Adventurous Journey Planning Handbook

Adventurous Journey Planning Handbook:

A Complete Framework for Outdoor Leaders, Mentors, and Journey Leaders

Planning an adventurous journey in the Australian bush isn't just about choosing a route, it's about giving your group the best possible chance of coming home safely. Written by Andrew Davis, a three-decade Scout leader and Co-District Commissioner from the Blue Mountains of NSW, this handbook delivers the complete planning framework that experienced outdoor leaders rely on.

What's inside:

Part One walks through eleven essential planning elements; Route Plan, Risk Assessment, Meal and Water Plan, Transport Plan, Budget, Activity Plan, Consent, Trip Intention, Notifications, Weather Planning, and Mentor Approval. Each chapter explains what the element is, why it matters, what completion looks like, and the common failure points that catch even experienced leaders off guard.

Practical tools include Naismith's Rule for calculating realistic leg timings, the 5×5 risk matrix for assessing and communicating hazard levels, the Hierarchy of Controls for building genuinely effective risk mitigations, and a Go/No-Go Decision Framework to cut through social pressure on departure morning. A full 12-week planning timeline keeps every element on track, and printable checklists in the appendix make sure nothing slips through.

Part Two walks through LogsKeptSimple.com.au, the author's own planning platform, built specifically for outdoor leaders, showing how every planning document maps to the platform's workflow for route planning, risk assessment, meal plans, budgets, consent, and trip intention lodgement.