» Tour Guides
Why Choose Us?
In the north west of Tasmania, Australia, lies the largest temperate rainforest in the southern hemisphere, the Tarkine.
To experience the Tarkine's giant old-growth rainforests and powerful coastline is nothing short of extraordinary and something that we are bursting at the seams to share.
Besides the beauty of the Tarkine's landscape, there are some very good reasons to choose a Tarkine Trails walk.
Tarkine Trails Guides
Tarkine Trails guides are selected for their deep love of the Tasmania’s wild places, their commitment to our vision and a capacity to deliver rich, eye opening experiences. Each guide has an intimate knowledge of the Tarkine’s history and ecology and a passion to share it. They take safety seriously and all guides have up to date remote area first aid qualifications. Our guides are mature and professional leaders, being skilled in risk management, cooking, story telling, quality interpretation and good humor to name only a few qualities. As long term guides ourselves, we know that our guides are the heart beat of our business. We give them every support possible to encourage their continual professional growth and capacity to make your time in the Tarkine a memorable one.
Tarkine Trails Owners
Tarkine Trails is locally owned by three Tasmanians, Rob Fairlie, Darvis (Mark Davis) and Simon Townsend.
Rob Fairlie
Rob is a founding member of Tarkine Trails and is responsible for the promotion and product development of the business. Rob has degrees in both Business and Science and remote area first aid certification several times over. He takes pride in contributing to a healthy, sustainable tourism industry that assists the protection of Tasmania’s wild places. Rob has walked throughout Australia and has over 200 nights experience in exploring the Tasmanian wilderness. During the winter, Rob works with kids at risk. His current backyard cricket test average is 14ish, but when he hits it, it stays hit…ouch.
Darvis (Mark Davis)
Born in Tasmania, Darvis is a founding member of Tarkine Trails and is responsible for all things marketing. With over 200 nights experience in the Tarkine, and a passion for the place that’s hard to contain, he’s definitely the man for the job. In the event of a terrorist attack on the Tarkine, Darvis is qualified as an infantry soldier, albeit a seemingly passive one. He is a qualified track worker with Parks and wildlife and has trained with the State Emergency Service. For fun, he works in corporate training as an instructor and looovves to play guitar. His current backyard cricket test average is 20 ish, but he’s currently the king of the super 10.
Simon Townsend
Simon moved to Tasmania 11 years ago and fell in love with Tasmania’s wilderness. He is a founding member of Tarkine Trails as well as a qualifiedChartered Accountant, with over 10 years experience as a small business consultant. He is passionate about the product Tarkine Trails provides and is responsible for all things financial. In his spare time, (of which there isn’t much), he enjoys scooting around on his push bike, playing his guitar, sailing the high seas and practicing the Japanese purifying art of Mahikari. His current backyard cricket test average is 30ish… yep its all about numbers with accountants!
