Tim Cope

“I have brought many artifacts back with me from the steppe. My favourite is a 90-year-old Kazakh saddle decorated with silverwork in traditional motifs. It symbolises the deep relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian Steppe.”

“In Khazak culture, historically, if any traveller comes riding from a long way, there is an obligation to take him into your home. For the first three days, the host doesn't even have the right to ask his name, his destination or his business.”

“In 1736, Bakhchisaray had been burned to the ground by the Russians, and when Catherine II's army completed the conquest of the peninsula in 1783, the last khan, Sahin Giray, took refuge in Turkey, where he was eventually executed.”

“From the rugged cliffs of Cape Liptrap peninsula jutting bravely into the swells of Bass Strait, the coast arcs southeast, hugging the waters of Waratah Bay with sweeping flat lines of fine pale sand and knotty scrub.”

“When you hear that howl alone at night in the forest, it's one of the most frightening sounds you'll ever hear.”

“Meeting Australian mountaineer and author Tim Macartney-Snape when I was 16 in 1994 had a big impact on me. His ascent of Everest from sea to summit captured my imagination.”

“Had I not stepped into the saddle in the first place, entire cultures, histories, and most importantly, profound connections with people and animals whom I now counted as my friends would have otherwise passed by, invisible.”

“I wanted to know what it would be like to get on a horse and ride all the way west to Europe and take a look back at my own culture through the eyes of a nomad.”

“In Mongolia, the nomads always told me that wolves were the most dangerous things on the steppe, and I didn't believe them at first.”

“I think the nomads really give us inspiration about how we can live in harmony with our environment.”

“The Khoton people are a small minority group of Mongolians renowned for living a traditional nomad life in the remote slopes and valleys of the Kharkhiraa-Turgen mountain range.”

“I don't think patience is something that any of us grow up with in a large dose. It's a world of instant gratification.”

“Learning of my father's passing at age 55 not only shattered the world, far from home, that had become my reality, but catapulted my childhood and relationship with family - which had felt like another lifetime - into the present.”

“Much of my journey in Kazakhstan was about understanding the legacy of the Soviet times and finding out what remained of nomadic.”

“For me, adventures are a vehicle for travelling deep into the fabric of society, coming to know the environmental conditions that shape people's lives and viewing the present in the context of history.”

“Although we had been led to believe our mission was suicidal, Russia's intrigue was irresistible. Almost twice the size of Australia, it spans 11 time zones from the Baltic to the Pacific.”

“Ultimately, it's a sense of camaraderie and friendship with local people that is core to my journeys.”

“My three-year ride by horse from Mongolia to Hungary was the most difficult, most revealing, and interesting of any of my travels. Travelling by horse, you're far more engaged and dependent on the land and other people than by any other means.”

“My dream was to ride a horse from Mongolia to Hungary, 10,000 km across the great Eurasian Steppe, and in doing so, come to understand the nomadic cultures that have presided there for thousands of years.”

“I think in our society we too often choose the people we associate with based on our own hasty judgments.”