Land, Craft & the Open Road
Digital Swaggie explores the relationship between landscape, material and movement.
Across regional towns, workshops and unhurried roads, this work documents the people who build, repair and preserve — artisans, mechanics, makers and quiet custodians of skill. Timber, steel, cloth and clay carry the imprint of climate and history. Place shapes craft, and craft reveals place.
Travel here is deliberate. By motorcycle, by rail, on foot — movement is a way of seeing. The journey is not escape, but inquiry.
These essays bring communities to life and reflect on the evolving nature of traditional knowledge in a disposable age. Through thoughtful writing and targeted imagery, Digital Swaggie records the enduring relationship between people, materials and the landscapes that form them.
This is not content about consumption. It is a body of work about continuity.
A Sense of Place
Journal of Place & Culture
Landscapes, towns, regional history, and cultural reflection.
- Regional histories and ghost towns
- Sense-of-place essays
- Cultural insights and local stories
Craft and Making
Craft Journal
Workshops, artisans, creative processes, and material culture.
- Profiles of regional artisans
- Craft techniques, tools, and inspiration
- Hands-on cultural practices
Travel and Adventure
Travel Journal
Adventure, exploration, and stories from the road.
- Motorcycle adventures across regional Australia
- Remote town discoveries
- Travel insights and quirky roadside stories
The Collective Journal
The latest dispatches from the field
Books and Guides
Books about travel ignite the soul and provide fuel to the adventurer. This trilogy provides a deep descriptive insight into the place that is Queensland, developing a sense of place. They entertain with travel narratives full of wonder and unique Australian humour. Queensland is one of the best adventure motorcycling destinations on the planet. But it’s not for the faint at heart.
Gun Fights, Ghosts and Goannas
This book is more than a motorcycle travel story, it’s an adventure through the heart of Queensland and the soul of Australia. Along the way, Gary learns the secret of life, loses his money by betting on chickens and solves the murder of the swaggie from the song Waltzing Matilda. His message to the reader is that it’s never too late to set and achieve goals. If he can do it anyone can, and it’s easier than you think. Just twist the throttle and look out for kangaroos.
Red Dust and Rainforests
Continuing his path of self-discovery, Gary faces deep bull dust tracks, mechanical failures, and challenging riding conditions that test his skills and resilience.
Red Dust and Rainforests captures nature’s raw power, the joy of camaraderie, and the spirit of self-discovery in this final chapter of a 20,000-kilometre odyssey through Queensland. For anyone eager to break free from the ordinary and embrace a life-changing journey, suit up—your adventure awaits!”
Sand Dunes and the Serpent
Sand Dunes and the Serpent is a journey into the vast, unforgiving heart of western Queensland — where distances are measured in days, not kilometres, and the land quietly tests those who travel through it.
The final book in the Queensland Adventure Riding Series, Sand Dunes and the Serpent, is more than a travelogue. It’s a reckoning — with solitude, with place, and with the forces that draw people back to the edge of the map. Some journeys reveal landscapes. Others reveal what’s been coiled beneath the surface all along.
About Me
Author – Storyteller
I am an award-winning Australian author and speaker whose work explores the connection between people, materials and landscape.
Through travel — by motorcycle, rail and on foot — I document artisans, makers and regional communities, preserving the stories of those who create, repair and sustain culture through skill.
My writing is an inquiry into exploration, place, craftsmanship and the enduring value of knowledge.