Onsite and off-road, YouTube’s 4×4 Brothers choose Steel Blue
- Mick and Dave West are known as the 4×4 Brothers to their legion of fans on YouTube
- When they’re not off-roading the brothers both work in the trades
- Dave and Mick choose to wear Steel Blue boots both onsite and off-road.
What Dave and Mick West don’t know about four-wheel driving probably isn’t worth knowing.
The brothers, who hail from Victoria, Australia, were basically raised off-road. Dave says he went on his first four-wheel drive trip aged three months old.
“Dad was part of a four-wheel drive club and they organised regular trips, usually in the Victorian High Country,” Dave said. “But then once a year or every two years a group of them would do a real big trip somewhere in Australia. So, Dad would just work hard, save up and do the big trips.”
Travelling all over the countryside
Mick and Dave and their families now regularly get off the beaten track together, exploring everywhere from their beloved mountains of the nearby High Country to the dry Queensland outback, and beyond.
“The High Country never disappoints just because it changes so much,” Dave said. “You can be in the middle of summer, it can be 30 or 40 degrees the day before, and then get to the top of the hill and have a snowstorm roll through.”
Soon, the brothers will take a trip through Australia’s central deserts.
“It’s called the Madigan Line, which runs Birdsville across to Mount Dare,” Dave said. “There’s like 1200 sand dunes over a couple of hundred kilometres and you can do it in five to seven days. I’ve got to carry with me seven jerry cans and a whole bunch of water and all the food because basically you’re self-sufficient in the middle of nowhere for five days.”
Becoming YouTube stars
Dave and Mick’s childhood was something like an apprenticeship in four-wheel driving, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the pair have managed to turn that enthusiasm into an extremely popular YouTube channel, 4×4 Brothers, where they share their adventures and wisdom.
“We just thought we’d start filming our adventures and put them on social media,” Mick said. “We’re self-taught. We watched YouTube clips on how to put a video together. We both just grab the camera and film. We just make genuine stuff; we’re being ourselves.”
The videos took off. Their channel has 8,000 subscribers and their videos have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
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A family in the trades
When they’re not off-roading or YouTubing, Dave is an electrician and Mick is a plumber.
“I started doing domestic work, like alarms, ducted vacuums, air conditioners, that sort of thing,” Dave said. “Then thought I’d go for more experience doing some bigger stuff, and a bit better pay, so got into more of the commercial side, like apartments, smaller warehouses and factories. Now I do all the really big distribution centers and warehouses, that sort of stuff.”
Mick has been a maintenance plumber for 17 years. He works in the suburbs south-east of Melbourne.
Why Mick and Dave choose to wear Steel Blue boots
Both on the worksite and when they’re out in the four-wheel drive, Mick and Dave choose to wear Steel Blue boots.
“I’ve tried a lot of brands over the years and the Steel Blues are just super comfy,” Mick said. “Since I got these new slip-on design boots, they haven’t come off my feet.”
Dave said he’d been wearing Steel Blue boots for about eight years.
“They’re the comfiest work boots there is,” he said. “I’ve bought other brands and then before the boots are even remotely worn out, I’ve ditched them and gone back to the Steel Blues.”
Head to your local Steel Blue stockist to discover work boots that are a mark of true skill, or shop online.
