Armchair Explorer: Travel and Adventure Inspiration

• DISCOVER: South Australia Road Trip Part 2: The Wild Side

  We're back for part two of our Discover series on the less travelled, but adventure-rich state of South Australia. Our Discover Guides are deep dives into new destinations, where we interview experts to get the ‘drum’ on the places they live and love. This series is produced as a road trip through a lesser-known part of Australia filled with natural wonders, wildlife and more than one hilarious Aussie character. And don't miss our sweet promo offering from Down Under Endeavors: $500 off your trip for Armchair Explorer listeners.   Go to: https://www.downunderendeavours.com/armchair Pop in code ARMCHAIR25 to score a discount on your Australian adventure Down Under. We'll start in Boston Bay with 'Lunch,' a former grain-farmer and sheep shearer that now herds visitors. He'll fill us in on the fish, non-fish, fishy food and fish-eating non-food fish of the seafood frontier. I'll also (possibly) earn a nickname as cool as 'Lunch,' (tune in and find out). Then we're heading back up the coastline towards Adelaide and wine country with possibly the most well-traveled sommelier on the planet: he's solo hiked the Himalayas, led night dives in the Caribbean, armies of scouts in the bush and expeditions in the jungle. And on top of all that, he knows his swirls from his sips and his grenache from his grapes. He's Matthew Kurko, and he's not too proud to enjoy a porch pounder. Finally we're sharing our first 'Dream Sleep' segment, where we explore stays that aren't just a place to spend the night, but an experience all their own. The Frames is built right against the Murray River, which forms on the edge of the Australian Alps and travels 1500 miles to the Limestone Coast. As owners Cathy and Rick Edmonds say, you'll meet the real Australia here, in conversation with locals, drifting the river on a flavor safari, or diving right into the Outback itself. So fair dinkum, no worries mate it’s time to hit the frog and toad! Thank you to Down Under Endeavours for partnering with us on this episode. They are the South Australia experts and helped us build this itinerary and connect with the experts featured in the episode. They're offering an exclusive deal to Armchair Explorer listeners: $500 off your adventure. Just go to: https://www.downunderendeavours.com/armchair Pop in code ARMCHAIR25 to score a discount on your Australian adventure Down Under. You can find out more and literally book our exact trip, with these exact guides on their website as well. Special thanks to our guests: David ‘Lunch’ Doudle from Australian Coastal Safaris https://australiancoastalsafaris.com.au/ Matthew Kurko from Small Batch Tours https://www.smallbatchwinetours.com.au Cathy and Rick Edmonds at The Frames https://www.theframesluxuryaccommodation.com.au/ CREDITS Produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry.  Find out more at https://www.armchair-productions.com/ Jason Paton: writing, recording, mixing, sound design Aaron Millar: host, writing, executive producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Alone Across Gola: Riding through the Rainforest with Adventurer Jude Kriwald

  “At home, mindfulness is an app, a tool to fight the noise. In the wild, peace and calm rule by default … Out in the open, my mind is released from the noise. It sways with the trees and flows with the rivers. It blows over snow tipped mountaintops and down into wide sunlit valleys expanding to fill its surroundings. The vistas are bigger, but there is less to know.” -        Jude Kriwald   Today, we are taking a journey to one of the most remote and underexplored places on the African continent. The Gola Rainforest straddles the border of Liberia and Sierra Leone, and is home to the Kissi, Mende and Gola tribes. To walk through it would be difficult. To try and a ride a bike, would be insane. Nonetheless that is exactly what adventurer Jude Kriwald decided to do.   At 20 years old Jude knew exactly what he wanted to do. He’d just returned from a 13-month trip cycling from England to India, and he wanted more. He wanted to be an adventurer and dedicate his life to pure joy of exploring the world. But slowly, inevitably, that dream faded as life, and career, took over. Ten years passed. His mental health deteriorated. He would lie awake at night wondering how he let is all slip away.  Until one day, he’d had enough. He flew to Senegal, got on his bike with the plan to spend three-months riding from there to Liberia. But things did not go to plan.    “Alone and in the wild, I am beautifully weird and joyously free. It's not that my rituals and quirks fit in better, they simply exist, unobserved. The road cares not and the sun shines equally on all. In nature I find reprieve. Alone I find myself.”   FIND OUT MORE Jude made a short documentary film about this journey, called Alone Across Gola. Find out more and connect with Jude on Instagram @judekriwald, You Tube @judekriwald,   FOLLOW US: Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast Facebook: @armchairexplorerpodcast Newsletter: armchair-explorer.com   CONNECT WITH US: If you enjoy the show, please subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re reading this on right now. Go on, do it! It helps us grow the show and continue to bring this content to you.   Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions. Aaron Millar wrote and presented the show, Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Jason Paton is our lead producer and our theme music is by the artist Sweet Chap.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• DISCOVER: South Australia Road Trip: From Adelaide to the Edge of the Outback

  G’day and good onya! Our Discover Guides are deep dives into new destinations, where we interview experts to get the ‘drum’ on the places they live and love.  Today we’re excited to share the first of two episodes exploring South Australia, a less-trodden state rich in adventure, wildlife and natural beauty. This two-part series is produced as a road trip through a lesser-known part of Australia filled with natural wonders, wildlife and more than one hilarious Aussie character. We’ll explore indigenous heritage in Port McDonald, and hear the tale of an ancestral giant sleeping at the bottom of a lake beneath Mt. Gambier. We’ll climb into hidden garden sinkholes, race up sand dunes, and ponder primordial hippo-sized wombats in South Australia’s world heritage site, Naracoorte Caves. Of course we’ll enjoy some of the best wine on earth in Adelaide, before meeting a baby joey and their babysitter on the wildlife haven of Kangaroo Island.  So fair dinkum, no worries mate it’s time to hit the frog and toad! Thank you to Down Under Endeavours for partnering with us on this episode - they are the South Australia experts and helped us build this itinerary and connect with the experts featured in the episode.  And don't miss our sweet promo offering from Down Under Endeavors: $500 off your trip for Armchair Explorer listeners.   Go to: https://www.downunderendeavours.com/armchair Pop in code ARMCHAIR25 to score a discount on your Australian adventure Down Under. You can find out more and literally book this exact trip, with these exact guides: https://www.downunderendeavours.com/ Special thanks to our guests: Simon Meeres from Coonawarra Experiences https://coonawarraexperiences.com.au/ Katina Vangopoulos with Flamboyance Tours in Adelaide https://flamboyancetours.com.au/ Craig Wickham with Exceptional Kangaroo Island https://exceptionalkangarooisland.com/ CREDITS Produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry.  Find out more at https://www.armchair-productions.com/ Jason Paton: writing, recording, mixing, sound design Aaron Millar: host, writing, executive producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  46:39
• CONNECTION: Dreamtime Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

  The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef system in the world. Covering an area of 135,000 square miles, it is bigger than the United Kingdom, Holland and Switzerland combined. Lay it out across Europe and it would reach from London to Moscow, making it is the largest living structure in the world and the only one visible from outer space.    Today, we’re going to the best place in the world to experience it: Tropical North Queensland. And we’re in good company with Dr Eric Fisher, a marine biologist who specializes in the Great Barrier Reef. This is a conversation is about one of the great wonders of the natural world, and what it’s like to see it first-hand. But it’s also about something special that Eric has introduced: Dreamtime Dives.   Most experiences on the reef tell its story from a western viewpoint. Eric has developed a new program where you can explore it from an indigenous perspective too. Guided by Aboriginal Sea Rangers, whose connection to the reef stretches back over 60,000 years, it’s an opportunity to see the reef from a new perspective, and in doing so perhaps learn things about the reef we never knew before.    FIND OUT MORE Thanks again to Down Under Endeavours for partnering with us on this episode. They are the Tropical North Queensland experts and helped to connect us with the awesome guest you heard from today.    If the Great Barrier Reef is on your bucket list, head over to DownUnderEndeavours.com/Armchair to find out how you can see it for yourself. They’ve got lots of great ideas, and you book with them you’ll get $500 off your next trip. It’s a great way to support the show. (and please note my American friends, ‘endeavour’ is spelt the proper British way with a U at the end  )   CONNECT WITH TODAY’S GUEST      Experience Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel at ReefUnlimited.com Find out more about Eric’s research and conservation work at gbrbiology.com   If you're into real stories of epic places told by the people who’ve lived them, make sure to subscribe—that way you choose the adventure, not the algorithm.    Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast ____________________________________________________________________________ Presented by: Aaron Millar Audio & Sound Design: Charles Tyrie Produced by: Armchair Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Introducing “Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant”

  Today, we are sharing an episode of Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, the chart-topping and Webby Award-winning podcast from our friends at Nature on PBS. Back for a brand new season, Going Wild features some of the coolest champions of nature – like a former butterfly technician who saved an endangered species while incarcerated, and a marine ecologist who worked as a featured diver in the documentary Enslaved with Samuel L Jackson. Each episode explores what led them to create change within themselves, their community, and the natural world.    In today’s episode, you hear from Nat Geo Explorer-slash-stand-up-comic Ella Al-Shamahi about her research in places where people don’t normally do science like “conflict zones.” Ella’s archeological pursuits are not only informative, but inspiring!  To listen to the rest of their new season, follow Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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