Meet Jon – His journey to becoming an Inspiration Outdoors guide
Meet Jon – His journey to becoming an Inspiration Outdoors guide
Posted on
wanderlust
NOUN
- a strong desire to travel.
“a man consumed by wanderlust”
A childhood of few rules and vast moorlands to explore, set Jon on a journey that he has yet to complete. Many summer days were spent scrambling onto the top of nearby granite tors or wading knee deep in clear, cold steams that criss-crossed the national park of Dartmoor, Devon UK. This dramatic place fostered an inquisitive mind and sense of wonder about the natural world.
For a teenager opportunity for adventure were never difficult to find. Overland trips to Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Amsterdam where just a tester for some bigger adventures to come. Driving a Mercedes car through the Sahara (complete with armed guards, pirates, sandstorms and breakdowns) to Mali in West Africa. Followed by his biggest trip, a backpacking working holiday around Australia.
So, in June 1994, three English lads landed in Perth, bought a VW Kombie and headed north. Working their way up the coast, picking bananas in Canarvan, building houses in Port Hedland and throwing watermelons onto the back of farm trucks in Kununurra. A series of ‘unfortunate events’ saw the Kombie being left at a Kununarra wreckers, and flights to Darwin and then Sydney booked.
Sydney changed the trajectory of Jon’s life, as it is where he met the girl that later became his wife. Yet the adventures continued, this time as a couple. Road trips through NSW and Victoria, across the Nulabour Plains, into the Pilbara, UK and France. Hiking Sydney’s NPs, exploring the Grampians, days on the Bibbulmun Track and Cape to Cape, gorge hoping in Karijini: trekking through SW England, the Pyrenees and the French Alps. Cycling to the very high country of NSW and Victoria, circling Tasmania, and our own Munda Biddi. Kayaking and fishing the remote inlets in SW Western Australia.
Mortgage and kids, slowed the travel but not the adventure. With 2 small sons in tow, Jon spent many mornings exploring nearby creeks and rivers and climbing the occasional ‘mountain’ (large hills). Afternoons, were for beachcombing, foraging and camp fires on the beach. Now, with 2 teenage sons in tow, Jon and his boys are still exploring creeks and rivers (now by kayak), mountain biking nearby trails and climbing high into the mountains. Experiencing the world to the fullest, Jon frequently soars with eagles in his hangglider, hikes and bikes our coastline, and snorkels to see what else there is to discover.
It isn’t all high adrenaline sports though, and in the quiet moments you will find Jon immersed in the macro world of insect (butterflies being a speciality), identifying wildflowers and other local flora, and wondering “just what is around that river bend?”
“Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world”
