Real Trail Talk

We are joined by WA local Tilly Johnson (aka @tillyhikes) to talk about her 3000-kilometre hike across France on the Hexatrek. Chatting about everything from logistics, to food, to the people, it was great to sit down and hear all about Tilly's adventures.

Donovan and Mark discuss their 2025 adventures, highlights, lowlights, answer your questions, and run through the yearly topics.

We are joined by Expedition Leader, Ecologist, Hiker, and Mum, Dr Kate Grarock to discuss everything to do with hiking with kids. With Donovan and Kate both becoming parents in the last few years, we talk about the joys, challenges, funny moments, and all the considerations that go into hiking with small children.

Joining us in the studio to discuss all things native gardens are big time gardening enthusiasts, Angela from Studio Nikulinsky, and Christine from the ABC. In this episode we nerd out on what we enjoy about our own native gardens, what got us into native gardening, our favourite plants, challenges, heartbreak, and everything in-between. We hope you enjoy this tangential discussion, and get inspir...

We made it to 100 episodes, and to celebrate we take a look back at the past eight years of the podcast, talk about the journey, our favourite moments, and then answer your questions.   Thank you to everyone that has listened to us ramble on about trails and hiking over the years, it really is appreciated when you reach out with questions, feedback or general comments.

It's that time again, where Donovan and Mark sit down and discuss their 2024 adventures, where they visited, what they did, and how they felt about the year.    Visit The Long Ways Better here Visit The Life of Py here

Donovan hiked a six day stretch of the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) in 2024 between Kiandra and Kosciuszko, and we sit down to have a chat about the experience.  From historic huts to stunning alpine terrain, there is plenty to enjoy along this hike, although Donovan did encounter some challenges that we discuss during the episode.

Donovan chats to Kevin Moss aka Goin Feral about the Australian Triple Crown, the Australian Alps Walking Trail (AAWT), Heysen Trail and Bibbulmun Track. Kevin completed all three trails in 2024, and discusses what makes them different, his experiences on all three, and how they compare.

After releasing his first book in 2023, Best Walks of South West WA, Mark has a follow-up book titled Best Walks of South Coast WA.   Covering the stunning walks between Walpole and Cape Arid, and everything in-between, there are 42 trails ranging from coastal hikes to mountain climbs.   Get your copy today by visiting Mark's Online Store , using the code RTT10 to get a further 10% off the new boo...

With a plethora of national parks and stunning scenery in the Northern Territory, we sit down and discuss the hiking options going from the north to the south. 

In this episode we discuss what makes a good trail, ranging design, experience, scenery, facilities and everything in-between. On top of that we talk about why we like trails so much, and what goes into a great trail experience in our opinion. 

One of our favourite episodes of the year, we discuss our 2023 Adventures by going through what we enjoyed, what we didn't, and then some answer some listener questions. Thank you everyone who has tuned in during 2023, we really appreciate it.

We are joined by Steve Sertis from the Bibbulmun Track Foundation to discuss the journey of what went into the 25th Anniversary End to End Walk. Steve shares some great stories, explains the challenges of organising the event, and reflects on the Bibbulmun and the wonderful community that supports it.

Best Walks of South West WA is a new guidebook written by Mark, showcasing 40 great walks from the South West and exploring the beautiful forests, coastline and rivers of this unique region. In this episode we have a bit of a chat about the process of writing the guidebook, what you can expect and what's coming in the future.   Order your copy using the link below and use the code RTT10 to get a f...

Continuing on with our discussion about the South Coast Track , this episode sees Bronwyn return as we chat about the final three days on this stunning week long hike in the Tasmanian Wilderness.

In January 2023, Donovan, Mark and Bonny completed the South Coast Track in Tasmania and we sit down to discuss the first four days on this rugged adventure in the remote wilderness of Southwest National Park. 

We are back!!! While we have taken a break from podcasting for the latter half of 2022, we were still out exploring. As we discuss, there have been some big changes to our lives in 2022 (Donovan especially) and so we've sat down to have a chat about everything that happened. 

We are joined by Aron aka 1A1R to discuss the final section of the Munda Biddi Trail between Denmark and Albany before chatting about Mark and Aron's E2E back in September 2021.

The penultimate section of the 1065km Munda Biddi Trail, this is the last of the wilderness as you head into the Tingle Forest leaving Walpole and then explore the national parks to the north of the coastline. We had wildly different opinions about this section from our different experiences of riding the trail. There are also a couple of announcements regarding the future of the podcast so if you...

It's been a weird and disrupted year so we sit down to discuss the past 12 months, our adventures, our thoughts and then answer your questions. 

Joining us in the studio are podcast regulars Steve Sertis and Bonny Wells for the WA Hiking Draft, a concept we've stolen from The Big Picture where we select what we think is the best suite of trails from the various categories listed below. We hope you enjoy and check out the various Real Trail Talk, The Life of Py and The Long Way's Better social media platforms to vote on who you thought was...

We are joined by special guest Brad Serls from Cycles Bespoke to talk about the Northcliffe to Walpole section of the Munda Biddi Trail. A stunning and varied section of the trail with some really unique terrain and big hills including a little side quest up to Mount Frankland.    If you're looking to get into bikepacking or thinking about riding the Munda Biddi then go see the team at Cycles Besk...

It's not everyday we get a new hiking trail in WA, let alone an overnight trail so with the opening of the 28km Yonga Trail in Lesueur National Park, we had a discussion on what it was like from two different perspectives. Donovan and Alissa did this as a long day walk while Mark and Caris completed it as a leisurely overnighter.   Yes, we have our first couples podcast!!! 

Donovan has a new love with the discovery of e-bikes and he has introduced his other love (his wife Alissa) to the joy of electrically assisted cycling. In this episode we discuss their adventures on the Munda Biddi and what benefits an e-bike can deliver. 

Continuing on with our series on the 1050km Munda Biddi Trail, we are joined by Michelle from Feed the Hike to discuss the Manjimup to Northcliffe section of the ride. Filled with lovely forests, farmland and some enjoyable towns along the way, this section has some of the best riding of the whole trail.  As a special discount for Real Trail Talk listeners, Michelle has kindly offered a 10% discou...