I’ve Worked At We Are Explorers for 9 Years – Here’s What a Good Day Looks Like

Dream job? It’s up there. But what’s it really like working for a company that perfectly lines up with your interests? From high (mountaintops) to low (spreadsheets) Tim lifts the lid.

My alarm pierces my deepest slumber, rattling me inside and out.

‘Why on earth am I still using that brutal iPhone alarm tone?’ I think as my hand smashes through the darkness.

It’s 5am, well before dawn, and I’m on a shoot with the new Toyota HiLux. Toyota told me it was looking to highlight quality, durability, and reliability with the new rig, so obviously I thought I’d write about myself.

Seriously though, I was interested in the parallels. Getting outdoors does require gear you can rely on – including the ride that takes you there – but just as important is getting going in the first place.

We truly believe the outdoors is for everyone

That’s what We Are Explorers has always been about; adventures for everyone, not just the mountaineers and dirtbags, but people in the cities with a million other responsibilities who still feel the call of the wild.

I took a long look at the pre-dawn escarpment as a Yellow-tailed Black cockatoo flew overhead, calling rhythmically.

Then I dragged myself into the driver’s seat of the new HiLux SR5, flicked on the heated seats, and drove off to meet photographer Paul.

The best light’s always bloody early, but it’s always worth it too

So you just go on adventures, right?

I’d love to say yes. Unfortunately there aren’t many business models where it makes sense to pay a guy to just run around in the bush full time. At the least, you’ve gotta be filming it, and despite how much fun it might look, we all know that influencers are actually putting in a lot of work to make those reels.

Ok sometimes I AM paid to run around in the bush, just not every day

Me? I’m a writer at heart, which does allow me the joy of simply taking it all in a bit more when I’m out on a mission. But I’m still jotting notes, remembering quotes, and trying to find an insight deeper than ‘that was fun’.

Most days, I’m the Managing Director. I started writing for We Are Explorers nine years ago, when it was just a baby, and quickly ended up as the editor. As we’ve grown I’ve taken on more responsibilities, like the audience strategy, website, and managing day-to-day business now our Founder Henry has moved back to the UK. But my heart’s still in publishing and I write (particularly about gear in Unpacked) every week.

Making deals, enhancing synergy, etc.

All of that happens at a desk though, so a shoot day like this is something special.

The plan was to capture the HiLux in the bush, to get acquainted with it (check out my First Look), and capture a bit of a really good day in the ‘office’.

Part of the reason the alarm hit me so hard was that Paul and I were still shooting after sunset the day before, capturing some lovely blue light on a waterfall. Sure, it was still work – we had to carry in camera equipment, I stood on a rock with a microphone while getting progressively colder, and we had to stay in permitted zones when using the drone.

But I realised, while standing there shivering, effectively doing overtime, that it had been pretty damn good for a Monday.

One might even say that it was excellent for a Monday

Even the Best Jobs Have Tough Bits

I think that sometimes people are disappointed when I tell them that not every day includes posing on trails and cruising around in a brand-new HiLux. But after nine years in the game, it makes a lot of sense.

Doing it every day would be exhausting. Some of the adventure photographers I know string together weeklong schedules of sunrise-to-sunset shooting. But then, like me, they have to come back to their computer to turn it into something.

I drove through this puddle a few times, but photographer Paul had been shooting for a week!

Virtual meetings, Slack chats, and Google Sheets all feature at We Are Explorers, despite their reputation for being soul-destroying. We’re a tight crew of seven full-timers and we all work remotely, which can have its own challenges (read: going nuts).

We’ve had our share of challenges too. Covid, of course, or HR issues when staff leave unexpectedly. Last year was very slow and despite trying to avoid it, we had to make three staff redundant. I reckon it’s the hardest thing I’ve dealt with professionally.

What I’ve learnt is that it’s not necessarily about how good your job is in the moment – work is work, and there’s a reason you’re getting paid – but how well you can transition to not working, and in particular, time outside.

Annnd I’m back on the trails, making the most of it

Going Between Work and Play

Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn this piece into a list of ways to find adventure while working nine-to-five (we’ve actually already done that). What I want to get across is that even if you’re working a job with some admittedly very fun bits, it’s never the same as not working. And that’s the time you want to make count.

You get out what you put in, but if you actively tackle the biggest barriers that stop you getting outdoors it’ll pay off massively. Working from home is a big one if you can, but it’s by no means essential. Packing a grab bag, laying out your gear, or packing your car the night before are all pro tips.

Aesthetic pics are part of the job, but I don’t shoot (or write about) everything

A lot of people think they need a separate car for the comfort of the city and the demands of the trail, but with something like the new HiLux SR5 with its panoramic camera system, I can even safely squeeze into a park in Sydney before I hit the road west.

I often have commitments when I’m outdoors, like shooting photos of products for gear reviews, or even doing a recce of a new hiking trail for an article. While these are no doubt fun, it’s still important to switch off to maximise the benefit I can get from nature.

That means leaving the camera behind and chucking on aeroplane mode, or at least deleting the email app.

Gear You Can Rely On

As my role at We Are Explorers has taken on more and more layers I’ve been less involved in a lot of the actual articles. Letting go has been difficult – shaping and writing stories is the whole reason I got into publishing, and doing it about something you love like the outdoors is an absolute privilege.

But something else has become apparent, I’m a bit of a gear nerd. In fact, I used to read Motor magazine cover to cover as a kid and I reckon it’s the reason I went into the famously unprofitable publishing industry to begin with.

I’m more of a car guy than you’d probably expect – look at that smile!

As my interests grew beyond cars to the outdoors I realised that the gear had a lot of crossover. Unlike fashion items, most outdoor products and clothing have to serve a purpose and fit constraints like weight and durability that your average Kmart buy doesn’t think twice about.

Reviewing and explaining gear is an art form in its own right. It’s easy enough to write a dense product page or some wishy-washy marketing copy, but my approach on We Are Explorers has always been about keeping it simple and cutting through the jargon. Is that trail runner with the new foam actually faster? Will this cheap rain jacket actually keep me dry in Tassie?

Good gear doesn’t let you down when you’re relying on it, that’s pretty different to your average product

I’ve got an article coming about this HiLux that I got to test on The Perfect Workday™ where I’ll explain everything it does in detail. It’s a full-circle moment for me, so I’m pretty stoked to be writing about the car version of that hiking boot you can ‘also wear to dinner’ when travelling.

How are you tracking?

Hopefully you haven’t OD’d on my self indulgence just yet. Honestly, it’s been fun to reflect a bit on this job, and all that it brings, but also share my main tip, which is that I don’t think you need it to live a life that’s full of time outdoors. Even a standard nine-to-five work week can be packed with adventure if you make it a priority.

Maybe that’s like a celebrity telling you that money doesn’t make you happy, but I reckon they’re right too. And, like a celebrity, this deep dive into my thoughts on work-life balance are brought to you by the new Toyota HiLux, which is pretty good at both – don’t send a ute to a HiLux job.

(Seriously, it’s pretty mad, check it out.)