Today is Earth Day, and this year's theme is "Our Power, Our Planet." It reflects the truth that environmental progress is built through everyday actions, by communities, educators, and families all protecting where we live and work.
On the weekend, @greatforestnp held their second Tales & Trails event, a gravel ride through the Central Highlands of Victoria. The series brings together adventure, citizen science, and storytelling to connect people with the proposed Great Forest National Park.
We cycled gravel roads through the Yarra Ranges, passing through Stringybark forests as they transitioned into Mountain Ash, the world's tallest flowering plant. With stops for snacks, lunch at Starling's Gap, and coffee in Warburton, the team is building a growing community of people who love our backyard and want to protect it.
Check out @greatforestnp for upcoming advocacy events including possum surveying, community walks, and trail runs.
📍On the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri People.
@earthdaynetwork@patagoniaaus@wildearthaustralia
#EarthDay2026 #OurPowerOurPlanet #mywildearth
Our second Trails & Tales event took place on Saturday, with a wonderful group of people joining the Gravel Grind.
A tree-filled loop saw riders climbing high above the Yarra Valley, stopping for lunch at Starling’s Gap and enjoying the sunshine. Coffee was shared after soaring back down to Warburton, with everyone swapping stories and laughter.
Thanks to all who came. Great Forest, great people, great nature and great movement. That's what getting out in the bush is all about!
Wonderful photos by @nigel_abello
Come join one of the finest day rides on Melbourne’s doorstep, in the proposed Great Forest National Park! Featuring incredible cycling in majestic forests, with stunning climbs and beautiful descents, this group ride will leave you wanting to explore even more of these wonderful forests and surrounds. Filled with information and stoke, you’ll soon realise you’re riding for more than just enjoyment-you’re riding towards greater forest protection, and a better future for all. Link in bio 🌳 🚴♀️
📸 @knowstudio
Trails & Tales is a new series of guided hikes, trail runs and rides through the proposed Great Forest National Park, bringing together adventure, survey science and storytelling to connect people with one of Australia’s most extraordinary forests. Through shared experiences on Country, citizen science and powerful stories from the forest, we’re building a growing community who love this place and will stand up to protect it.
Join us at the @patagoniaaus Naarm/Melbourne store on Wednesday 11 March from 6pm to launch the series with Beau Miles, Sarah Rees, Liam O’Connor and Jordan Crook. Come for the singletrack and stories, stay for the movement. We’re building an army to enjoy, defend and ultimately secure the Great Forest National Park... and this is where it begins. 🌳🏃♂️🚴♀️ 📸 @knowstudio #GFNP #Adventure #fun #ultrarunning #running #citizenscience #packbike #adventurethatislife
Join us on Wednesday 11th March from 6pm at Patagonia Naarm/Melbourne Store for the launch of Tales & Trails - a night of singletrack and stoke, to protect the Great Forest.
We’re planning an epic night to present our upcoming event series of guided tours by hike, bike and run in the proposed Great Forest National Park! Featuring Beau Miles, Sarah Rees, Liam O’Connor and Jordan Crook, this is a night not to be missed.
When: Wednesday 11th March 2026, doors from 6pm. Light refreshments provided.
Where: Patagonia Naarm/Melbourne Store, 287-289 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Who: @beauisms , @sarahsianrees@_liamoconnor_ and @crookajordan
Why: We are building an army to advocate for and enjoy the Great Forest National Park.
Link in bio! 🌳
The top of the famous Kegety Pass, just under 4,000m. Blessed with clear skies and smack bang in the middle of a weather window. We were on the precipice of turning around just two days before-there was snow everywhere, and honestly the vibe was low. Then, right on dusk, a group of German bikepackers (who looked like they’d been dragged behind a bus in Death Valley, and then smoked with a leaf blower) came down the mountain and tiredly told us the way was doable. Our hearts raced, and the next 2,000 vertical metres were slowly (and at times brutally) pedalled and walked. To cap it off, a pack of horses and a golden eagle awaited us at the summit. Pretty darn cool! A huge storm smashed the pass just days after we’d descended, keeping all secrets until the thaw. Madness
I’m sitting on hundreds of images from Kyrgyzstan. Posting them to a little phone screen doesn’t seem to do it justice; how do you feel the wind on your face, the bite of the cold, the burning high altitude sun? How does a simple photo convey what it felt like to push a 48kg bike at 3850m above sea level, with air-stricken lungs, through snow slush and shadow? The weight leaving your body with each hard kilometre, as you simply can’t find enough calories to cover what you’ve burned? I have no answers. This is Instagram after all, people don’t come here expecting solutions. Here’s our campsite at 3250m, roadside with views 2500m below to the valley we left a few days before. In good company, with two new friends for life in Antoine and Julie. I had my first ‘toilet’ break in far too long under the full moon here, tucked behind a boulder with the snow glinting white. The cold chomping at my arse has long faded, but the memory of it all will never be wiped away by simple toilet paper. Do you feel like you were there now?
Home again. The dust is slowly settling, I’m still yet to fully unpack and I don’t have a clue what it all meant.
Incredibly grateful for the people we met, the landscapes we witnessed, the way my body held strong and for the friendship of @jahodder . Love you brother
And as the final few days of riding come to a close and we realise that we’ll soon be coming home, I find myself reflecting so much on our time in this wonderful land. I don’t really want to come home, if I’m honest-I’ve had yet another taste of the simplicity of life on two wheels, and just how immersively beautiful it can be. I miss loved ones and I know that this journey (in its current form) can’t go on forever. But man, I need to continue this sweet and joyful existence even when our bodies and bits of rubber and metal have returned to Australia. There’s something waiting for us all out there, if we slow down enough to find it
After a very bittersweet goodbye to Antoine and Julie, @jahodder and I left Naryn for the fabled final valley that takes you up to Arabel and Tossor Pass. Renowned for its beauty and remoteness, we had the extra element of knowing that most of the shepherds that travel through across the summer had long left the mountains. In layman’s terms, we were a long way from anything-particularly after the one road up the valley had been washed away in a recent landslide. The changing of seasons was on us in all its windswept glory-autumnal leaves were replaced by frozen tents, water bottles, even James’s head overnight. Some very slow and hard progress was matched by the incredible scenery we were cycling through, and we pitched our tent at 3050m hoping to summit the final mountain pass at 3900m the next morning. Alas, snow! What was ironically the warmest night of our recent tenting was also the one that stopped us in our tracks. Without being able to safely know what the road ahead was like, we made the hard but wise decision to brush the snow off and turn back west into the blizzard and headwinds. All part of the adventure!
After two days of rest, we left our little township and rode south east towards Song-Kul. A brutal climb (push) up to the lake was rewarded by incredible views and sun, before we rode around the lake and down one of the all time descents. We were adopted by a beautiful mountain doggo, who decided we were worth following for the next little while. He stood on guard outside our tent and barked at any cows that dared near our domain, weathering the frost and presenting us with licks and pats. Saying goodbye to him was hard-I hope you’re going well out there pal.
Moments from the first 6 days riding through Kyrgyzstan. It’s very rare that you get to live out a dream that you’ve harboured for years, and even rarer that you get to share it with such good people along the way. @jahodder and I are lucky enough to be riding (pushing) the Tian Shan traverse, and have already experienced the weather and hospitality that Kyrgyzstan is famous for. We met two lovely cyclists from France who are cycling east for one year, and managed to push up to 3800m to climb over Kegety Pass before the snow claims it for the winter. One of the all time life experiences! The road ahead is uncertain, it’s currently dumping snow and rain upon us in our little guest house-but we’ve already experienced so much in such a short time, it’s hard to imagine what lies ahead. So freaking exciting
