Wilderness Adventures started operations in 2011 and has shared the beautiful Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and stunning Northern Rivers with hundreds of people since its inception.
At the heart of the business is Tim Williams a fourth generation resident of the Blue Mountains, and now a resident of the North Coast, who has a love for the outdoors and exploring Australia’s many landscapes.
Before changing career to become a guide Tim was the national sales manager for a telecommunications company. He started his guiding career in 2008 and worked for a number of adventure tour operators, schools, outdoor education operators, event organisers and first aid services businesses to hone his skills as an outdoor leader.
The guides at Wilderness Adventures have a passion for exploring the outdoors. Our small team of experienced guides live and breath adventure. Each guide holds qualifications under the Australian Outdoor Recreation Training Package, with specific training for the activities they lead. Each guides wilderness first aid training is recertified on a regular basis and those who work near the water also hold water rescue qualifications.
Tim and his team would be delighted to take you on an adventure.
Here is more information about Wilderness Adventures and Tim it’s owner and chief guide.
Wilderness Adventures was established in 2011 by Tim Williams, as a way of combining his passion for the environment, outdoor recreation activities and working with people.
The business has been licensed with National Parks and Wildlife Service to operate in the Blue Mountains for many years and has operated a wide range of programs including bushwalking, camping, outdoor education, fly fishing and adventure activities. It is now also licensed to operate in the NSW Northern Rivers.
Tim Williams trained at a professional outdoor guide completing a Certificate III & IV in Outdoor Recreation in two full time years of study starting in 2008. During his training he received the National Parks and Wildlife Service Best Interpretative Guide Award and graduated with qualifications to guide Abseiling (single and multipitch), Bushwalking, Canyoning (single and multipitch), Rock Climbing (top rope and lead climbing), Navigation (in challenging off track terrain such as alpine environments), Interpretative Activities, Canoeing, Ski Touring, Fishing, Facilitation and various other outdoor activities skill sets. He also holds qualifications in Wilderness First Aid and various levels of water rescue certification.
Tim has extensive experiences in industry having worked as a lead guide / office manager at Blue Mountains Adventure Company (from 2010 to 2017), a business which runs mostly canyoning, abseiling and rock climbing activities. At BMAC he was a mentor to many up and coming guides. Tim guided hundreds of Abseiling and Canyoning tours for BMAC.
He also worked for a number of years as an outdoor education instructor/teacher at Blue Mountains Grammar School, volunteered on adventure conservation programs, played a part in organising outdoor events (including as a risk manager, volunteer and staffing coordinator for various multisport events) run by AROC Sport (e.g. The North Face100 and Ultra Trail Australia) and other events businesses.
Tim played a small role in the development of the NSW and Australian Adventure Activity Standards (industry standards for outdoor activities providers). Tim was a member part of the industry pannel that wrote the NSW Canyoning Standard. During the development of the Australian Standards and Good Practice Guides, Tim was the chair of the Angling Adventure Activity Standards Working Group, and a member of the Canyoning Standards Working Group.
Tim has also organised a number of annual free of charge guides rescue training days (open to all local outdoor guide to attended) to provide guides an opportunity to practice rescue scenarios, meet emergency services personnel (police rescue and SCAT paramedics) and workshop ways to improve standard practices to improve safety within industry.
Tim was awarded the Blue Mountains Social Network of Guides (SNOG) “Guide of the Year Award” in his first year as a full-time guide, and was the first ever winner of the SNOG “Long Standing Service to the Industry Award” in 2017 for his contribution to the canyon guiding community.
Tim Williams has long campaigned within the outdoor industry for better pay and conditions for guides. In 2017 secured agreements between all Blue Mountains commercial tour operators to ensure guides in the Blue Mountains canyoning industry are paid the minimum award entitlements. Wilderness Adventures proudly pays well above the minimum award rate.
Growing up Tim spent a lot of time in the outdoors with his family, the local Scout Group and friends. His family is made up of are keen bushwalkers, anglers, mountain bike riders, paddlers, climbers and canyoners. Tim enjoyed these and other outdoor activities as a child. He also visited remote parts of central Australia on family holidays and regularly explored the bush near home with his brothers and cousins. Growing up in the Blue Mountains made access to nature very easy and Tim has a deep love for the rugged landscape.
In 2017 Tim’s wife asked to move their lives closer to her family in the Northern Rivers. Moving north meant leaving the landscape he loved, but it allowed Tim to more deeply explore the National Parks of Northern NSW. He fell in love with Nightcap National Park.
He discovered a wide array of amazing places for adventures and met local guides with a passion for the North Coasts canyons, cliffs, valleys and rivers. Once licensed with National Parks Tim moved Wilderness Adventures base north to Lismore, and he’s never looked back. Wilderness Adventures now offers a range of amazing adventures in Northern NSW, in addition to the trips it historically offered in the Blue Mountains.
Wilderness Adventures has a focus on running small group and private one on one guided activities. Tim has always aimed to keep groups small and intimate so that the participants have the best possible experience, as well as the lowest possible impact on the environment. Wilderness Adventures don’t service large groups unless the venue is suitable for the group size and the groups is able to split up between a number of guides to ensure every client is able to get the most from the activity.
Wilderness Adventures prides itself on offering the high-quality interpretation of the area’s natural and cultural values. We connect clients with local history, plants, animals, ecosystems and geology. We do not offer Aboriginal Interpretation, as Tim prefers that Aboriginal People speak for themselves about their history.
We pay our respects to the traditional owners of the lands we operate on and encourage our clients to seek out local traditional owners to learn more from them about the places we visit.
You can contact Tim directly on 0403 860 820 (+614 038 60 820) for more information about Wilderness Adventures and the unique experiences it operates.
