The Discovery Channel may have fired everyone’s favourite adventure traveller, Bear Grylls, last week, but that shouldn’t mean an end to adventure travel.
We’re just going to have to take the adventuring on ourselves. After all, Australia has more than enough wild places to pit ourselves against.
We’ve put together our top adventure tips for the aspiring adventure traveller.
1. Do your research (and practise!)
Grylls always researched and scouted an area thoroughly before being dropped into a location. And Australia throws up many obstacles for any adventurer – roads can be closed due to the weather, campsites may have shut down, and permits may have changed.
Search for information online and get in contact with the local visitor centre to find out about local conditions.
You’ll also need to gather the appropriate equipment for your journey. There’s no point going rock climbing if you didn’t bring the ropes.
Consider potential weather conditions and ensure you have everything from sunscreen to wet-weather gear, so that you remain comfortable while in the great outdoors.
If you’re a novice adventurer, it’s best to practise your adventure activity (hiking, biking, kayaking or rock climbing, to name a few) before heading out into the wild. Grylls’s wild skills were years in the making – he was in the army, climbed Mount Everest and did various other adventure activities before he became a famous TV adventurer.
You should also start small. Rather than hiking up Mount Kosciuszko on your first outing, why not get started on some easier climbs in your local national park?
Finally, remember to ask an expert for their advice – they might share a few tricks of the trade.
2. Let people know where you are going
Before he went adventuring on Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls always let his family, his TV producer and occasionally, his millions of fans, know his destination and itinerary.
Keep someone at home aware of your whereabouts, as well as letting the local visitor centre know if you’re heading off on an adventure where there’s limited phone reception.
3. Take a pack full of essential items
If you want to take the full Bear Grylls route, you can always buy his adventure pack. But adventurers are individualistic folk and it wouldn’t surprise us if you put together your own kit.
Essentials for a pack include a first aid kit; a phone (mobile if you’re travelling in good reception areas, satellite if not); some spare socks and gloves; food; water; a tarp for protection against the weather; and some waterproof bags.
Research your destination and pack accordingly.
While it might have looked like Grylls was alone in the wild, he always had his camera crew with him – and occasionally he would take a celebrity along for the ride (see the episode with Jake Gyllenhaal in Iceland). Having an adventure companion means that if you get in to trouble, there is someone there to help out or get assistance.
It also means that your safety checks are likely to be more rigorous, with a second set of eyes checking things out. After all, famous stories about things going wrong in the wild, such as 127 Hours or Into the Wild, generally occur when a traveller is going solo.
What’s on your checklist for a safe trip adventuring?
Stay tuned for our list of top five places to go adventuring in Australia.
Image credit: airboating on the Mary River, Tourism NT; Larapinta Trail, Tourism NT; Binns Track, Simpson Desert, Tourism NT
