The Grampians - Neil atop Boronia Peak
That impending dream-trip prompted six months of hiking at every opportunity, sometimes up to four or five times a week. I’d been a desk worker and couch potato for nine years, but suddenly I was hiking at a state park near work most lunchtimes, and even finding places to visit for a hike on my way home, clutching at the last hours of daylight. That would get me through the weekdays, and then I’d spend my entire weekends in the bush.
A passion was born.
It wasn’t just the hiking that I loved, though. I’d fancied myself as an amateur photographer for years, so I wanted to share photos from my hikes online and show people the incredible beauty I was finding right on Melbourne’s doorstep. There wasn’t a lot of solid information online about hikes around Melbourne either in those days, so I started meticulously recording every detail of my hikes. That’s how Bushwalking Blog came to be. I’m creative at heart and had loved making websites since I first started doing it for bands back in 1995, at the age of 14. So it’s no surprise that I started blogging as a way to bring my passions together.
Soon I was writing for Great Walks Magazine as well, and it wasn’t long
before Bushwalking Blog started building an audience and a community. I’ve never been one for joining bushwalking clubs and didn’t know anybody with quite the passion for hiking that I had, so it was amazing to feel like part of a community. I’ve met and kept in touch with some incredible people through blogging, and even way back then I was getting emails from people telling me that Bushwalking Blog had inspired them to change their lives, the way I’d changed mine.
The realisation that I had a voice that I could use for good is probably what has kept me going all this time. I don’t hide the fact that Bushwalking Blog is a business, but it’s only a business because if I can build it up enough I’ll be able to quit my job and put everything I’ve got into it. A small percentage of the content is paid for (this is always disclosed in the blog post), and I do serve up the occasional banner ad as long as the advertiser is relevant, but this does little more than covering costs.
In 2013 I started to offer PLBs for hire through Bushwalking Blog, figuring that if it has to make money then I should offer something beneficial. My PLBs have now been to every corner of Australia, offering peace of mind to hikers who don’t get out enough to justify purchasing their own PLB,