Your experienced tour guides welcome you

A professional team of tour guides and local suppliers.

The Founders

The Founders of Nature-Bound Australia, John and Roslyn Thompson, have been designing and leading nature-based tours of Australia since 1975 and are passionate about their country and the wealth of experiences they have encountered over the years, the friendships and connections with real Australians crafting their lifestyle in the wild.

Along the way there have been professional diversions into the field of major events and special projects which have broadened their knowledge base and connection with community. Some diversions of note included international sport, indoor rodeo, an Around Australia world record ultra-marathon, endurance horse riding, lung disease and patient support, medical conferences and workshops, property development launches, national industry expositions.

The key to their success comes from a warm empathy with people, lateral thinking and a meticulous approach to operational and backroom tour planning. Enthusiasm is the final ingredient.

The Philosophy

Apart from traveling and tramping the iconic regions of Australia, a deep respect for the natural environment became the stimulus for a self imposed travel ethic for Nature-Bound and a respect for responsible and

sustainable tourism in the regions and communities visited with guests.

Accordingly, John and Ros design, develop, manage and direct most of the tours on a personal basis with support leaders as needed, believing they must stand behind the delivery and ethos of the tours with a personalised service. Their commitment ranges to an extensive investment in reliable leading edge vehicles built for remote excursions in the outback and a network of professional service providers. Through the wonders of technology, the back room operations are often located on tour, inspired by the wilderness and the internet on a daily basis.

The Team

In the interests of local immersion and contact for guests and support for local enterprise and sustainable tourism, John and Ros draw guiding services from talented and welcoming locals.

One shining example is Steve Tremont, one of Australia’s finest naturalists and a thorough gentleman, who invariably leaves our guests spell bound as they study the antics of our nocturnal creatures high in the forest canopy in the still of night, or leading guests to an eagles view of the spectacular sea cliffs in the Tasmanian wilderness.

Steve, a remarkable inspiration, is one of only two people to have walked the full length of the Great Dividing Range, 6700 kms in 375 days in one continuous self reliant effort.

John and Ros prefer to consider themselves as the facilitators of experiences with back door connections to an eclectic team of professional guides, hosts and characters drawn from all corners of Australia, all waiting to welcome you:

• the old “salt of the earth” bushie who knows all about the dingoes and birds in his region,
• the self educated Greek migrant who mastered the art and fame of engraving emu eggs
• the fourth generation Irish couple who live an isolated existence on their property in the contorted Flinders Ranges,
• the young couple who are etching out a living in holistic farming, re-generating degraded claypan land in the outback
• the master chefs who have stolen away in their utopia B&B settings, one a self educated naturalist regenerating 400 acres of rainforest with a sensitive insight into the co-existence of the species.
• the homely couple who made a remarkable life changing plunge into wine making and invite us to a private family dinner at their cellar door.

Our journeys are as much about the local people as the scenery and natural wonders. It is the people who cherish our arrival and have a genuine story to tell, who become members of our professional team and life long friends.

On the road and during walks, we maintain a minimum guide to guest ratio of 1:6 ensuring the total experience is generously shared by all and our services are personalised.