The Silly Swagman

09/02/2025

New video went up today 🎥
4 Days rafting the Snowy River 🛶🏕️

What does Australia's Snowy River REALLY look like? I hit the water with Aussie Youtuber and good mate, Scotty's Gone Walkabout to find out! Thanks for watch...

09/02/2025

This is the famous Snowy River like you’ve never seen it! 🙌 4 day adventure!

How’s the thumbnail 😂😅

After a massive edit, this one is finally up on YouTube for you guys to enjoy. It’s an hour long epic but even as the bloke that watched every second of it 1 million times while I edited it over 12 hour days, I can still safely say it doesn’t feel it! Really happy with the pace and flow and the overall sense of the adventure in general in this video.

Give it a watch tonight over a hot or cold drink and let me know what you think in the comments!
If you enjoyed it, don’t be afraid to give it a share on the socials as well. That’d be awesome! 🙏😄

Cheers everyone!
I hope you had a great weekend. 🤙

08/02/2025

This is Australia’s real Snowy River. 💪
New video up on The Silly Swagman YouTube channel now! 😄

What does Australia's Snowy River REALLY look like? I hit the water with Aussie Youtuber and good mate, Scotty's Gone Walkabout to find out! Thanks for watch...

05/02/2025

New video is up on Patreon! 🎥

Please read til end of post. 🙏

Well, boys and girls, he’s bloody done it.
My film from the recent packrafting adventure I had with down a spectacular section of Australia’s famous Snowy River is finally complete. 💪

A massive amount of time, energy and most of all, patience went into bringing this one to life.
As a lot of you already know I had planned to release this recently on Sunday but ran into a mountain of sound and export issues. User error? Likely, I am a simple fellow.😆 Computers and technology in general aren’t my strong suit as you’re well aware. 😂
To achieve a good result on YouTube after countless hours working on this project I owe it to myself to save it for a solid Sunday drop (It’s the algorithm, don’t ask).
However, if you would like to watch it tonight or any other time this week, you are welcome to head over to my Patreon page and sign up, as it will be hosted there until it goes public. Hot tip, you can sign up, be charged for whichever tier you choose and then cancel the subscription after you watch if you wish! So it’ll work out roughly either 5 or 10 big ones depending which donation you’d like to make! 🙌

You’re absolutely more than welcome to wait until Sunday and join in the big push to boost the video, but if you’re feeling extra generous or impatient and want to shout ya boy, I would be so ever grateful. 😄 If you enjoy my videos then I guarantee you will enjoy this one!

Thank you everyone! For all the support.

Mattsy out 🫡

13/01/2025

In my latest video I visited the location of the next proposed eco tourism walk down here in Tasmania.
It’s controversial, and it should be. Let’s talk about it.

I also spent my time (mostly) just enjoying the mountain range.
It was a series of waves between feeling passionately heated about the development of places such as this, and feeling entirely at peace in the serenity of the wild, spread far and wide as the eye could see.

I think most of the fears I have related to this topic are about the future, not necessarily about the commercial “hikes” at present, but what they represent and what drives them to want to develop the next one. Money. Don’t underestimate the power of the dollar and the hunger for more.

Of course, this is just my own opinion. It’s as valid as everyone else’s.

12/01/2025

My latest video is up on YouTube now. 🎥

After looking into Tasmania’s newly proposed hike to follow in the footsteps of the Three Capes and Overland Tracks, I decided to head out to the new location to capture it before development undoubtedly begins.

Looking out over the plateau it was upsetting to imagine 10,000 people a year treading through there, sleeping inside newly constructed huts that they’ve paid big bucks for the privilege of using. Not to mention the one proposed campground. Yep. One.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember the last time I went hiking offtrack and left a wake of eroded trails, boardwalks, and buildings behind me, but who am I?

Watch it here:
https://youtu.be/oMz5_FSKZIg?si=M2ehsLYFxcAkiHvY

01/01/2025

A very ill informed man once said, “If at times you are your own worst enemy, that suggests, maybe, that you’re a worthy and powerful nemesis that’s too strong to defeat in one kick like all the other weaklings.”

I said that.

New vid coming soon 💪

01/01/2025

Somewhere outside. Away from it all but surrounded by more.

23/12/2024

This is planet earth. 🌏

It was a pretty strange year for the Silly Swagman channel in 2024.

I’ve had some of my best adventures yet, and made probably my best videos to date, but my landing down in Tassie and paying for that overpriced and extremely limiting filming permit really smashed my creativity, drive and freedom within nature that has essentially been saving my life (or at least my sanity) for the last few years. The videos were few and far between and I found myself looking closer at our (societies) relationship with nature and our freedoms, rights and also our responsibilities when it comes to protecting but also enjoying these places (in the right manner).
I started to feel pretty disillusioned and probably withdrew from the idea of going out there at all to film if it meant I had to essentially be a part of what it is I go out there to escape.

However, I was fortunate enough to wrap up the year with two really enjoyable adventures and they’ve really, really reminded me why I do this and how important it is not just for myself but for others that we continue to share a positive message about the outdoors and our connection with it. That we are a part of it. It’s not something you stare at from afar like you’re at the zoo, or as though it’ll all of a sudden burst into flames if you touch it like some would just about have you believe.
So, I’m going to enjoy editing up these last two trips as I prepare for my next few and begin 2025 with a stronger purpose than this year.

I want to thank everyone who has continued to enjoy the content over the last few years and has offered up their feedback and encouragement along the way. I also want to say thank you to those of you who have opened up as I have opened up in my videos to you, about life, doubts, mental health, whatever it is, thank you and I hope you all have an awesome break and a very happy new year! 💪

Mattsy

A photo from my recent trip with the Telos TR2 in the wild. ⛺️

20/12/2024

Happy Birthday 🎉🎣

Pic from a few days back when we were still on the river, celebrating. 🍻

I don’t think we could’ve made that day anymore fitting for a bloke like yaself. Great paddling, incredible gorge country, and fish to top it off! Don’t forget the cocktails 😂

These were more on the smaller end of our catches for the day but unfortunately one of these two decided to permanently attach himself to my lure, so we made the decision to feed ourselves and offer the local eels what we couldn’t make use of. Boy did they sn**ch it up fast. 🙏

Thanks again for another memorable trip mate!

12/12/2024

Spent some time out in RL.
Sometimes it provides clarity, sometimes it makes other things make a whole lot less sense.
Edit underway but will have to be put on pause while I catch up with for another packrafting adventure! 💪

26/11/2024

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”
- Edward Young (1683–1765).

This photo (and the lady taking it) represents both a lifetime of procrastination and just one thought, “F* it.”.

For a lot of my time as a young man I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Well, that’s not true, I think most of us know what we want to do with our time but what we want to do as a career is another thing altogether.
I worked some average paying jobs while I tried to figure it out, I did some exciting things too (that paid even less), I tried career paths that society deem to be the ‘good decision’, none of these satisfied enough of who I was at the core to keep me committed to the role. At the age of 26 I enlisted into the infantry, which was something I had wanted to do since a kid, but for one reason or another (or both) you take that off the cards, whether it’s for yourself or for others. My time in the infantry was the closest I ever felt to being somewhere I belonged, doing something that I felt I was naturally good at and being somewhere I felt useful. The main problem I had now was that a lot of my creative desires fell to the wayside, along with the freedom to get away from it all when I felt I wanted to explore. My time in the Army taught me a lot, but the one thing I really took away with me, was perspective. Life back on the outside seemed a hell of a lot easier now, it looked like a land of opportunity, where people’s opinions were just that and I had a much better sense of who I was now and what I was capable of. I almost felt as though, maybe, this is how most people feel when they leave high school and go straight into whatever it is they chose to do in life. It genuinely felt like a bit of a second chance but this time I knew what I had to do, I had to listen to myself, who I was, what I wanted out of life, how I wanted to spend my time, what I wanted to achieve, instead of thinking about what I ‘should’ be doing or what was considered ‘normal’.
Starting my YouTube channel made a few people close to home a little unsure, uneasy, what did that work even look like? How much will you earn? What if it doesn’t work out? But I had caught my thief. I hope you catch yours

17/11/2024

My first trip with Scotty 🚣🚣‍♂️

The very first trip and I did together was a packrafting trip. We had so much fun we decided to start making them a yearly thing.
There’s really nothing quite like floating down river and pulling up on a secluded, sandy bank and setting up camp for the night. 🏕️⛺️

I wasn’t going to let my travels around the country get in the way of continuing this seasonal tradition either, so next month I’ll be flying back to the motherland with pack and raft in tow and setting off once more on another windy adventure with one of my favourite adventures buddies. 🤙 You guys seem to enjoy these ones too!

I’ve just seen he’s uploaded a new video tonight as well, so I might pop that on and rip on him in the comments as I usually do.

11/11/2024

A few snaps from this weeks little overnight adventure.
🚣‍♂️🎣🥾

If you missed last nights drop, I’ve popped a new video up on the YouTube channel. Give yourself a break from a massive working week already (Monday). 😄

Cheers boys and girls 🍻

10/11/2024

NEW video up on the YT channel now 🎣

Some will call it a fishing video, some will say it isn’t. Either way it’s entertainment.

I hope you all enjoy this one 😂

Mattsy 🤙

Tasmania's BEST Amateur Fisherman (Is not in this film)Thanks for watching!Support THE SILLY SWAGMAN on:PATREON:https://bit.ly/SillySwagmanPatreonMERCHhttps:...

10/11/2024

New video going up tonight. 👍

05/11/2024

Don’t forget to stay hydrated everybody. ☀️

This frog never made it. He never made it…