Privacy Policy

Trail Hiking Australia (THA) is a community website developed as a hobby by Darren Edwards. It is not a commercial initiative. I am committed to protecting your privacy and building a safe online experience. This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected on THA, how it is used, and the choices you have. By using the THA website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Last review date: 21 January 2026

General Policies

My website address is: https://www.trailhiking.com.au

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site I collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Submitting an official trail or trip report

Data collected during the submission process

I collect information about you during the ‘submit a hike‘ or ‘submit a trip report‘ process on this site. This may include your name, IP address, email address, phone number, address, location details (including GPS coordinates), and any other information you provide as part of the submission.

Handling this data also allows me to:

• Display this information in a public facing manner (such as a web page or API request) and allow website users to search and view submitted listing information.
• Send you important account/order/service information.
• Provide a way for users to contact your listing via the provided contact information.
• Notify you of user interactions such as but not limited to review and contact notifications.
• Respond to your queries or complaints.
• Set up and administer your account, provide technical and/or customer support, spam prevention and to verify your identity. I do this on the basis of my legitimate business interests.

Reviews

I collect information about you during the leave a review process on my site. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, email address, IP address, website URL, image(s), review ratings and review texts. Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Handling this data also allows me to:

• Display this information in a public facing manner (such as a web page or API request).
• Notify you of interactions such as approval or rejection of your review.
• Notify you of user interactions such as reply notifications.
• Spam prevention.

Trail listing contact forms

I may collect information about you when you submit a contact form to a listing. This may include your name, email address, IP address, and the message you submit.

Handling this data also allows me to:

• Send your contact message and details to the listings contact email.
• Monitor the contact system for spam and abuse.

User data/profile

I collect information about you during registration and when you edit your profile. This may include your name, email address, phone number, address, IP address, and any other details you choose to add to your public profile.

Handling this data also allows me to:

• Send you important account/order/service information.
• Display this information in a public facing manner (such as a web page or API request) and allow website users to search and view submitted information.
• Respond to your queries or complaints.
• Set up and administer your account, provide technical and/or customer support, and to verify your identity. I do this on the basis of my legitimate business interests.

Any profile information provided to this site may be displayed publicly.

I use Forminator PRO to create and embed forms on my website. When visitors or users submit a form, I capture the IP address for spam protection. I also capture the email address and any other personal information entered into the form fields.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request that I erase personal data I hold about you, including by using the self-service account deletion option available in your account settings. This does not include any data I am required to retain for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Account deletion and data erasure

If you have an account on this site, you can permanently delete your account and associated personal data at any time using the self-service account deletion feature.

How to delete your account

To delete your account:

1. Log in to the Trail Hiking Australia website
2. Visit your account page at https://www.trailhiking.com.au/account/
3. Select “Delete Account” from the account menu

Once confirmed, your account will be deleted and personal data will be erased, except where retention is required for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Accounts created using Facebook or Google login

If you registered or logged in using a Facebook or Google account, the same deletion process applies. Deleting your Trail Hiking Australia account will also delete personal data obtained through third-party login services that was used to create and authenticate your account, except where retention is required for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

If you cannot access your account, you can request account deletion by emailing ex*****@*************om.au

Where I send your data

I collect and use personal information to operate the THA website and deliver the features and services available on the site (for example, user accounts, submissions, reviews, contact forms, and notifications).

I do not sell, rent, or lease your personal information to third parties. I may share information with trusted service providers that help run the website (for example, email delivery, analytics, spam prevention, customer support, and hosting). These providers are only permitted to use your information to provide services to THA and are required to protect it.

If you request a password reset, your IP address may be included in the reset email.

I keep track of the pages users visit within THA to understand which content and features are most useful. This information may be used to improve the website and provide a better experience.

I may disclose personal information if required by law, or if I reasonably believe it is necessary to comply with legal process, protect the rights or property of THA, or protect the safety of users or the public.

How long I retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This helps me recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

If you register for an account, I store the personal information you provide in your user profile. You can view, edit, or delete your personal information at any time (except you cannot change your username). Website administrators can also view and edit that information.

When visitors or users submit a form, I retain the submission data for 30 days.

Digital downloads

I collect information about you during the digital downloads checkout process on my store. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number, credit card/payment details and any other details that might be requested from you for the purpose of processing your orders.

Handling this data also allows me to:

• Send you important account/order/service information.
• Respond to your queries, refund requests, or complaints.
• Process payments and to prevent fraudulent transactions. I do this on the basis of my legitimate business interests.
• Set up and administer your account, provide technical and/or customer support, and to verify your identity.

Additionally I may also collect the following information:

• Location and traffic data (including IP address and browser type) if you place an order, or if I need to estimate taxes and shipping costs based on your location.
• Product pages visited and content viewed while your session is active.
• Your comments and product reviews if you choose to leave them on my website.
• Account email/password to allow you to access your account, if you have one.
• If you choose to create an account with us, your name, address, and email address, which will be used to populate the checkout for future orders.

Online trip intentions form

The secure online trip intentions form captures information that might help search and rescue teams find you in the event of an emergency. Your trip details will be sent via encrypted email to the relatives, friends, or trusted person that you nominate, with instructions on how to contact Police Search and Rescue if you don’t return on time.

Your Privacy: The THA website collects your personal and health information for the purpose of registering your intended hike and supporting your safety and wellbeing. The information you provide is included in an encrypted email sent to you and the emergency contact(s) you nominate. Your emergency contact may share this information with Police to help facilitate an emergency response, if required. I do not store this information on the website; it is used only to generate and send encrypted emails to you and your nominated emergency contact(s).

Consent: By submitting the online trip intention form you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to the following:

• You confirm that the information you have provided in this form is complete and accurate.
• You confirm you have read and understood the Privacy Notice and agree to your personal and health information being collected and managed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
• You confirm that your listed emergency contact(s) have given you permission to share their personal information.
• You understand the information in this form will be used to generate an email of your trip intentions which will also be sent via email to your emergency contact.
• You understand that if your trip intentions change in any way after submitting this form, you agree to modify this form or notify your emergency contact directly.
• You understand this form does not constitute approval by Police or land managers to undertake the trip.
• You understand and agree that you are responsible for the necessary planning and preparation for your trip.
• You understand that completing and submitting this form does not guarantee a rescue operation if you do not return from my trip.
• You understand that it’s your responsibility to ensure that your emergency contact can notify Police if you have not returned, using the details from this form.
• Even if an alert is raised, you understand there is no guarantee that Police will start a search and rescue operation of a missing person in any circumstance.

Newsletter Subscription

I use Brevo as my email marketing platform. By subscribing to my newsletter you agree that the personal data you provided will be transferred to Brevo for processing in accordance with Brevo’s Privacy Policy.

Website Chat Assistant (“Trail Mate”)

What it is: Trail Mate is a simple Q&A assistant that answers hiking questions using content from Trail Hiking Australia. It does not create user accounts, and it does not require you to be logged in.

What I collect when you use Trail Mate

• The text you type into the chat is sent to my server (via Cloudflare) so a reply can be generated.
• Standard technical information is transmitted with any web request (e.g., IP address, browser type, time of request).
• I do not ask for your name, email, or other contact details in the chat.

How your chat data is used and retained

• Chat messages are processed in real time to generate an answer and are not stored by Trail Hiking Australia.
• I do not build conversation histories, user profiles, or link one question to another.
• Error and security events may record minimal diagnostic data (e.g., timestamp, IP address, error code) to keep the service reliable; these are not used for marketing.

Third-party processing

• Trail Mate runs on Cloudflare (including Workers and AutoRAG/Vectorize). That means Cloudflare processes your chat request to deliver the service and defend the site from abuse.
• I have disabled application logs for this Worker at my end. Cloudflare may still process limited operational data as part of providing its infrastructure. See Cloudflare’s privacy documentation for more detail.

Cookies and tracking

• Trail Mate does not require additional cookies beyond those already used by this website.
• I do not use chat interactions for advertising or behavioural tracking.

Security

• Inputs are sanitised and links are rendered safely to reduce risks from malicious content entered by users.
• Cross-origin requests are restricted to this site’s domains, and basic rate-limiting helps deter abuse.

Children

• Trail Mate is intended for general audiences and should be used by children only with adult supervision. I do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Your choices

• Using Trail Mate is optional. If you prefer not to use the chat, you can still browse the site without it.
• If you believe a response contains incorrect or sensitive information, please let me know so I can review it.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

• IP Address
• Operating System type
• Operating System version
• Device Type
• Language of the website
• Web browser type
• Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

Cookie Policy

What are cookies?

How do we use cookies?

Types of Cookies we use

Manage cookie preferences

Cookie Settings

Security of your personal information

I secure your personal information from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. I secure the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

What data breach procedures I have in place

If I become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, I will take reasonable steps to contain it, investigate what happened, and notify affected users where appropriate. I will also meet any notification obligations required under Australian law.

Anti-spam and user activity

I collect information about visitors who comment or edit trail information on this site. The information I collect  includes the editors/commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself). If you are a registered user, I collect and save all your site activity such as favourite and completed hikes, edited trail access and feature information and comments on posts and pages.

Changes to this statement

I will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect user feedback. I encourage you to periodically review this statement to be informed of how I am protecting your information.

Contact Information

I welcome your comments regarding this Privacy Policy. If you believe that I have not adhered to this Policy, please contact me directly at ex*****@*************om.au

Regards

Darren Edwards
Founder, Trail Hiking Australia