blurb: We recently put 'Our Man in the Field' through the paces of adventure holidaying in beautiful Western Australia that, let's just say, registers pretty high on the Bruise-o-meter.

Erik Fearn returned to us recently with cracked, fogged up specs, shredded clothes and a noticable limp, and he had this to report:

A Ride in the Wild

"You've gotta pull it hard - like this - to maintain control in the bumpy corners, otherwise it'll throw you off like a bucking bronco in a rodeo. Oh, and don't plant your feet for stability - your foot might get pulled under the rear wheel. Gas here, break there. That's pretty much it. Ready for some serious fun?!"

Pull. Throw. Rodeo. Plant. Lose a foot. Serious fun. Got it.

We are talking about quad-riding, also known as ATVing (All Terrain Vehicles). These 4-wheel drive/motorbike hybrids are nothing short of hell-bent off-road monsters, and half the battle is to not let them get the best of you as you bash through desert scrub and catapult over giant dunes. There's something about a quad that demands to know whether you've got the testicular fortitude to deserve to stay on.

Wild and Remote

About two hours' flight north of Perth, in the remote North-West Cape, lies the small settlement of Coral Bay. With thousands of miles of Indian Ocean to the west and another 1000 miles of inhospitable Outback to the east, this tiny outpost of humanity is the jumping off point to the magical Ningaloo Reef Marine Park - the home of the gigantic Whale Sharks.

Visitors from all over the world make the pilgrimage here to experience perhaps the most intense interaction with nature imaginable - to swim alongside whale sharks that often grow to 12 meters and beyond! And yet, as these gentle giants have no teeth, they are harmless to, and even curious about, us humans.

Over the last decade, The Ningaloo has become a 'must-do' on every serious scuba diver's Life List. During the whale shark migrating season from April to September, the chances of having a close encounter with these giants of the deep are better here than anywhere else on earth.

Kim (can also be a man's name), the affable owner of Quad Treks, was a local farmer - and part-time quadding enthusiast - until just four years ago. Seeing how divers had nothing to do in Coral Bay besides, well, dive, and that the vast national parklands abutting the Ningaloo Reef were going unexplored, he started taking a few adventurous tourists and friends on his hardcore, sand-spitting, hi-revving outings.

The feedback was so positive that he opted for a lifestyle change, chucked his job, negotiated access to this vast swath of paradise, and became the North-West Cape's first quad off-road adventure company.

Today, this guy is still tearing down, between, up and over giant dunes, only now it is with a small group of, at turns, exhilarated and terrified, soft-adventurers in tow. Quad Treks is the best established quad-riding outfit in North-West Australia.

Though less diverse than WA's lush south-west, this place is no scenic slouch. This eco-sensitive operation runs through a nature sanctuary that stretches over giant sand dunes and along miles of empty beach. But its most noticeable feature is its promise of adventure. Quad Treks has become Ground Zero for adrenaline depletion.

As soon as you mount one of these 300 cc beasts and bring the engine to an impatient growl, you realise there's soft adventure - and then there's not-so-soft adventure. And this would definitely be sipping at the straw of the latter.