I grew up in Sydney, Australia in a family that never went camping or on outdoors adventures.
Therefore, it came as somewhat of a surprise to discover hiking and camping in my mid 20’s and it fast became somewhat of an obsession.
Since then, I’ve become a leader with the Sydney Bush Walkers Club and Search Manager with NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue, where I’m responsible for the Blue Mountains. It was this volunteer work that motivated me to start LotsaFreshAir. Using my professional experience and skills in comms, I wanted to provide how-to type resources for bushwalkers and hikers, in a way that was accessible and practical, avoiding stereotypes of hard-core survivalists with screaming guitars, to try and reduce the number of people who get into trouble in the bush.
The outdoors totally changed my life and I’m keen to share my knowledge and stories with others – hoping that they’ll catch the bug too! Apart from sharing tips here and on the YouTube channel, I am also a casual guide for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, encouraging young people aged 14-17 years old to fall in love with wild places and teach wilderness navigation in the Blue Mountains. Professionally, I run a production company that specialises in filming or running comms projects in rugged or technically challenging environments and adventure travel writing. My clients span across TV drama (ABC’s Wakefield) or reality (Amazing Race), travel and tourism, not-for-profit and government agencies, including NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
This website, YouTube and all the social media is a labour of love for me. I’m passionate about connecting people to the outdoors and nature in meaningful ways – to help people look after themselves, each other and our precious environment. If you’d like to support my work to continue and help pay my hosting, email and equipment costs (as well as chip in for my time in creating all the free resources), please consider supporting me by buying me a Coffee… or even a bit more if you really want to show the love!
You can also find me as a regular contributor for Great Walks and other adventure travel magazines like Wild, along with general travel stories within inflight magazines. I love catching up live on radio ABC702 Weekends with Simon Marnie and appearing as a speaker and workshop host at events such as Bushwalking Australia Conferences, ProBlogger, ORIC (Outdoor Recreation Industry) Conference, SheWentWild and Women’s Adventure Summit.
For more background, see this article in the Blue Mountains Gazette.
You can email me at hello [at] lotsafreshair.com.
All content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is Copyright Caro (Carolyn) Ryan.
Home page main photograph and Caro bio pic is by Jake Anderson.
In July 2013, as an avid user of their products for over 10 years, I was delighted to be appointed a Macpac Ambassador.
