About Us

You've arrived at the leading reference for outback Australia. This website is an active community of people who love camping, four wheel driving and caravanning and is full of unique resources to help you plan your trip. Join up to become a Member for the ultimate experience.

You can also connect with other like-minded people to ask questions related to your vehicle, trip planning or on-the-road logistics or just share stories, ideas, get opinions. There is a strong community spirit on ExplorOz with site users enjoying the live, vibrant discussions in the Forum and many joining up for trips away together, coordinated in the Members Trips & Gatherings section.

ExplorOz is constructed so that you can freely access all pages of content on the site. Just use the blue menu at the top to find your way through the site. The unique aspect of ExplorOz is that the content evolves naturally through the collaborative efforts of an enthusiastic audience of real people. In fact, the information you'll find on ExplorOz is obtained from two different sources:

• Verified content/inventory selection by subject matter experts (Articles, Trek Notes, Site Tip Blogs, Newsletters & Shop)


• Live public contributions (Forum, Blogs, Classifieds, Travellers Comments in Road Conditions, Reviews & Photos in Places, Event Listings & Reviews, User Treks, Members Trips & Gatherings) and feedback can also be submitted (and read) in Articles, or on individual item for sale pages in the Shop).

To stay up-to-date with the latest news, special discounts, competitions and see the latest product releases, you'll need to register to receive our newsletter. This is sent by email each fortnight.

To contribute, you only need to have a registered visitor profile as a minimum (free) and observe our site Terms of Use. Click Sign In (then Register) at the top of the site to get started. We provide ways for you to contribute right across the site. We encourage you to help other people by sharing your knowledge, photos, stories and suggestions - however we urge you to place this information into the most appropriate part of the site (don't just dump it into the Forum please).

You can also opt to join our website as a Member. This is done by purchasing a 12 month subscription from our Shop for $49.95 (annual renewals are $29.95). There is a huge list of Member benefits, which you can view on the About Membership page.

In summary the key features of Membership are:

• discounted Members pricing on everything in our Shop
• Access to view & claim specials/ discounts advertised by ExplorOz Business Members (Member Rewards)
• Unlimited free Display Ads in the ExplorOz Classifieds
• Free downloads of all GPS data from Places and Trek Notes
• Access to contact other ExplorOz Members directly & privately via Member Messaging
• You can contribute content to other areas of the site where non-members cannot:
  • create your own Blogs
  • use your smartphone to send updates to your Blogs (does not require a connection to the website & can be done when out of service range)
  • upload Photos directly to Forum
  • post comments in Member-only Blogs
  • access EOTrackMe (online tracking service)
  • embed EOTrackMe tracking map on your ExplorOz Profile Page and/or your own website
• Receive a page to create your own Member Profile that has features to help your friends/family stay in touch when you travel
• Tags and links will automatically appear on your site contributions so others will know that:
  • you are a Member or LifeMember
  • you have items for sale/wanted in the Classifieds

If you think that you can use any of the above member features, then choose from one of our Membership Options to join today!

Where to ask for help

If you're having troubles using the site, please refer to the FAQs shown on our Contact Us page.

Although site registration is free, additional features are locked-out to free users. Getting the most from the site requires Membership (small annual fee). The reason for Membership, is to provide specific additional features/services on a user-pay basis. We put all our energies into developing new site features and services but we have kept it an optional subscription.

There have also been many people that have felt uncomfortable using our site for free and these people have chosen to pay for Membership, without ever using some of the features and services which are included with the subscription. Of course, we genuinely appreciate that and respect this is your donation to our ongoing survival in a sometimes very difficult marketplace.

ExplorOz is owned and published by Perth company I.T. Beyond Pty Ltd.
I.T. Beyond is a well established company with over 25 years experience in the I.T industry and has expertise in new and emerging technologies especially internet applications, web development and infrastructure design for small to medium business clients.

The company created ExplorOz.com in 2000 as a community and resource website for 4WD & RV enthusiasts. The site has never received any funding by Government or Tourism investment so all operating costs must be covered by its online operations. Being an online business entity we are proud that 16 years on, it is a successful subsidiary of I.T. Beyond.

The desire to create ExplorOz evolved from the passion of the company's owners, David and Michelle Martin, who have been passionate outdoor enthusiasts all their lives.

When they made the decision to leave Sydney and travel around Australia in their early 30's, it was made with the ultimate goal to never go back to the life they left behind. To set the goal in action they had to review their financial situation and make some tough choices; they also had to plan their mode of accommodation and self-sufficiency, and of course decide and agree on where to go. The preparations involved extensive research, intensive conversations, endless leg-work visiting camping stores, 4WD shows, joining a 4WD club, undergoing driver training etc. But it also involved selling all their worldly possessions, not just their home but all the contents and clutter. What immediately struck them, was how difficult this trip was to plan. This was a time before the current caravanning boom - a decade before the baby boomers retired so outback tourism was not as popular as it is now, and the term grey nomad was not yet known. To plan their trip, they sought out information about visiting the iconic outback destiantions they had seen on 1970's television documentaries (think Bill Peach, Leyland Bros etc). They turned to the internet, but Google didn't exist back then and even government tourism websites lacked substance particuarly in providing information about the exciting places they had mapped out to visit. Furthermore, what they really wanted to hear was other people's stories - ideally from other young people with a similar outlook on life.

It is this first-hand experience, of struggling to gather information to plan a trip, that has forged the vision for what ExplorOz offers as an information service to the self-drive tourism market. It took almost 2 years of being on the road however before David and Michelle even recognised the need for the website and gathered the courage to put all their energies into building it into a business - but in January 2000 they settled in Perth, Western Australia. ExplorOz.com was officially launched in March of the same year and has now been in operation for 14 years. Over these years of operation the site has evolved with the times and now provides some tools and services that were never envisioned back in 2000, however the core purpose and model of ExplorOz has remained constant.