Paul and Tan from Western Australia spent most of their lives working indoors. They decided that enough was enough bought a Toyota Troopcarrier and set it up for overland travel by adding a Hercules Roof Conversion. Exploring Australia, they're all about dirt roads through unknown territory, wild coastlines and the kind of adventures you can’t book online. If everyone is going left, you’ll spot them heading right. Escaping Crowds is All In!

What message do you want people to take away from your story?

Our content is primarily focussed on showcasing Australia and all of the wonderful and diverse places it has to offer. We’ve travelled around Australia through every state, and driven across the middle, feeling like we’ve barely scratched the surface. Our vehicle has allowed us to explore some of the most remote parts of our country, and we enjoy sharing that with our community. We love receiving feedback from fellow travellers who we’ve inspired to explore places that they didn’t know anything about. Australia’s landscapes are absolutely mind-blowing, and we want to share them!

How do you balance sharing hidden gems with preserving their secrecy?

Our ideal destinations are places where there are as few people as possible; “escaping the crowds”. We don’t divulge exactly where hidden gems are but may mention the general locality. If people are keen, they can privately message us for more info, and we’ll share in more detail. There’s nothing more satisfying than the silence that remote places and hidden gems have to offer so they deserve to be kept on the downlow.

What’s your favourite moment from the road?

As much as we love the coast, and the majority of Australia’s travellers tend to follow the coast, there’s nothing like a dusty track through the outback to make us appreciate how small we are in the whole scheme of things. Also, as we’ve mentioned before, those places where we are the only humans! Our videos of the Troopy driving through the outback at Mt Augustus and Helena & Aurora Ranges are a classic example of why we do this!

How do you decide what’s worth sharing vs. keeping private?

Creating content and putting yourself out there each week does require some elements of sharing your life, although we tend to keep our home and family lives private for the most part. When we’re on the road, however, we focus on filming anything that we think may be of interest to others. That may be landscapes, historical narratives, backstories, daily life living out of our vehicle, and places that just take your breath away.

What’s the most surprising way this journey has changed you?

This journey has been a long time in the making and has opened our eyes to how incredible it is to be an overlander. It’s an absolute privilege to be able to travel like we do and would love to take our vehicle overseas at some stage. What we love is being able to document every aspect of our travels and share them, and rewatch them. Can’t imagine we will ever get tired of this life!

Best piece of advice for someone who wants to start their own adventure?

You don’t need all the bells and whistles to get started. Our first vehicle was an 80 series Landcruiser and a roof-top tent, with a few other basic bits and pieces. We did a lot of traveling in this before we decided to build our dream vehicle. Try this lifestyle out for some extended periods before committing. There are some incredible overlanding communities with people who have so much knowledge. Reach out to people and talk to them about what overlanding is really like before you make up your mind. Remember that your own adventure is different to others - it doesn’t mean you have to sell up everything and leave… start small.

What’s one Troopy hack you consider has been a game changer?

Not a hack, but a definite game changer and we’ve mentioned this in our Troopy build videos… our Alu-Cab Hercules roof conversion, hands down! This was the main reason that we bought the Troopy and was one of the first modifications that we made, because it enables us to escape the elements if needed. We feel that it’s also very important to design and build your fitout with your larger items in mind so that larger items have their place ie. toilet, chairs, cooker etc. Storage is key and a tidy home makes for a more enjoyable experience.

If you could only share one place in Australia with the world, what would it be?

Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia for its rugged beauty, remoteness, and restricted access. We spent 10 incredible days on this little paradise and those special moments are still etched in our memories.

What’s next for Escaping Crowds?

We’re heading to Europe for a couple of months, unfortunately not with the Troopy! Hoping that this continues fuelling our passion for some global overlanding though. Maybe another lap trip (Australia 2.0) on the cards too! We just can’t get enough of this big, beautiful Island of ours, but the world is also on our agenda!