Twenty Years on the Northern Beaches
Every day is hosted personally by me, Joel Ruiz.
I grew up in France and have lived on Sydney's Northern Beaches for more than 20 years. I surf here most mornings. I ride the trails behind Manly and through Garigal several times a week. I know which ocean pool is worth the walk, which café opens early enough to matter and which headland has the best light at 5pm.
Salt & Trails grew directly from this life, a quiet desire to share the rhythms and rituals of a place I know deeply, with people who are ready to experience it properly.
Two decades in luxury. Twenty years in the ocean.
Before founding Salt & Trails, I spent two decades in senior leadership roles at some of the world's most respected luxury houses, Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Montblanc and Hublot. That's where I developed a deep understanding of what genuine hospitality looks like: the attention to detail, the seamless logistics, the ability to create an experience that feels effortless for the guest precisely because considerable thought has gone into every element of it.
Growing up in France shaped something else, a particular belief that a long lunch is not optional and that the table is as important as anything that happens before it.
That background shapes how Salt & Trails is designed and delivered. But it's the 20 years in the water and on the trails that shape where the day actually goes - and the vehicle that connects all of it.
The Defender
The Defender is not simply transport. It's part of the experience itself: capable, unhurried and entirely at home moving between coastline, national park and a long lunch. It sets the tone from the moment you step in.
The world's first successful civilian 4x4, the Defender opened up new horizons on every continent, reaching corners of the world where it was often the first motor vehicle people had ever encountered. It carried scientists, explorers and royalty. It outlasted almost everything.
Ours is one of the final models to leave the Solihull factory, built before the line closed in 2016 after 68 years of continuous production. There won't be another one like it.