When the fog finally buggered off over Dorrigo’s rolling plateau this August, the joint went from sleepy mountain town to the thumping heartbeat of Australia’s ADV scene. Riders rolled in from every corner of the country, flooding the paddocks of the Dorrigo Mountain Holiday Park for 2025 ADV FEST.
The lead-up? Absolute chaos. Storms smashed the region right up until the day before – creeks blowing out, tracks ripped to shreds, and a bunch of blokes who swore they’d “never touch tar” ending up slogging it in on the highway, eating their pride with every k’s worth of bitumen. Then, right on cue, the clouds parted and the sun popped its head out. Perfect timing, because no one wants to pitch a tent in a mud pit. Out of 690 keen beans, only about 50 never made it, scared off by weather back home. The rest? Too stubborn to let a little rain get in the way of a good yarn and a beer.
With 640 riders checking in, ADV FEST cemented itself as the biggest adventure bike rally in the country. But the numbers don’t tell the full story – it was the vibe. The whole place heaved with energy as tents popped up everywhere, panniers got dumped in the dirt, and mobs gathered round campfires swapping tales. Everywhere you looked, it was muddy boots, smoky fires, dodgy camp cooking, and grins.
Bikes, Brands, and Big Reveals
The manufacturers weren’t mucking around this year – they came out swinging. Suzuki finally whipped the covers off the long-awaited DR-Z4S on Friday night, and the crowd went off like a frog in a sock. Turns out that yellow badge still tugs on plenty of heartstrings in the ADV world. Not to be outdone, CFMOTO rolled in the new 800MT-X, while KTM let punters throw a leg over the 390 Adventure R for test rides.
But the real goosebump moment of the weekend came with the raffle draw. Nomad Moto put a brand-spankers CFMOTO 450MT on the line, and when Lachlan from Moree’s name got pulled, the joint erupted. The kicker? His old DR-Z had lunched itself on the way to the event, leaving him to thumb a lift the rest of the way. Talk about ADV karma – he rocked up bikeless and walked away with a brand-new set of keys. That’s the kind of yarn you’ll be telling around campfires for years.
The exhibitor list showed just how seriously the industry now takes ADV FEST. Heavy hitters and boutique outfits packed the joint: KTM, Suzuki, Ducati, CFMOTO, Nomad Moto, LEATT, Alpinestars, MITAS Tyres, SRC Adventure Moto, Beyond Borders Moto Tours, The Bike Butler, Endeavour Motorcycle Tours, Chigee, NEXX Helmets, and Enduristan. Whether you were window-shopping, hunting for new boots, or just chasing free stickers like a ten-year-old, there was no shortage of kit to check out and touch.
Skills, Spills & Workshops
If you’ve ever sat there thinking, what actually makes a good rider a great one? – the demo arena had your answer. Kye Anderson was running the ADV Academy, taking groups of 15 through suspension setup before throwing them into three hours of trail coaching. Watching him glide those big beasts through techy sections was a blunt reminder that the most important upgrade on your bike is still the nut holding the handlebars.
The workshops were flat-out all weekend. Terry Staib’s Rider 101 was perfect for newbies and the “been off the bike for 20 years” comeback crew. Kurt from Teknik had riders twisting clickers and actually understanding what the hell their suspension was doing. John Hudson dropped the kind of GPS and nav wisdom you only get from half a lifetime of desert crossings, while Chris Bostleman’s session on ADV builds gave punters equal parts inspiration and shopping lists for setting up their dream rides. On top of that, LEATT, Chigee, and MITAS kept the product drops rolling.
And then there was the unscheduled entertainment – because what’s an ADV gathering without a few sketchy wheelie attempts in the campground, a couple of blokes blaming their tyres for a tip-over, and someone swearing blind they meant to drop it “just to test the crash bars”?
Food, Firelight, and Tribe
ADV FEST isn’t just about twisting throttles – it’s about the tribe. Each night the paddock turned into a social event with spit roasts, cold tins, and the kind of campfire yarns that get bigger and better with every retelling. Old mates picked up right where they left off, while new friendships were forged over busted levers, wrong turns, and “it was way steeper than it looked” near-misses.
One bloke’s tale summed it up better than any promo video could. He managed to park his T7 in a flooded creek for a full 24 hours before a local farmer hauled it out with a tractor. Two oil changes later, he still fronted up at ADV FEST – minus his Nomad Moto 40L Roll Bag, which floated downstream to a new life. But in true ADV karma, he jagged a brand-new Roll Bag in the prize draw that same night. Can’t make this stuff up.
The vibe? Pure ADV. A little rough around the edges, a long way from polished, and brimming with passion.
The Verdict
ADV FEST 2025 didn’t just clock up the biggest headcount of any ADV event in Australia – it felt like the most important one yet. A deadset sign that adventure riding isn’t some little side hustle in the moto world anymore – it’s the fastest-growing, most community-driven corner of the sport, and it’s only picking up steam.
From wide-eyed first-timers on shiny mid-weight twins to rally-hardened vets wringing the necks of their 690s, everyone found their groove. The local loops around Dorrigo held up a treat, and by Sunday the skies had played nice, so the ride home was smooth sailing – well, as smooth as it gets when your socks are still damp and your chain sounds like a rusty gate. Riders rolled out buzzing, bikes dirty, heads full of yarns, and already scheming their return.
If you pulled the pin this year, don’t make the same mistake twice. Circle August 21–23, 2026, in your calendar now: same town, same venue, same tribe – just bigger, louder, and muddier. Because when it comes to ADV in Australia, all roads – and all dirt – lead to Dorrigo.
Volunteers & Crew
Events this big don’t just magically run themselves – there’s no fairy dust in adventure riding. A massive shout-out goes to the Armidale ADV Riders Group, with legends like Mick Mayled, Peter Mayled, Jeff “Ox” Kelly, and the ever-present grin of Dave “Millsy” Mills, who’s basically become the unofficial mascot of ADV FEST. These blokes kept the wheels turning when things threatened to go pear-shaped.
Backing them up were our own tireless volunteers – Jason, Steven, and Gavin – plus my family, who didn’t just come along for the ride but rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in. From marking trails to herding riders to making sure no one tipped a bike onto the spit roast, they did it all. Without this crew, ADV FEST would’ve looked less like a slick festival and more like a bush doof gone wrong.
