Innehållsförteckning för February-March 2025 från Great Walks

2025 marks several milestones and new chapters for Great Walks, and for me personally. Great Walks turns 18 – yah, it’s old enough to drink! And this issue, like every issue, is jam-packed with inspiring domestic and international walking destinations. First up is the iconic Overland Track (pg 10) and this year also marks 20 years since I walked this gorgeous Tassie trail. My girlfriend at the time (now my partner and the mother of our two kids) had headed off to the UK to celebrate Christmas with her family and I, not being invited, (she still hadn’t decided if I was worth the long-term commitment) decided to go on a solo hike, so I flew to Launceston on that 2005 Boxing Day. I was on the trail that afternoon…

THE first time I walked the Overland Track a Tasmanian devil stole one of my leather hiking boots from outside my tent in the middle of the night. Half asleep and barefooted, I chased the animal across the grass at Waterfall Valley until it let the boot go, slightly chewed but still wearable. That was back in 1997. I walked the track a second time in January 2009 with my girlfriend Yasmin. I had been working as a bushland regenerator and was mad on plants and animals. At least half my 20kg backpack was reference material: bird books, plant books, maps, guides on mammals and even a history tome. It rained and many of the books got wet – and weighed even more. The third time I walked the Overland…

Clinging desperately to their grounded schooner ‘Joanna’, the crew and passengers prayed for a break in the weather. Having lost one crewman overboard they all knew how desperate they were. At daybreak a small sandbank was sighted, and the survivors made a frantic dash for the shore. Cold and terrified they took a final look back at their stricken vessel then disappeared into impossibly thick bush. Battling through vegetation that tore their clothes and skin they headed further into this unknown landscape praying they would eventually find help... STANDING on Johanna Beach today (named – though misspelt – after the schooner that struck rocks during a severe storm in September 1843) it’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for the survivors as they made their way through…

AN overnight walk that starts and ends at the same spot sounds perfect. That way you don’t have to worry about swapping vehicles or trying to work out how you’re going to get home. So, with that in mind here are our 10 favourite overnight loop walks that showcase the tropical beauty of the Sunshine State. 1 Albert River Circuit, Lamington NP Lamington NP offers some great remote bushwalking opportunities, including the 21.8km Albert River Circuit in the park’s Green Mountains section. It’s rated as a Class Four walk, requiring a moderate degree of fitness, previous experience and ankle supporting footwear. For an overnight hike, walkers can camp in Echo Point bush camp, located close to Echo Point lookout – you’ll need to make an advance booking and be self-sufficient…

“FUNNY HOW HE LEFT IT UNTIL WE WERE MARRIED TO REVEAL HE WAS A TWITCHER” I knew Katherine Gorge in the NT. I knew Edith Falls (Leliyn), 90km away by road. But I never knew you could walk from one to the other via the Jatbula Trail, through the wild wonderland of Nitmiluk National Park – until my new hubby revealed that’s what we’d be doing for our honeymoon. Our relationship began on a hike in Kakadu, so Jatbula seemed a fitting honeymoon, but I was nervous. Hubby bounds around the bush like a kangaroo, but the five days he had earmarked to cover the 58km track would be the longest walk his desk jockey wife had ever done. And what about two weeks of luxury on an island somewhere?…

It’s usually just a quick drive or short walk to the local boozer, but for the most adventurous of British pub enthusiasts, a long hike through the Scottish Highlands may be the best preparation for sinking a pint of ale. The Old Forge is considered the UK’s most remote mainland pub – it’s a 30km hike or an 11km sea crossing to reach this drinking hole on the secluded northern shore of Loch Nevis on the Knoydart Peninsula. The arduous pub crawl from Glenfinnan can be made over two days with an overnight stay so bring a tent, or for those who really need to burst the thirst it can be done in one mammoth eight-hour stint. Sat in Knoydart, a community of just 120 people, The Old Forge was…

MARIA Island feels like the edge of the earth, an island off an island off an island. Nowadays, it is a mecca for hikers, history buffs, photographers, cyclists and animal lovers, although it has not always been that way. The island was well-known as a harsh probation station for convicts as well as a space for farmers to ply their trade and entrepreneurs to seek their fortune. William Smith O’Brien, a staunch Irish nationalist, found himself sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered for the crime of sedition in the Irish Famine Rebellion of 1848. Petitions for clemency were signed by 70,000 people in Ireland and 10,000 people in England, leading to the commission of his sentence to transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Land. Upon arrival at Maria Island,…

“Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.” – Australian photographer Peter Adams THERE’S something lovely about the anticipation of pushing down the shutter button and recording a specific moment in time. Looking through your camera’s lens you’ve focused on the subject, made any adjustments to the settings, moved around slightly to get the right angle, the right amount of light – and then ‘click’. There’s now a piece of history embedded within your camera. When we used film (and plenty still do) that anticipation lasted much longer as we waited for the processed images to come back. However, even now with digital cameras producing the image instantly there’s still that excitement, “Did I get that shot I wanted?”, “Is it a photo that draws people in?”.…

FOR many visitors to Japan it can be hard to experience the ‘real’ country, away from the lights and noise of cities like Tokyo. But every so often a tour comes along that gets you off the beaten track and allows you the rare opportunity to have a deeper experience – one that might change your perception of Japan forever. Life’s an Adventure has partnered with the Japanese Tourism Board (JTB), to offer a unique tour which goes beyond the tourism trails, where Japanese culture and cuisine can be discovered around every corner, and Great Walks wanted to experience it all. The 8-day Kunisaki Spiritual Trail pack-free guided walk is based on the island of Kyushu, the most southern of the country’s main islands. Our meeting point was the city…

AFTER completing many of Australia’s well-known trails, I decided to try something a bit longer and completed an end to end of the Heysen Trail in 2022. There’s something special about a long-distance walk; the thru hiking bubble on these trails is what has us yearning to relive the experience again and again. Once you’re done, the only question is ever really, what’s next? And for me that was the Bibbulmun Track. So, two years after my first thru hike, I was back out again, completing the 1000km Bibbulmun in 48 days in early spring of 2024. I really dialled in my gear and upgraded some key pieces to lower my base weight in preparation for the Heysen Trail. My packing list has remained much the same since then, so…

THE Portuguese have a word for wandering slowly – vagar – and that’s what my wife and I did when we returned to Portugal last October. Our wanderings, although slow, were not without purpose. We had come to experience two of Portugal Green Walks’ self-guided walks: the ‘Douro International Park and Coa Valley’ – a journey through prehistoric lands of dramatic rock formations, endangered wildlife, historic villages and ancient cultures; and the ‘Portuguese Way of Saint James’ – a walk tracing the journey of the body of the Apostle James to his final resting place at Santiago Cathedral. Douro International Park & the Coa Valley I’m standing at the window of the train as it sways and rattles beside the Douro River on its way inland from Porto. At times…

IT’S a tradition that’s been around for over 50 years. The Sourtoe Cocktail has become a must-try at the former Yukon gold mining town of Dawson City and it’s exactly what is sounds like: a human toe preserved in salt, used to garnish shots of whisky. The first toe belonged to a miner and rumrunner named Louie Liken, who had his frostbitten appendage amputated in the 1920s. Fifty years later, in 1973, Yukon local Captain Dick Stevenson found the jar containing the toe and took it to the Sourdough Saloon where he started plonking it into punters’ drinks. And now it was my turn. And I have to admit, it was an acquired taste! But of course, there’s more to the Yukon than just slamming shots in bars, and I…

HAVING recently retired, I have spent the last few years enjoying Australia’s excellent bushwalking routes. With the two other long trails under my belt – the 1200km Heysen Trail in South Australia and the 1000km Bibbulmun Track in WA – I felt ready to tackle the Australian Alps Walking Track. The 680km AAWT from Walhalla in Gippsland across the alpine regions to Canberra is especially challenging because of its length, remoteness, navigation, terrain, and logistics of limited resupply options. Prior to starting, I set out five resupply caches 100-120km apart. While planning my walk, electronics was a major topic of consideration. A common itinerary is to split the walk into roughly thirds by stopping at Hotham and Thredbo for rest and resupply. I wanted to bypass the towns and experience…

I came across the concept of tour guiding when in my mid 20s. I signed up to do a mountaineering course in NZ. Our tour group had three guides who ran the trip, I looked at their lifestyle and their job and thought this is what I need to be doing. So, I came back home, quit my job and got another as a tour guide on a backpacker 4WD tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs. The travel, sharing my knowledge, leading groups, constructing new and better ways to wow my guests, making friends, I just loved it. It’s also where I met my wife Bianca, and ever since we have been on a joint adventure running our tour business. Our Clare Valley Walk is a new venture, it has…