About Us

We are local. We have lived and worked in the region for more than 25 years and most people we stay with have been living in our fascinating part of the world for generations.

We like good food, nice wine, powerful coffee, a cold beer and activity-based travel and we hope to share this with you.

Three reasons to choose Outback Beds Tours

We are locals

We have lived and worked in the outback for more than 25 years.

We have a passion for the outback and we want to share our local knowledge and our favourite places with you.

And we have teamed up with locals for our overseas adventures too.

We care about your comfort and safety

Our tours cover large distances, so we use reliable, luxury vehicles that will transport you through the outback comfortably and safely.

You’ll work up quite a hunger and thirst covering those vast distances. Luckily, we think that good food, nice wine, powerful coffee, and cold beer are an essential part of a memorable adventure, so we’ll take care of that too.

We offer a range of accommodation options through our friends and contacts in the Outback Beds network. Many of them are on working farms in iconic outback locations. Most have been in the owners’ families for generations.

So you’ll experience Australian outback life firsthand by staying with the people who live and work there, enjoying home-cooked meals and experiencing seasonal farm activities.

We extend our philosophy for comfort and safety for our overseas tours. With our local connections we will work hard to make sure that your adventure holiday is a truely unique experience.

We let you own your own adventure

Travel when it suits you. We don’t schedule specific tour dates for our Australian tours, so talk to us about the timing that fits with your broader holiday plans.

We offer six activity based Australian adventure tours with a suggested itinerary for each tour covering some of the best our region has to offer. But you can also build your own itinerary.

Just let us know where you want to go, how long you want to take, and what you want to see and do along the way. And on top of all that, we are flexible. You can start and finish your adventure at various locations within our region.

Like us, our three international tours are a little different. They come in two parts;

An activity component and a follow-on touring component.

The activity component (biking, scuba diving or mountain biking) have fixed itineraries and departure dates (although you can also get a group of family or friends together and do these tours when it suits you). The touring component does have some flexibility. For each destination we suggest 3 or 4 touring options but you can also request your own options from your travel wish list.

We provide personalised private tours for you, your family and your friends. We take only small groups (generally up to seven people for Australian tours and 8-15 people for international tours) so we can respond to your travel needs and provide you with very personalised experiences.

Our international tours are not private tours (unless you book them out completely).

You’ll love our friendly, experienced team

Bill

The Brains

Bill is the driving force behind Outback Beds Tours. He has a passion for the outback, having lived and worked in Broken Hill for 20 years. A previous career in outback hospitality means that Bill has personal relationships with many unique accommodation providers across outback New South Wales and southwest Queensland. He’s also a great cook; if you’re lucky, he’ll prepare a gourmet meal for you to enjoy with a bottle of great Australian wine under the stars.

Bill loves activity based travel, hospitality, cooking, food, beer, wine and mountain biking (all the good things in life). Bill has also lived, studied and worked in Japan and is a regular traveller to Japan. Bill manages the business, takes tours and helps all other team members run their tours. His love is to team up with Tetsuya to take you on guided gravel bike tours of Japan and will lead the short post-ride Japan discovery tours to Kyoto, Nara or Tokyo.

LukE

The Chef

Luke has received scholarships for his cooking including the CIRA Young Chef of the Year and the Aqua Dining Young Culinary Achiever award. In 2014, Luke had the opportunity to travel and work in Italy and gained a wealth of experience working in Michelin starred restaurants. Luke returned from the food world of Italy to his home town of Griffith to open Limone Dining, one of the leading regional restaurants in NSW. Luke’s cooking works on the paddock to plate principle featuring fresh local produce that he harvest directly from the family farm, Piccolo Family Farm in Griffith.

Luke is a very talented chef but is also a lot of fun to travel with. We’re sure that you will enjoy his curated food and culture tours.

Lukas

The Professor

Lukas is a lecturer and researcher in food science and technology at Adelaide University’s world-famous Wine Research Centre. He applies his talents to wine science and micro brewing. That makes him the perfect person to introduce you to our famous wine and beer. Lukas is also a mad keen mountain biker and hits the Adelaide Hills at every opportunity.

You might meet Lukas on our mountain bike tour, particularly if you combine mountain biking with exploring some of South Australia’s great wine regions or our emerging microbrewery scene. Learn something about brewing beer and making wine while you mountain bike: we look after your mind and body!

Lukas also leads our small group mountain bike adventures over the Austrian alps from Munich to Italy. Originally from Austria, Lukas grew up riding the alpine trails and is keen to introduce you to the paths less travelled in that part of the world.

Tetsuya

The Biker

Tetsuya was born and raised in Tokyo. While working at an import business and later at an international IT company, Tetsuya travelled to more than 40 countries. During his travels, Tetsuya not only polished his English proficiency, he also became a devotee of bike touring. His passion is to reproduce the bicycle tourism that he experienced around the world. Now based in Nasu north of Tokyo, Tetsuya is deeply committed to taking you on great bike rides that introduce you to the beauty of Japan, it’s culture and fabulous food.

Having been a cyclist for more than 20 years, his love for roads and paths is incomparable. He takes great pleasure in biking to explore attractive routes, and from narrow mountain roads to gravel paths, no one in the area knows more about a great bike ride than Tetsuya. He also loves music, cooking, craft beer and local sake.

Cathy

Social Media Guru

Cathy is our social media manager. She has lived and worked in outback New South Wales for over 20 years. Her senior role in the Aboriginal Medical Service based in Broken Hill gives Cathy a deep understanding of outback life and culture. In addition to managing our own social media presence, Cathy also keeps a sharp eye on news and events that other local businesses and groups post. There’s not much Cathy doesn’t know about sporting, cultural and community events in the outback, and she’s always happy to suggest one to make your tour unforgettable.

Morad

Moroccan Tour Guide

Morad is a certified Moroccan tour guide with many years of experience and a dedicated following. Morad is also a polyglot. He apologises for his near perfect English, and assures us that if we prefer to switch languages he is fluent in French, Italian, Spanish and Moroccan Berber Arabic, and can converse in a fist full of other languages including Portuguese and German. Disappointingly, he knows no Icelandic. Morad is also family. Husband to Bill’s sister and father to his nieces. Morad has an easy style and cares for the whole tour as if we are all family. Morad turns a food tour of Morocco into a personal tour of Morocco gaining insider access to many places and activities the larger commercial tour companies are not able to access.

Mineko

Japans Secret Weapon

Mineko lives in Nara, which predates Kyoto as one of the oldest capitals of Japan. She is passionate about Japanese culture, history and food. Her enthusiasm and local knowledge make her the perfect person to lead you through the temples, gardens and other features of this beautiful part of Japan.

Tilly

The Tech Head

A recent graduate in German and Media, Tilly manages our website and uses her experience in public relations and event management to make sure our tours run smoothly.

about us