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Featured Outdoor Blogger of the Month: Alesha and Jarryd of NOMADasaurus
Meet Alesha Bradford and Jarryd Salem! They are the award-winning travel writers and photographers who run the renowned adventure travel blog in Australia — the NOMADasaurus. The website started as a channel where they document their overland voyage from the continent of Asia to Africa without flying. Now it has grown into one of the most leading adventure travel blogs on the web.
Alesha and Jarryd, otherwise known as Lesh and Jazza, used to be solo travelers but their love for adventure brought them together. They have been exploring the world as a couple since 2008 and have shared a lot of wonderful memories, amazing places and helpful tips with their followers through their blog. Aside from writing for NOMADasaurus, they also work for and are regularly featured by many prominent media publications such as BBC Travel, CNN, Yahoo! Travel, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Forbes, The Daily Mail, News.com.au and a whole lot more.
Our goal is to bring our NOMADasaurus concept of promoting sustainable, long-term adventure travel with us across the globe, using photography, journalism and video as our tools for storytelling. By continuing to write for this site, and other publications we freelance for, we aim to entertain, inspire and educate along the way by documenting our first-hand experiences.
1. What sparked your passion for adventure and travel blogging? How long have you been doing this?
We have been travelling since 2007, and met each other in Canada in 2008, so adventure and travel has always been a big part of who we are. We both love pushing our limits and exploring offbeat destinations, so the adventure came naturally. We only started travel blogging in 2014 though.
2. NOMADasaurus sounds really cool. How did you come up with that name? Tell us more about your blog.
Thanks! We came up with it while we were on a road trip in Australia after we had decided to start a blog for our next trip (Thailand to South Africa without flying). To be honest there wasn't any reasoning behind it. We were just throwing travel-related words out there, and blurted out 'nomadasaurus', like a nomadic dinosaur. We liked it, and it stuck. The blog started off as a way for us to document our journey and share travel tips, with a focus on adventure, culture and sustainability. It has since grown to be the biggest adventure travel blog in Australia, and we have a team of writers behind us publishing destination guides.
3.) We've heard that Alesha is into photography and is behind the majority of the wonderful images seen on your blog. Among all your works, which one is your most favorite?
While we both love photography and take a lot of pictures, Alesha is definitely the main driving force behind our images. Her favourite pictures are of Machu Picchu.
4. Jarryd, you left your hometown at the age of 20 to be a ski bum in Canada. How was that experience for you?
That decision to head to Canada at 20 was a turning point in my life, and if I could turn back time I would do it all again. The experience was incredible. Living and working at a ski resort is so different to simply visiting on a holiday. The hill is your home, and your co-workers are your family. Some of my closest friends today I met while being a ski bum 11 years ago, I developed one of my biggest passions (snowboarding), and I tell every young person I meet that they should do this at least once in your life.
5. You've visited numerous places around the world. That's really impressive! Where do you plan to go next this year and why?
After 5 years of full-time nomadic travel, and more than a decade of wandering around the world, this year we are actually planning to slow it down a bit and form a home base, even if it's just temporary. We still have some fun adventures lined up though. In February we're off to Canada, April we'll be in the Cook Islands, and August and September we'll be leading two different groups on some adventure and photography tours of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. We have some other surprises lined up, so you'll have to follow our blog, Instagram and YouTube to see where we end up!