I don't think anyone will follow. She's like, Oh my gosh, I think that's awesome. I will 100% follow you. And so I was like, Oh, okay, cool. Went home that night and I created a Facebook page and I called it off the beaten track. And I'd like to say the rest is history, and it was super super easy, but it's it's been uh definitely 10 years of grit, a lot of a lot of effort. But what I really love is that our first hike that we ever did was at Baldwin's Bluff.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Because again, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

And you know, it didn't just it didn't just jump straight from a Facebook page to a business. It was actually never intended to be a business. It was purely an inspo page. But what I quickly realized was that there were so many people that didn't have someone to go out hiking with or they didn't have the confidence to go alone. So I decided that that's where I could potentially step in and help them with that. And I offered a couple of free group hikes, but the reality is you can't be doing group hikes in a national park type environment without some sort of insurance because you have a duty of care. So insurance is really expensive in the outdoor world. So if you're charging people money, then you're a commercial operator, and you know, all of those things was a massive deep dive for me, but where I kind of landed was that okay, I'm gonna become a business and I'm gonna become a commercial operator, and I'm going to inspire and empower more people to get out on the trails.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

So, speaking of inspiring more people to get out on the trail, you had a bit of a shift and began to focus on accessible hiking. How did it all come about?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Oh, it was really organic and so beautiful. I had the mother of a young girl who had sustained an acquired brain injury on a mountain bike accident. Her name was Eloise Old. Her mum is Ilona. She actually reached out to me in 2021, and Eloise had been turned away by a lot of the like typical therapies. You know, Eloise, she was a mountain biker, she loves being outside, but she it was really hard and challenging for her throughout her rehab to be outside because it was such, I guess, an uncontrolled environment, and there were quite a few sensory issues still related to that injury. Alona reached out to me and said, Hey, would you consider taking my daughter out for a hike? She's got an ABI and this, that, and the other. And I was like, Oh well, what's an ABI? I had to Google it. So I did a bit of research in that, but I just replied to her straight away, and I was like, Yeah, of course, like, no problem at all. You know, tell me what is, you know, what are my considerations with Eloise. So we went out and did that first hike with her a couple of weeks later, and she was amazing. We just did an easy 3Ks out on the Bible on the track, and she had her support team there as well. So she had uh Physio and OT, her mum, and I think it was her speech pathologist, and I had a couple of guys with me, so there was you know a massive team around Eloise. And at the end of that hike, her mum turned to me and she put her hand on my arm and said, Tracy, this could not have gone any better. And I just had these like goosebumps all over my body, realizing how this one hike had completely changed this person's life, and how we could be reaching more people and changing more people's lives through hiking, and that's pretty much where I started researching what that could look like, and I think it was it was probably like six to nine months later we actually launched hikeability in 2022.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

That's amazing. So, how many participants have you got on your I guess roster now?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

At the moment, we've got I think there's about eight that are doing regular weekly or fortnightly hikes with us, but over the last four, five, four years, we've probably had about 35, I'd say. Some just come and do public tours that you everyone can book onto on the website. Um, some do weekly hikes with us, some like Anne Marie, who we all know, uh hike with us every single week. They do, you know, private hikes with us for multi-days as well. Anne Marie's chipping away at the Bibbleman track now. Now that she's conquered the Cape De Cape, she's chipping away at the Bibbleman track and doing a sectional end-to-end. And yeah, everyone does it in their way, their way, their ability, what suits them. So, you know, it is a little bit of time invested on our end to align everything to make sure it's something that they're getting a lot of value out of and benefit, but it is so rewarding for everyone, and it's a privilege to be able to have the opportunity to take people outdoors that who normally couldn't get the access or the support they needed.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Last year you launched another accessible hacking initiative. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Yeah, that was awesome. It was our accessible adventures in partnership with the City of Calamunda, and it was sponsored by SITS WA, which is the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport. I think I nailed that acronym. Um, so it was monthly hikes from April through to October, and they were all accessible in some way, shape, or form. So to clarify, accessible doesn't necessarily mean wheelchair friendly. Accessibility comes in lots of shapes and sizes. So some of our hikes that we offered were accessible for cognitive, low hearing, low vision for those guests, and others were absolutely wheelchair-friendly. But what's really exciting is one of those hikes as part of that project has actually rolled into this year. So we're offering the Accessible Adventures Bibbleman Track overnight workshop in May. So you know, guests can book onto that, but there's also they can actually stay after the workshop and stay overnight and do, or they could opt to do the overnight hike as well. And that's open for everyone. It's not just if you have a disability, you can come along, it's about everyone belonging out on the trails and coming together. You know how passionate I am about inclusivity. It is about everyone, but we are labelling it an accessible adventure so people with a disability know that it's actually for them as well. And the other one that we did, which was actually part of Wonderfest in the September long weekend last year, was the Lake Les Chenoltia Accessible Hike. So that was in partnership with Experience Perth Hills and Destination Perth. And I worked alongside the Shire of Mundering, when Experienced Perth Hills Mundering really closely to deliver that three-kilometer completely accessible hike. And we were even successful in gaining sponsorship from the Shire of Mundering to be able to offer free morning tea provided by the Flaxseed Cafe at Lake Le Chenautia, and it was amazing. It was all inspired by bush tucker with natural Australian ingredients, and it was just a really nice touch. So when we think accessibility, I also think about breaking down other barriers, and sometimes that means the cost factor to being able to join a community type activity. So I'm always looking at opportunities where we can offer things at a very much subsidized price.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

What a wonderful initiative for everyone that was able to join, join you guys for for that for the accessible hikes.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, well, I'm we're working really hard to try and find grant opportunities now. We're shortlisted for uh opportunity where we're actually going to be, if we're successful, being able to offer hugely reduced, hopefully free hikes across WA for a 12-month period. But it's a long shot, but it's a shot, and I'm happy to take the shot. Yeah, awesome. Good luck, hopefully. Fingers crossed. It means I might get really, really busy soon. Like really, really busy. So probably gonna need you on the books to help me out.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

You've walked alongside so many people with diverse abilities. What changes do you see in guests when they step onto the trails physically, mentally, and emotionally?

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Aww, this is where I get the serious goosebumps. Seeing their body language completely change from that first time we meet them over time, I have seen body language and their even facial expressions change within one hike. But someone, if you I'm just gonna take one of my particular hike ability guests now. The way that they have completely embraced hikeability and used it to basically structure their life goals and everything, like everything kind of revolves around hiking. So for them, having a goal around hiking that they work towards gives them purpose, which really helps with their mental focus. Because sometimes if we don't have that purpose, we kind of start to feel a little bit lost and we don't know where we're actually going. So for them, that is what keeps them very much focused is I'm going to achieve this hike. And each year that this particular guest and I get together, we have a really good chat chat about what do they want to achieve this year. Okay, let's break that down into how we're going to achieve that. And you know, I have had the privilege of standing on top of a mountain with this particular amazing hiker, and I know if she is listening, she knows exactly who she is. And there have been tears and there have been high fives and there have been hugs and so many emotions, and it is absolutely incredible for them. And I don't know, I'd like to say better for me, but it probably isn't. But it feels pretty awesome for me and and the team as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

So it sounds like it's more than just a hike, you're building confidence, their social connection and sense of belonging and community.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

It is all about belonging. We all should have the right to be out on the trails and reap the rewards of being outdoors because we all know the mental health benefits to being outdoors. You just have to spend, you know, 10 minutes outside around trees or even at the beach to know that you will feel better. So, for some people that might not be able to access that due to whatever reason, I want to give them that that reason and know that they belong with us, and we will do whatever we absolutely can to make sure that they can come out with us and reap those rewards. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Uh, you've just spoken about an awesome moment. Are there any other moments or stories from hike ability or the thousands of other guided hikes you've been on that have stuck with you? Something that reminded you why this work matters.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

How do I pick one? I don't think I can. But the first one that springs to mind for me, actually, there's a couple now. Uh the first one that springs to mind for me would be the moment that Anne Marie got to the Cape Luland lighthouse and had finished her Cape to Cape. So she had trained for 12 months with us, been hiking with us at that point, I think three years. And the day before, just before, like day six, so just before she finished that day, she actually rolled her ankle. It blew up. Uh, it was a nice shade of bluey grey purple in parts, and she was very upset, very, very emotional. But we, you know, we did an assessment of it. There was no breakages or anything like that, and she could wait there, totally fine, and she decided she actually wanted to continue on. So we made it happen, and we actually got one of the support guides, carried her pack for her. We lined the load as much as possible, and we just took it really slow and steady on that final day. And I actually met her at the lighthouse. I was the driver on that tour, and what she didn't know is that we'd arranged for her mum and dad and her little nephew to be there waiting at the lighthouse. So as we were walking up, I was walking up with her, she's crying already, and then she sees her mum and her nephew standing there. She just like looked at me and lost it, like started bawling her eyes out, and from somewhere, I don't know where it came from, she started running to that lighthouse. I think she may have forgotten that she had a sprained ankle, but it didn't matter anymore. She had done it, and it was the most amazing moment. I had tears as well. It was very, very special. And something a lot like simpler than that would be last year. I had we were on the Rocky Pools accessible hike, and it happened during school holidays, so we had a few families come. Um, and one of the girls who came, the young girls, I think she was maybe nine or ten years old. From the moment we started, she was really disengaged, didn't want to be there, like was making some negative comments here and there. Definitely wasn't disruptive, but I could very much tell she was like, I just want to go, this is not my thing. And we all know Rocky Pools, we have a pretty challenging hill to get up, and we did go in an anti-clockwise direction. So we had we went down to Rocky Pools first, and then we went up that the big steep hill, and we did it in very much stages. So, for majority of the hike up until that hill, completely disengaged, didn't want to be there, and then we started climbing the hill, and she realized that she was actually better than she thought, and she was like, you know, a few steps ahead of her mum, and then she was a few more steps ahead of her mum, and then she's like, Come on, mum, and then by the time we got to the top, you know, I saw them give each other a big hug, and everyone got so top, it was high fives, it was you know, great moment, and then as we started coming back down the other side, I watched I was walking behind her and her mum, and she grabbed her mum's hand and started swinging it and then started skipping, and I was like, wow, that was amazing and just so powerful to see that natural transformation of someone's I guess perception of what hiking was at such a young age and actually open up to it, and they I guess organically felt the benefits and they didn't even they wouldn't even know I guess what was going on, but they to see that like that was just pure joy for me. Such a cool like mind shift to to witness as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah, and I've done the Cape to Cape twice now. Touching that lighthouse at the end is such a massive achievement. I get goosebumps feeling about when I did it. So to witness so many people do it as well, especially you know, your superstars like Anne Marie. What an awesome feeling that you must feel knowing that you're a part of that.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah, it's pretty special, and we you know we get to do that three, four times a year with with different people, and everyone has their story. That's why we're here, that's why Trail Tales exists, that's why OTBT exists. Everyone has their story of where they've come from and how they got here. Um, Anne Marie's is just one story out of hundreds and hundreds that we have seen. I you know, we've I've done a Cape Decade where we actually had three women who were all grieving, different people in their families that they had lost over the last like prior couple of years. And at different moments on different beach sections, because it seems to be the beach sections that we all start to process things, you know, they all open up, and I guess as guides we become a little bit like therapists in a way, but it's just such a privilege to be able to be part of that process with people, and the Cape to Cape seems to be one of those tracks where it is about processing and I guess letting go and and maybe a bit more self-discovery as well.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Lots of mind shifts on those challenging beach walks. Yeah. So it's not just participants who are impacted. How has inclusive hacking flowed on to your team?

SPEAKER_00 21:52

It's been really nice to see the whole team get on board with the um I guess my vision of being more accessible and inclusive. They are really proud to be part of, I guess, a values-led business as well. Just like we were talking to Michaela in our last episode. Everything we do at OTBT is very much around what our core values are, and every decision I make is around those things, also. There's been a yeah a really great culture change, and uh just knowing that when it comes to disabilities, it isn't uh one size fits all. Everyone is completely unique and no two disabilities are the same. We actually rarely ask someone to disclose their disability. Rather, ask them what is their ability. I think having this approach has shown that we don't need labels within our community. And I think with the focus of accessibility and inclusion, there's just been a massive massive culture change within our team, and we're always sharing our own learnings and experiences as well. And I think that just allows us to have a deeper understanding and a connection to our community. Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

For businesses listening who want to be more inclusive but don't know where to start, what's one simple thing they can do?

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Oh, the best place to start if you're a tourism business and a member of Tourism Council WA, there's actually a free accessibility assessment that you can do on your business. It isn't scary, I promise you. It maybe takes an hour, and the initial outcome of that assessment will provide them with an accessibility guide, and that can actually be displayed on their website. And remember it's all free, it just takes a little bit of time, and I know as business owners we're all time poor, but it's worth it. One of the biggest hurdles for people living with a disability is where or how to find the right information on a product or service, on if a product or service is actually right for them. So having that information available is the first step. I've actually begun consulting for tourism businesses just to help them through this process as well. As someone who has lived and breathed tourism and gone through the process and now accredited in all five areas of disability, it's it sometimes just helps for an outsider to come in and help businesses to think outside the box. And sometimes those questions that are asked just need to be asked in a different way for business owners to completely understand them. And if any businesses are struggling to get started out there, just you know, shoot me an email or give me a call. I'm happy to help because I think it's a very important initiative to just have that information available to people with living with a disability.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Now, after years of building, advocating, and creating new pathways on country, this work was recognised in a massive way. Last year you won Gold and Excellence in Accessible Tourism at the WA Tourism Awards and bronze in the 2025 Quantus Australian Tourism Awards.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

What do these moments mean to you? I'm still benching myself to be honest. I'm just even when you said that out loud, I got goosebumps. I just actually can't even believe that we have taken home these awards for doing something that we just want to do because we want to make a difference. It's pretty amazing to be recognized by industry for the impact that we're doing and I guess our best practice that we're we're following and and how we're doing things. But honestly, the the most amazing reward for us is the difference that we see with people out on the trail and the impact that what we do has on their them and their lives. What did you hope people in the room took away from your win? Do you know a lot of people think how can hiking be accessible? And I think if we have shown people that hiking can become is accessible, then their business can be accessible too. So for me, it's about showing that if you think outside the box you can make that achievable. Yeah. Nailed it? Nailed it.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

What's next? Where do you see accessible adventures, hikeability, and off-the-bit track heading in the future?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Oh, I have so many ideas. We're actually going to start launching our workshop series really, really soon. So exploring a whole bunch of collaborations with other operators to develop new exclusive products for OTBT and our community. Also, have pitched a couple of ideas to other organisations for one of which is a workshop to upskill and educate in terms of it's very much aimed at beginner hikers. And then another one, which is a grant application for an accessible hiking program which will run for 12 months and that'll be more or less statewide, which will be incredible. It's a like I said before, we're shortlisted, but hey, we're you gotta be in it to win it, right? That's right. Yeah. Hint hit. Hey, Heart Foundation, give me some money. Um so many ideas, not enough hours in the day, but I am I definitely use all the hours I potentially can very wisely to make this stuff happen. I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

If you could leave listeners with one message about accessibility, community, and connection on the trails, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 27:20

It would be that the trails are for everybody. And if you jump on a hike with off the beaten track, even if you're on your own, even if you're coming with a friend, if you've never come hiking before, if you've been on thousands of hikes before, it doesn't matter what your ability is, who you are, what your background is, with us, you are going to absolutely belong. You're going to be part of our community, our tribe, and our fam. And we got you. Jump out of the trails and come hiking with us so you can just feel how great it it is to be out there.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Okay, Tracy, thank you for joining us on your own podcast. You're welcome. And thank you for the work you do to make our trails more inclusive, welcoming, and transformative for everyone. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in. If today's conversation inspired you, moved you, or made you think differently about who gets to experience the outdoors, please share this episode and help us keep breaking down barriers. If you're listening and feeling inspired, check out OTBT's range of hiking tours on our website or find yourself a trail on trailswa.com.au and let nature soothe your soul too. Be sure to follow TrailTales WA for more stories just like this one. We'll be back soon with another Trailtail, but until then, keep walking, keep talking, and remember inclusion isn't an add on, it's right.