Episode 152: Juliana Fontana

Solo Bikepacking Adventures Through Europe and Australia

One of the things I love most about hosting the podcast is being reminded again and again that adventure rarely follows a script. This week, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Juliana Fontana, a fellow Australian who recently returned from a huge solo bikepacking journey across Europe.

She started things off in Hungary, rode through the Alps, all the way to Norway, before looping back south again. Since returning back to Australia she’s since tackled sections of the tough Hunt 1000 Bikepacking route from Canberra to Melbourne.

Setting off with no plan

When Juliana landed in Hungary to begin her European adventure, she didn’t even have a route. No daily schedule, no mapping software dictating her progress, no meticulous list of kilometres and climb metres. I her motto for this adventure was simple:

“If you don’t plan, nothing can go wrong.”

And I absolutely love that. There’s something beautifully liberating about riding without a strict itinerary, letting instinct and opportunity shape the journey, and giving yourself permission to say yes to whatever unfolds. The opportunities to just veer off course when a stranger offers up a meal, or tells you about an awesome local site you never knew existed before.

Moments of real vulnerability

Often when I speak with solo female travellers a topic which comes up is that of fear, or better put the perceptions of fear. I think one of the most powerful parts of our chat was around this when Juliana spoke about the importance of ‘trusting your instincts’. If that means moving from where you’ve just set up your campsite because something in your gut tells you it doesn’t feel right, then do it.

I related so much to that. I’ve convinced myself before that blades of grass brushing against my tent were the arrival of an axe-wielding maniac, and I know many listeners have too. It’s funny, but it’s also real. Those internal stories can be very loud at night. But we also acknowledge that we are always quick to imagine the worst scenario possible, where reality was that danger never felt like it was ever present at all for Juliana.

She also shared how being around others at times dissolved that fear instantly, and how experiences like that taught her to trust her intuition, even when she couldn’t logically explain it.

When everything went wrong… and something beautiful happened

Not everything goes to plan during an adventure and for Juliana that was the night her tent flooded in Norway at 3am. Picture this, relentless rain, water rising around her tent, gear drenched, adrenaline spiking, panic building.

And yet, just hours later, completely exhausted and unsure what would happen next, she was offered help from a stranger she’d met days earlier. Seriously, what were the chances of that? She ended up staying at their house for three days. Food, warmth, company, laughter. Exactly what she needed, at exactly the right time. The road provides on journeys like this, there is always a solution.

It’s experiences like these which remind me why I love adventures so much. Not because of the scenery (though Norway certainly delivers that in abundance), but because people show up. The world is full of quiet generosity, waiting for us to bump into it.

Europe vs Australia

We also dug into the differences between cycling in Europe and Australia. In Europe, help and resources are always close, a café 20 km away, a bus or a hostel if you need it, bike infrastructure everywhere. In Australia, real remoteness is never far away. And when you’re riding from Canberra to Melbourne in terrible weather, with no people around, the discomfort is of a whole different nature. I could certainly relate having just experienced sections of the route Juliana took. It gets real remote real quick, and you realise if something goes wrong, it’s you, yourself and I that will get you out of trouble.

But Juliana also relished this. It was unexpected how hard that section of route in Australia’s high country was, but yet again the road provided. She recalls sharing a night at Valentines Hut with two other bikepackers, and that changed the mood from despair to happiness. A couple of days later coming into Omeo in the pouring rain, another kind stranger turned up just when Juliana needed them to. Funny how that can happen, right?

The biggest lesson

If I had to choose one message that sits at the heart of Juliana’s story, it’s this:

Adventure doesn’t require perfection. It requires the willingness to begin. You don’t need to be fearless. You don’t need the perfect setup. The best manicured route. Expensive equipment. You don’t need certainty. You just need to take that first pedal stroke and trust that you have what it takes to know that things will work out.

I left this conversation feeling inspired, grounded, and grateful for the adventure community that exists across the world. The more I speak to people like Juliana, the more I’m convinced that the real heart of bike travel is in the humanity we find along the way, including our own.

Be sure to follow Juliana via her instagram account – Juliana_ft because I’m fairly sure there are more adventures for her to come.

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