Indholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2019 i Great Walks

YOU would have heard of “Keeping up with the Joneses”, but there are two Joneses you may struggle keeping up with: Justin and Lauren Jones who took their then six-month-old baby Morgan on an 1800km walk through the Outback. It’s an extraordinary feat that started like most adventures, by someone simply wishing to make a change: “While I loved this little person more than my heart could hold, amidst the sleep deprivation, baby routines and constant responsibility, Justin and I found ourselves missing our independence and mourning our freedom to just head out the door and do what we like,” writes Lauren (pg45). “I yearned for wildness, for adventure and not just in the gated confines of an urban kids’ playground...” Of course not all dreams have to be so…

ON the fifth day of my self-guided walk in the Dolomites I found myself alone. The mighty Sassolungo massif stood above me like a silent sentinel as I watched a beautiful golden eagle soaring through the sky. Far down the valley I could see the town of Selva where I was based and ahead of me the trail skirted past a lovely lake. I was reminded of a quote from local identity, mountaineer and author Reinhold Messner who said, “Each mountain in the Dolomites is like a piece of art”. If you’ve never been on a multi-day self-guided walk, it’s easier than you think. Walking tour operators like Hidden Italy have done the hard yards for you. They’ve researched the region, walked the trails, mapped them and produced clear walk…

LONG distance trails attract walkers with the promise of challenge and discovery. The Heysen Trail, Australia’s longest dedicated walking trail, delivers on many levels through its diversity. It runs from the Southern Ocean to the arid north, following the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges for nearly 1200km. It skirts spectacular coastal cliffs, winds along glacial valleys, through forests, rolling vineyards, cereal heartlands, ancient flood plains, and quartzite gorges to the iconic outback landscape of the Flinders Ranges. The Heysen Trail was built from 1978 to 1992 along the most scenic route from Cape Jervis on the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Parachilna Gorge in the northern Flinders Ranges. There was good reason to name the trail after Australia’s most successful 20th Century landscape painter, Sir Hans Heysen. He…

MY earliest bushwalking memory is walking the Grand Canyon Track in the Blue Mountains. My family used to holiday in Leura once a year, and I must have been only 7 or 8 when we walked it for the first time. I remember the incredible greenness of everything and the magical-like fairy grottos of the fern gullies and how small I felt standing in the canyon. I also remember lots of stairs. I got into the walking tour business after having the standard quarter-life crisis a few years back and took some time off work to walk Tassie’s Overland Track on a guided trip. I’d recently discovered my love for mountains, but I wasn’t at all equipped or skilled enough to do something on my own, so a guided tour…

A Global Positioning System receiver (GPS) are used by many outdoor people for navigation. They have some advantages over traditional methods of map and compass as they work well in all weather conditions and they can record where you have been. While they display a position to a metre, hand held GPS units generally have a horizontal accuracy ranging from 10 to 15 metres. For most outdoor uses this is enough accuracy unless you are looking for geocaches. Digital maps can be purchased and placed onto GPS receivers. While being very useful, often these maps don’t show some walking tracks and other details and there is often a need to relate GPS readings to a paper map. The default settings for new GPS units are ‘Degrees/Minutes/ Seconds’ for Position Format…

I bought my hiking boots from a well-known outdoor store in 2004 when I joined a bushwalking club and started seriously hiking. I wanted a pair of boots that would give me comfort and support on graded trails and off track and the brand I bought fitted the bill. Spending many days traversing the Mount Lofty Ranges walking sections of the Heysen, Kidman, and Yurrebilla trails, I wore my boots in. I learnt to orienteer and was soon enjoying walking off track and rock scrambling. Walking day or night, in the heat or cold wet rain, my trusty bushwalking boots were always on my feet. My boots and I embarked upon my biggest hiking challenge to date, walking the World Heritage listed Overland Track from Cradle Mountain to Lake St…

ASK any bushwalker worth their salty sweat crust to name the top bucket list walks in Australia and they’ll easily rattle off at least ten ‘before I die’ adventures. But if you’re looking for something different, here’s a list of walks that while probably not front-of-mind, offer a unique take on what it means to hike in Australia. TASMANIA Overland Track in winter Over 9,000 people visited Tasmania’s iconic Overland Track in 2018, with the majority making the north-south journey during the booking season of October to May. There’s good reason that this is the best known multi-day walk in Australia and a visit during winter promises to transform the ancient landscape and create a completely different experience on snow shoes. Go independently or with Tasmanian Expeditions (tasmanianexpeditions.com.au) and enjoy…

SOUTH of well-trodden Byron Bay in northern NSW is a little known trail along some of the region’s most dramatic coastline. The 4hr walk from Ballina to Lennox Head is suitable for people of all ages, although climbing headlands requires some fitness. For those with a fear of heights stay back from the cliffs as they are not fenced but definitely the highlight of this walk. There are many access points but I chose to start with a coffee at the Ballina Ramada Hotel near the centre of town then along the broad Richmond River and peaceful sandy river beaches where you can easily spot flocks of pelicans, cormorants, and hopeful anglers. It’s a shared path over the Hill Street bridge to Shaws Bay and the historic Fenwick House built…

Kangaroo Island, SA Miranda Fittock, Brisbane, Qld Miranda: “Watching the sun set on our first day of our Kangaroo Island walk, the sky produced some astonishing shades that lit up the ocean and cliffs around us. The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail was a great combination of both flora and fauna, and incredible views. Out of the numerous great walks I have so far conquered in Australia, this stood out amongst the rest.” Great Ocean Walk, Vic Nicki Graham, Blacksmiths, NSW Nicki: “We were travelling through the Great Ocean Walk and had time out on one of the most beautiful, remote and scenic viewpoints. Time out in our lives is so important. The ‘perfect bush walk’ needs time out for each and every one of us.” Flinders Ranges, SA Sammi Lanyon,…

Six years ago celebrity chef Manu Feildel (now 45) walked the Kokoda Track in the name of charity and Great Walks caught up with him after he returned. In the first part of our Classic Yarns series we republish the story. CELEBRITY chef Manu Feildel knows a thing or two about operating in the heat. He’s carved out a career working in some of the busiest kitchens in Europe and Australia before making a name for himself as head chef at Sydney’s famous Bilson’s, offering contemporary French cuisine. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, he was a key factor in Bilson’s “three-hat success”. From there Manu set up his own restaurant in ritzy Paddington before finding fame on shows like Ready Steady Cook, MasterChef Australia and most recently My Kitchen…

JOURNALIST Kate Legge’s new book Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story traces the unconventional lives of Gustav Weindorfer and Kate Cowle who fell in love and lived an amazing life in the Tasmanian wilderness. They were instrumental in turning Cradle Mountain into a national park and pioneering eco-tourism. In this extract from Kate Legge’s book Gustav, Kate and their friends Ron Smith and Walter Black explore Cradle Mountain in December 1909. “Morning broke with the loud, harsh cry of the currawongs, the squawking of inquisitive parrots and the shrill call of white cockatoos. It was a perfect day. They took Smith’s advice in choosing a path over the ridge between Crater Lake and Dove Lake on their way to the foot of the crag. Though the sky was clear, the…

Tenterfield sits high on the New England Tableland in northern NSW, surrounded by a rugged and scenic landscape of well-watered forests and woodlands. The region has two World Heritage National Parks, both of which boast some of the oldest vegetation types in Australia. The World Heritage listing bestowed on these parks is testimony to their significance as places of great natural and cultural value. For bushwalkers there’s plenty to see and do. Bald Rock NP is named after a massive granite dome 750m long and 500m wide, rising 260m above the surrounding bushland, making it the largest exposed granite rock in the Southern Hemisphere. Another stunning national park is Boonoo Boonoo (pron:‘bunna bunoo’ – Aboriginal for ‘big rocks’), a woodland park with spectacular river and gorge scenery. nationalparks.nsw.gov.au…

THE Overland Track is on many a bushwalker’s bucket list and I had the chance to experience it with a bunch of mates over summer… so it should have been nice weather, right...? We left Ronny’s Creek with a strong wind in our face and driving rain. We had a snack behind Kitchen Hut (it was full of people getting out of the weather) and then the weather really took a turn for the worse. We put all our wet gear on and headed off. We couldn’t see the top of Cradle Mountain, but the scenery was still spectacular. We stayed in the smaller hut at Waterfall Valley and I realised not only am I battling the cold, but snorers as well! We headed off the next morning via Lake…

WORLD EXPEDITIONS HAS received approval to proceed with its application to erect semipermanent ‘Puffer Pod’ camps in Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. The state government has given World Ex the green light to enter into the reserve approval process and proceed with lease and licence negotiations for the construction of five puffer pods on the Overland Track and one in the Walls of Jerusalem NP. The Puffer Pods have been designed by Neeson Murcutt Architects, who designed the company’s award-winning, semi-permanent eco-campsites on the Larapinta Trail in the NT. worldexpeditions.com THE GREAT NOOSA Trail Walk is on again this Queensland Queen’s Birthday weekend, 5-7 October. Tickets are on sale for the three-day walk that provides just 150 walkers and volunteer guides with the chance to wander through the beautiful Noosa…

JUST 40km north-east of the city, Walyunga National Park is the place where the Avon River becomes the Swan. The park also contains one of the largest known Aboriginal campsites near Perth. Still in use in the late 1800s, archaeological evidence suggests that the area was used by Aborigines for over 6000 years. With trails ranging from 1.6km to 10.6km, there’s something to suit all levels of energy. For a quick local history lesson, the 1.6km Aboriginal Heritage Trail is a 6000-year journey through traditional stories and uses of the river landscape, its plants and animals. However, those keen to work up a sweat may choose the 10.6km Echidna Trail which, at a leisurely three hours, is a great morning walk and a perfect prelude to a riverside lunch at…

I had just turned 36 and I was a new mother. Morgan was six months old when my husband Justin and I decided to go on a walk, a big walk, an 1,800km walk through the Australian Outback, with our one-year-old in tow. I did not make this decision because my new ‘mum life’ fitted seamlessly with what motherhood looked like on Instagram: filled with endless new baby bliss. In fact, it was the opposite. While I loved this little person more than my heart could hold, amidst the sleep deprivation, baby routines and constant responsibility, Justin and I found ourselves missing our independence and mourning our freedom to just head out the door and do what we like. I yearned for wildness, for adventure and not just in the…

Kahurangi National Park, NZ Tracey Polglaze, Lavington, NSW Tracey: “At least twice a year I head back to NZ to take my elderly dad, Max Polglaze, up into the backcountry. Dad’s most treasured memories revolve around his years as forest ranger in Kahurangi NP in the South Island. He is a bit of legend in the area for his creative construction of rock shelters, huts and tracks. Unfortunately he suffers short term memory loss these days, and can no longer head for the hills by himself. As children we’d spend our holidays up in these beautiful mountains, with Dad teaching us bush survival, and about the flora and fauna. It is my privilege now to take my turn at being guide. This photo is taken on the Mt Arthur Tablelands…

JUST 40 minutes south of central Adelaide, the Onkaparinga River National Park offers quick access to those seeking a variety of interesting bushwalks and a sense of remoteness. Sandwiched between the suburb of Hackham and the famous vineyards of McLaren Vale, the 1544 hectare park features South Australia’s second longest river after the Murray, winding through a deep gorge that stretches for 10km. At the downstream end of the gorge, the river emerges at the historic township of Noarlunga, before entering the Gulf St Vincent at Port Noarlunga. Before European settlement, these lands were home to the Kaurna people who still retain strong cultural ties to the area, and many local place names such as ‘Onkaparinga’ and ‘Noarlunga’ are derived from Kaurna language. There are many walks available in the…

Hilleberg Allak 3 tent Hilleberg’s freestanding three-person tent is strong and light. Like the popular two-person Allak 2, the Allak 3 boasts two entrances and two integrated vestibules. It’s part of the all-season Red Label series, with tents that prioritise lighter weight and high strength for tough weather conditions. The Allak 3 will accommodate three people and their gear. An optional mesh inner tent is available. RRP: $US1160 Website: hilleberg.com Nemo Tensor sleeping mats The Nemo range has been reworked for 2019, going right back to the drawing board. Valves are a ‘big deal this year’ according to founder Cam, who’s still knee-deep in redesigns 17 years after starting the company. The Tensor range now includes a high-volume, ultralight pump sack for convenient pad inflation. Nemo has also unleashed the…