
Acting
On a recent crossing of Bass Strait in a sea kayak, Beau Miles was voted 5th worst dressed in a party of 5. Being offbeat and NQR speaks volumes about how Beau goes about life and represents himself to the world, believing wholeheartedly that we’re all weird. With a PhD in Outdoor Education, a string of successful short films under his belt, Beau’s exploits are funny, authentic, insightful and being copied all over the world.

As there are 1440 minutes in a day, and Beau Miles love planting trees, he decided to plant a tree a minute for 24 hours. It was (swear meaningfully) hard.
Beau Miles renovates a canoe, while running a marathon.
Beau Miles rafts the Queen river, which is after 100 years of runoff from a mine, the most polluted river in Australia.
Beau Miles runs a half marathon with a rock and a wheelbarrow
When signing 1812 pre-sold copies of his book The Backyard Adventurer, Beau Miles decided to have a backyard adventure while doing it
Beau Miles searches the bush for his cameraman's wallet
Haircut hater gets a makeover by wife

When COVID-19 locked Beau Miles and his family down on the small farm, he decided to build his wife a cabin-office in the paddock without her knowing. Using whatever materials were on the property, which were gathered up piles of other people’s junk over time, and with their 6 month old daughter as accomplice, Junk Cabin emerged. What started out as a stunt to see how much secretive, ad-hoc building he could get away with, turned into the most satisfying building project he's ever made.

Beau Miles' decimal age on March 2nd, 2022 was 42.195, which by no coincidence is also the length of a marathon in kilometres. To celebrate being alive, based on the actions of two people almost 43 years ago, he decided to run the famous distance around his district, retracing his history via schools, homes, memories and odd experiences that have shaped him, his mum and his dad over this marathon-chunk of time.

Setting off with no food, water or shelter, Beau Miles walked 90km to work a bunch of years ago to see if a stripped back adventure could give him the kind of buzz that far away, exotic, heavily planned expeditions have given him over the years. It did. Different, but familiar feelings of challenge and insight came through. When he was asked to give a lecture about adventuring at a new building at his university, he said ‘no worries, why don’t I walk to work and deliver the lecture as soon as I get there’? So he walked to work, again.

Bass by Kayak follows a small expedition party crossing from the Australian mainland to Tasmania in sea kayaks.

Packing on the pounds after writing a PhD, Beau's running again. He's also back in the shed; fixing stuff, making things, tinkering. For most of us, running was once a form of survival, hunting- or being hunted. Now, it can be as meaningful, or meaningless, than any other aspect of life. Running for Beau is practical- it gets him places, yet like a lot of runners, deeply embodied.

Beau Miles laces up for a different kind of world first, running 650+km of the Australian Alpine Walking Track. Traversing through the highest peaks in Australia, Beau battles injury, fatigue and ultimately himself in his own personal Trial of Miles. Running long distance walking trails is a relatively new era of adventure to existential seekers today- no longer in search of new landscapes, but a new version of themselves, pitting themselves against distance and time. Beau comes to question how and why we drag ourselves and our families into such endeavours, and in the same breath knows that such experiences are the best place to conjure why we do anything.

Beau Miles laces up for a different kind of world first, running 650+km of the Australian Alpine Walking Track. Traversing through the highest peaks in Australia, Beau battles injury, fatigue and ultimately himself in his own personal Trial of Miles. Running long distance walking trails is a relatively new era of adventure to existential seekers today- no longer in search of new landscapes, but a new version of themselves, pitting themselves against distance and time. Beau comes to question how and why we drag ourselves and our families into such endeavours, and in the same breath knows that such experiences are the best place to conjure why we do anything.

Over two months in the summer of 2003, a 23-year-old Beau Miles paddled his kayak, solo, around three major island chains off Australia’s southern coast. Originally released in 2005, this film was re-edited in 2018 for YouTube. Relatively inexperienced in open water, moments of near capsizing, being washed off rocks, sleeping in abandoned homesteads and traveling up to 40km a day becomes just as much about personal discovery as the destination. With homemade camera mount, homemade roof-racks, yellow kayak and industrial supply of sunscreen, the film alludes to Beau’s underdone sea kayaking skills as he leaves mainland Australia under his own power for the first time. In the final days of the journey, Beau comes to realise that sea kayaking, and ad-hoc travel with only the bare essentials, is the most potent combination of living he’s ever experienced.

Over two months in the summer of 2003, a 23-year-old Beau Miles paddled his kayak, solo, around three major island chains off Australia’s southern coast. Originally released in 2005, this film was re-edited in 2018 for YouTube. Relatively inexperienced in open water, moments of near capsizing, being washed off rocks, sleeping in abandoned homesteads and traveling up to 40km a day becomes just as much about personal discovery as the destination. With homemade camera mount, homemade roof-racks, yellow kayak and industrial supply of sunscreen, the film alludes to Beau’s underdone sea kayaking skills as he leaves mainland Australia under his own power for the first time. In the final days of the journey, Beau comes to realise that sea kayaking, and ad-hoc travel with only the bare essentials, is the most potent combination of living he’s ever experienced.

Packing on the pounds after writing a PhD, Beau's running again. He's also back in the shed; fixing stuff, making things, tinkering. For most of us, running was once a form of survival, hunting- or being hunted. Now, it can be as meaningful, or meaningless, than any other aspect of life. Running for Beau is practical- it gets him places, yet like a lot of runners, deeply embodied.

Eating only the contents of 191 tins of beans over 40 days transforms Beau into The Human Bean, and in doing so gives him a front row seat into how one food, totally and utterly, dictates how he feels. Beau uses his intimate knowledge of running to compare his former self to his bean-self, logging lacklustre training for an ultramarathon that he plans on running during the final day of the experiment. Epiphanies are had, saddles are blazed, and genuine insight emerges from what is strangely appealing day-to-day of mediocrity.

Eating only the contents of 191 tins of beans over 40 days transforms Beau into The Human Bean, and in doing so gives him a front row seat into how one food, totally and utterly, dictates how he feels. Beau uses his intimate knowledge of running to compare his former self to his bean-self, logging lacklustre training for an ultramarathon that he plans on running during the final day of the experiment. Epiphanies are had, saddles are blazed, and genuine insight emerges from what is strangely appealing day-to-day of mediocrity.

This is the story of spending a night in a big old gumtree. Strapped to three builders planks (one of which had a large crack that I thought was spilled paint) I slept with one eye open, which was pleasant because I could see the view. Originally driven by the premise of backyard adventuring, using old climbing equipment, dodgy ladders and 4x4 recovery gear, a simple night out, 30-foot up, ended up being a reflection of how much I like trees, particularly the vulnerable Strzelecki gums I live among. Dinner, breakfast, bad coffee, podcast, and sitting on a park bench I should sit on more often, Big Gums is the story of a man who is no longer a boy, spending time with an endangered, iconic tree.
