Hobart-based Andrew Bain is living what sounds like the dream. An award-winning adventure travel writer, he can usually be found walking, cycling or paddling in empty corners of the world. We asked him a few questions to find out if a career as a travel writer is as good as it sounds (and interrupted him while in NZ working his way through 17 hikes in 17 days!)
1. WHAT GOT YOU INTO TRAVEL WRITING?
I was a sportswriter in Melbourne, covering the AFL, in the 1990s and took off for what was supposed to be one year of backpacking. That grew to four years (and was where I first met Reg and Jen, camped by a lake in Hungary), including 14 months cycling around Australia. I wrote a book (Headwinds) about that cycling trip and things just gained momentum from there.
2. WHO DO YOU WRITE FOR/ABOUT?
I mostly write about outdoor adventures and remote locations, though I’m not above a little flashing up at times. Publications I regularly write for include the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Lonely Planet, Outback, Australian Geographic Adventure, The Australian and various inflight magazines.
3. YOUR 5 TOP PLACES IN TASMANIA?
* Franklin River: among my favourites places on earth. Bless those blockaders.
* Lake Rhona: utter beauty and still off the general radar.
* Derby: freedom and flow.
* Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park: I’ve walked the Overland Track a handful of times, including with each of my kids when they were about nine years old - for that it will always be special.
* Flinders Island: the best of Tassie landscapes distilled into an even smaller island.
4. WHAT TRAVEL DISCOVERY HAS HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOU?
Probably the bicycle. I was getting close to being bored with travel until I discovered bike touring in the late 1990s. I’ve now covered tens of thousands of kilometres by bike on almost every continent.
5. TRAVEL WRITING SOUNDS LIKE THE DREAM JOB. ARE THERE ANY NEGATIVES?
I still spend the majority of my time chained to a desk and computer, and media is an uncertain industry to work in. The travel also takes me away from my kids more than I’d like, and nobody has yet found a cure for jetlag, which kills me every time.
I do love my job though. I rarely write about things I don’t enjoy. People I work with know my niches, so I don’t get many offers to hit spas or jump on white cruise ships. I see beauty in every place I go, so there’s always something to look forward to.
Andrew has won Best Australian Travel Story at the Australian Society of Travel Writers' awards for excellence three times in the last six years and has won Australian Geographic Story of the Year. He was formerly the commissioning editor of Lonely Planet's outdoor adventure series of books, and he is a Getty photographer.
Follow his blog at www.adventurebeforeavarice.com and find him at www.facebook.com/adventurebeforeavarice and on Twitter and Instagram as @bainonbike.
