The Outer Side

Dave Parker spent 20 years in the Australian Defence Force's Special Operations Command (SOCOM) - involved in active combat around the world as a member of the elite 2nd Commando Regiment.

Following his military career, Dave pursued his love of the outdoors and founded PAST Outdoors - a business that started with Dave sewing together a TeePee at home, and which has subsequently evolved into a respected supplier of specialist high-end outdoors equipment for hikers, hunters and explorers.

Dave and Tony chat about Dave's transition from Special Forces to civilian life, the process of...

Lawrie Smith and Billy McKinnon are both obsessed with 40 Series Land Cruisers, so much so, that they've both built successful businesses focused on modifying these old 4x4s to extreme levels.

Tony chats to Lawrie and Billy about the genesis of their passion for 4WDs, how they met, how LCS4x4 and McKinnon's Cruisers got started, and the relentless pursuit of improvement that drives them to continue the development of custom parts to suit the highly modified builds coming out of their workshops.

The boys also share some anecdotes and stories from past...

Harry Foster is a chef, hunter, spearo, free-diver, content creator, ex-Masterchef contestant, and hunting guide.

This man has packed a huge amount into his short time on earth and has created his own perfect life - centred around spending as much time outside and in nature as possible.

Harry and Tony chat about Harry's early years growing up in the outdoors in Far North Queensland where fishing, camping, hunting and diving were all regular activities with his family, how he applied for Masterchef as a joke and ended up appearing on the series...

WE MADE IT TO 100 EPISODES! 🙌

To celebrate this milestone I invited my good mate Azza from Azventures Australia back onto the show - he was here for Episode 1 and now he's back for Episode 100!

Az has recently had some pretty big life changes occur, so we throw it out to the audience to do a bit of Q&A and cover the topics and questions you want answered.

Thanks so much for all your support of The Outer Side podcast, you guys make it all worth it!

I a...

James is the owner of Pirate Camp Co. - an Australian company that designs and builds rugged 4WD, off-road, and camping accessories tailored for touring enthusiasts.

James is a qualified Boilermaker and Fabricator, who was sick of poor quality 4x4 and Camping gear - so he decided to make his own!

Tony and James talk about James' experience growing up in the outdoors exploring Katherine, NT, his discovery of 4WDs through his mate and his GU Patrol ute, his wide and varied experience working across Australia in trade jobs, and ultimately what led...

Josh Thorburn is the owner of Thorburn's Fabrication, a company that specialises in fabricating high quality Australian made 4WD accessories including trays, canopies, and bar work.

As a 3rd generation boilermaker and fabricator, Josh has had a long history in the 4x4 scene, from building and breaking wild wheeling cars in his younger years, to building tough tourers and weird and wonderful ex-army vehicles.

Josh and Tony chat about Josh's life of 4WDing, their thoughts on the good and bad of the Australian 4WD scene, the beauty of getting back to basics with...

Kira from Lake Mac Zoo is a passionate young woman who loves animals, and has dedicated much of her life to learning about, and working with reptiles.

Kira and Chris own Lake Mac Zoo - a mobile wildlife education business aimed at educating people about native reptiles including our most venomous snakes - with the aim of breaking down the stigma and fear of snakes.

Tony and Kira chat about her early years catching and keeping lizards, her lifelong interest in Australia's wildlife, her work as an educator, and take a deep dive...

Phil Dixon is one of the co-founders of Walk It Off Australia, a grass-roots mental health organisation focused on building strong local communities and support networks for men and women across Australia through the simple act of getting outside for a walk and talk.

Phil and Tony chat about the creation of Walk It Off, the benefits of spending time outside for mental health, the need for stronger communities, and Phil's passion for Ultra Trail Running.

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Josh D is a bloke that loves the bush, and HATES rubbish - so much so, that he has dedicated much of his own time, money, and resources to organising bush clean-ups with like-minded volunteers.

Following a relatively late entry into the 4x4 and camping lifestyle, Josh made up for lost time. He's built a twin-locked Ford Ranger with all the fruit, and headed to some of the most iconic 4WD Touring destinations in Australia including Cape York and the Victorian High Country.

Josh was so frustrated by constantly seeing rubbish in the...

Peter Woods is the Managing Director of Premier Events - the company behind the 4WD Adventure Shows - held in Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth each year.

Peter has been passionate about 4x4s and camping his whole life, and has had a hand in creating some of the earliest and most well-known 4WD adventure content through his friendship and work with the late Malcolm Douglas - a true legend of the Australian outdoor adventure community.

Peter is a very humble man who works quietly in the background of the 4WD community, but has...

Paris Recchi is a Suzuki Jimny fanatic, solo camping enthusiast, and owner of HER TRAX - curating and running exclusive camping events focused on connecting with other like-minded women who share her love for 4WDs and camping. 

Tony and Paris chat about her childhood memories of growing up camping in 4x4s at Double Island Point in QLD with her family, how she rediscovered her love for the outdoors in her adult life, and the creation of HER TRAX - Paris' events business focused on encouraging women to embrace the 4WD and camping lifestyle.

In this episode, Tony is joined by Mac Preston, with a special guest appearance by our good mate, Burto.

Mac Preston is one half of the hugely popular TJ AND MAC YouTube channel, the owner of Shed Life, and a familiar face in the Aussie 4WD community.

Mac shares how his automotive journey began, growing up with a Dad who was a V8 fanatic, creating a passion for cars that Mac has maintained throughout his life. From starting out with mini trucks and air-bagged Hondas before progressing into building custom 4WDs, he's gone...

Lee Dunstan is the President of the 4WD Association of NSW & ACT, and current serving President of the Black Diamond Recreational 4WD Club - a club which he assisted in starting in the 1990s. Lee is also a keen hunter, hiker, and avid outdoorsman.

Lee has been very active in the 4x4 club scene in NSW and continues to advocate on behalf of the 4WD community, including being deeply involved in the ongoing fight for fair public land access for the recreational outdoors community.

Lee & Tony chat about the benefits of 4WD clubs...

Sam 'Birchy' Birch is a tour guide in the East Kimberley region as the owner of Birchy's Fishing Tours, a Barra fishing expert, and one of the Traditional Owners of Balanggarra Country - covering some 2.9 Million Hectares of beautiful, remote, and rugged wilderness in the Top End of Western Australia.

Birchy has a phenomenal life story - marked by tragedy, trauma, addiction and crime. Despite all this adversity, he has turned his life around and is now clean, sober, and living his best life on the traditional lands of his ancestors, living from the land and...

Marc Hendrickx is a Geologist, Author, Blogger, and the current President of Save Our Summits - an advocacy group focused on challenging public land access restrictions across Australia.

Marc is a passionate bushwalker, hiker and climber, and has worked tirelessly for years to advocate for the re-opening of iconic climbing spots including Uluru, the Glasshouse Mountains, and Mount Warning - all of which have faced access restrictions from Government and National Parks management.

Tony and Marc take a deep dive into the challenges facing the outdoor recreation community in relation to public land...

Cam Cronin is a well-known fisho from the New South Wales Central Coast, who has achieved more fishing success at a young age than many will see in a lifetime.

Through passion, hard work, and dedication Cam has honed his craft to become a land-based lure-fishing expert - with a relentless focus on catching trophy Mulloway from the shore up and down the NSW coast.

Tony and Cam chat about his childhood fishing on family holidays, his early years chasing Kingfish and Jewfish in Sydney Harbour, his ongoing obsession with catching Mulloway on...

Sam Reed owns and runs LIVIN 4x4 - a Victorian-based YouTube channel focused on sharing real and authentic 4WD adventures.

Tony and Sam chat about his early passion for 4x4s, the progression into chasing tougher wheeling tracks in his chopped 80 series Land Cruiser, how the YouTube channel started with his brother, touring Australia in his N80 HiLux, and heaps more.

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David Swarbrick runs Blue Flame Automotive, a highly-regarded 4WD specialist workshop with two locations in NSW.

Tony and Dave chat about recent changes to legislation around Second Stage Manufacturing, what it means for the future of the 70 series Land Cruiser, the rise of American 4x4 trucks in Australia, his ongoing obsession with Hummers, and heaps more.

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In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is absolutely honoured to be joined by Mal Leyland (of Leyland Brothers fame), and his daughter, Carmen.

Mal and Mike Leyland were the original Aussie overland explorers, touring across the country and producing feature films back in the early 1960s!

After recording 3 feature films, the brothers moved into TV, creating 'Off the Beaten Track', 'Trekabout' and 'Ask the Leyland Brothers' - going on to make hundreds of episodes showcasing the Australian outback and overland 4x4 travel. The Leylands are wildly considered as the very first...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Vanessa Ruck AKA The Girl on a Bike.

Vanessa is an incredible woman who was involved in a life-changing accident in 2014, before deciding the best path to recovery was to immerse herself in the world of motorbikes. Vanessa took this new passion to the next level, competing in offroad races across the UK and Europe, as well as Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye, the original Dakar rally, the Tunisia Desert Challenge and heaps more.

Tony and Vanessa chat about her early...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Liv & Tommy Barnes - the owners of Performance Tourers 4x4 and This is Liv'n.

Tony chats to Liv & Tommy about what they've been up to since they last appeared on the show and where they've been on recent adventures, before taking a deep dive into one of their biggest passions in life - recreational hunting.

Liv & Tommy share the reasons they hunt, how they do it, the bond between Liv and her dogs, and the benefits to physical and mental health that ke...

In this episode, Tony catches up with Azza from Azventures Australia & MITS Alloy to chat all things Ford Super Duty.

Az has been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time behind the wheel of the ARB / Mits Alloy Super Duty over the last 6 months, and I pick his brain on what he likes, what he doesn't like, and how he believes other 4WD manufacturers might respond.

The boys also chat about the changes to SSM modification laws on V8 Cruisers, the future of EVs for 4x4 Touring, and whether or not...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined once again by Matt Kinsela.

Matt and Tony chat about some of Matt's latest offroad racing adventures, the recent work his team has done on Tony's 80 Series Land Cruiser (including installing a Nissan Patrol front diff!), installing Atlas Transfer Cases in Shauno's Dirty30 and Jocko's HiLux, and Matt's long term Land Rover / 60 Series project.

The boys also chat about Matt's recent venture offering training courses through the workshop - covering Basic Fabrication, Welding and CAD.

It's been a couple of...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Robyn Van Ysseldyk, the owner of Sutto's Powersports in Western Sydney.

Sutto's sell a huge range of epic toys including KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas dirtbikes, SeaDoos, and Can-Ams, and have a solid reputation in the powersports industry.

Robyn shares her story of growing up camping and attending 4WD Jamboree events with her family, her journey through the family retail business and ultimately the purchase of Sutto's Powersports, which she and her brother Mal have run together for the last 9 years.

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Nathan Little AKA BAD1.79 - the owner of All Terrain Accessories.

Nathan has spent much of the last few years touring Australia in his fully built 79 series dual cab Tourer - driving plenty of tough tracks along the way.

Tony and Nathan chat about Nathan's early entry to the 4WD scene going wheeling with his friends and family, to building the first version of his 79 Series Dream Car, before starting a 4x4 Accessory Business in Perth, and building the latest iteration of...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Johnny Mclean, the owner of Lusty Industries and founder of Albek.

Johnny has been a fixture of the outdoor action sports industry for over 2 decades, taking a childhood love of moto and mountain bikes and turning it into a successful business - supplying Australia with some of the best action sports brands in the world.

Johnny and Tony chat about Johnny's early years racing dirt bikes, his venture into corporate life working as an Electrical Engineer in the mining industry, before following...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Rene Vermeer - the owner and editor of 4XJournal.

4XJournal is a high-quality, quarterly publication focused on telling the stories about the epic 4WDs, their owners, and their adventures, in the New Zealand 4x4 community.

Tony and Rene chat about Rene's early years being obsessed with cars, his journey into working in the street car performance scene, working for Toyota spare parts, becoming an Electrician, falling in love with 4x4s and camping, and ultimately making the decision to start a 4WD...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is back in New Zealand, and joined by Brad Willets from Cold Start 4x4 & Outdoors.

Originally from Australia, Brad is now a resident of Wanaka, NZ, and is heavily involved in the South Island 4WD community, as well as running his own outdoor brand - Cold Start NZ.

Tony and Brad chat about Brad's early years, travelling around the world in his early 20s, finding his second home in NZ and falling deeply in love with 4x4s, eventually leading him to start his own...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Kalen Ziflian, better known as Kal the Car Guy.

Kal has had a lifelong obsession with all things automotive - from street cars to track cars, drag racing, 4WDs and everything in between. This passion led to him being Employee number 1 at Club 4x4 Insurance, where he had a long and successful career. More recently, Kal has focused his efforts on reviewing, and writing about, cars and 4x4s.

Tony and Kal chat about his early years surrounded by family building cool...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Simon Vella from Tough Dog suspension.

Simon has been heavily involved in the Australian 4WD scene for over 30 years and has been a huge part of Tough Dog's engineering effort and growth in Australia, and many other countries around the world.

Simon and Tony chat about Simon's early years and his obsession with cars and 4WDs, his early days at Tough Dog, the company's growing success, vehicle modifications and engineering requirements, and heaps more.

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In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Jim Walsh from Ultimate Rock Crawling.

Jim has been heavily involved in the Australian Rock Crawling scene for many years, from Tuff Truck Challenge Australia, to WeRock, and more recently the URC.

Jim and Tony chat about Jim's childhood travelling around in an old Toyota troopy with his family (which he still owns today!), his entry to 4WD clubs, how he started competing in various 4x4 offroad racing competitions around Australia and the USA, and his role assisting with the management and...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by the legend, Billy Collett, from Venom Diaries!

Billy has dedicated his life to working with animals and the conservation of Australian wildlife. He's the Park Manager at The Australian Reptile Park on the NSW Central Coast and plays a big part in the production of snake and spider anti-venom in Australia. He's also a keen fisho, loves his diving, spearfishing, and conservation hunting.

Billy and Tony chat about his passion for animals from a young age, his love for working with highly...

This is the last one for the year!

I decided to put together a 2025 recap to end the year for The Outer Side - talking about some of the epic 4WD trips I've been on with the crew from 4WD 24/7, launching GME into the US Market at Overland Expo, filming 4x4 content in NZ, and the ongoing fight for fair public land access for outdoor recreation enthusiasts.

The show will be back to regular programming in early February - thanks for all your support this year!

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In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Bel Jones.

Bel is a 4WD fanatic, a hunter, and makes a living capturing outdoor content for brands as a professional photographer and videographer.

Bel and Tony chat about how Bel first became interested in the outdoors travelling Australia with her family as a kid, becoming a professional snowboard instructor in Canada, her move to NZ, and then ultimately following her passion to focus on creating amazing content for 4x4 and outdoors brands, including STEDI and RUNVA, in both Australia and New...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Chris Tierney from Bright Sparks Motorsport.

Chris has been involved in the offroad 4WD scene for a long time, starting out social wheeling in local 4WD clubs before progressing into offroad enduro, winch truck racing, and rock crawling.

Chris and Tony chat about Chris' experiences starting out in the 4x4 game, the various 4WD clubs he's been involved with, competing in endurance events, the early days of Tuff Truck, and his love for rock crawlers and technical wheeling.

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In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Sam Purcell, the deputy editor of drive.com.au.

Sam has been a motoring journalist for many years, cutting his teeth with Pat Callinan and Unsealed 4x4, testing and reviewing countless 4WD vehicles over his career, and spends his spare time tinkering with old Land Rovers.

Tony and Sam chat about how Sam got started in motoring journalism, the process of testing new vehicles, the future of EV 4x4s and Diesel 4WDs in Australia, and heaps more.

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In this week's episode, Tony is joined by Stephan Fischer from All Offroad AU.

Stephan has been around the Australian 4WD community for a long time, building a bunch of tough 4x4s, driving hard technical tracks, and running a very popular YouTube channel -  ⁨@AlloffroadAu⁩ 

Tony and Stephan talk about how he first got involved in the 4WD community, joining a 4WD club and driving tough tracks around the country, his love for remote touring in the Simpson Desert, and his advocacy and efforts around fair National Park access for recreational users includ...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Bec & Astrid AKA the Free Roam Chicks (not Chickens).

Bec & Astrid are travelling around Australia in their V8 Troopy and HJ47 Toyota Land Cruiser, and raising money and awareness for rescue dogs along the way!

Bec & Astrid share how their love for travel and adventure started, what led them to starting this amazing mission to help dogs that need a new home, the challenges of rebuilding and modifying old 4WD Toyotas, their plans to travel the globe in a variety of different 4...

In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Matt from MadMatt4WD!

Matt has been around the 4x4 scene for a very long time, has built a bunch of cool cars, done some epic wheeling, and more recently has focused his attention on providing educational content to the 4WD community on YouTube.

Tony and Matt chat about Matt's childhood in Papua New Guinea, his introduction to 4WDs through the club scene, overlanding in Africa, and his journey to becoming a full time 4x4 media personality and educator.

...

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In this episode of The Outer Side, Tony is joined by Nick Wiseman from Sidetracked.

Nick and his brother Marko run the 'Sidetracked' YouTube channel, have built a number of sick 4x4s between them, and have travelled all over Australia filming 4WD content.

Tony and Nick chat about how he first became interested in the 4WD scene, his love for Nissan Patrols, his insane custom G60 ground-up build that he is doing by himself in...