Tabla de contenidos para June - July 2022 en Great Walks

I remember how as a kid every bushwalk and every camping trip was an adventure. For me the great outdoors offered a world of possibilities and offered an escape from school, teen angst and a mother who was struggling with a recent divorce. In the forest I was free. Long wet hours on the track didn’t bother me. Nor did being huddled around a campfire, the steam rising off my cold body, eating some oddly tasting dehydrated food and listening to my fellow bushwalkers relive the day. Adventure is a word that the young own. Grownups do not go on ‘adventures’, do they? They go in well-deserved holidays to Bali and Fiji and define relaxation and rejuvenation as lying on a beach reading a novel or sipping cocktails by the…

“LIABLE to unpredictable variation” – that’s the dictionary definition of the word “changeable” with respect to the weather. Why is this important? Well, the Victorian High Country is famous for its changeable weather, which in practical terms means a clear, blue sky can transform into a blizzard of hail in a matter of 15 minutes. With this in mind, we made sure our waterproofs were not just at the top of our packing lists, but at the top of our packs as well. Five bodies make for a maximum efficiency car shuffle. We’d left one vehicle at Mt. Creek campsite that morning and, packs on laps, driven the 50km to Harrietville, where we’d parked at the Bungalow Spur trailhead. The morning’s patchy cloud soon melted away under the glare of…

HIKERS think of the South Island when they consider a walking tour of NZ and yet there’s so much more to the country to experience on foot. Which is why we accepted Nature and Nosh’s invitation to experience their 7-day Coastal Charm walking tour showcasing the pristine coastline and rugged landscapes of the Coromandel Peninsula, southeast of Auckland on the North Island. Over the week we got to know this area intimately – from its gorgeous beaches, beautiful waterfalls, inviting vineyards, charming towns and boutique accommodation. Meet and greet On the first day our guide Irene met us at our Auckland hotel and within a few minutes we were on the southern motorway heading to our first stop, Karangahake Gorge, 90 minutes away. Karangahake Gorge lies between The Coromandel and…

IF you can walk you can snowshoe! Snowshoes are easy to use compared to learning to, say, putting on cross-country skis for the first time and learning to kick and glide. Snowshoes are wide, stable and won’t slip or slide from underneath you on downhills or icy sections. Snowshoes have amazing in-built crampons that provide great traction over a variety of terrain. Poles also provide great support on the downhills, assist with balance and are highly recommended. OK, so we are heading out to snowshoe. Your guide will attach your snowshoes to your boots with a strap binding and buckle system. The binding will pivot in the snowshoe allowing the heel and toe to ‘articulate’ as you walk. Sorted. Comfort, free movement of the heel especially and a nice rhythm…

“PEOPLE IN PHOTOS CAN HELP TELL AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL STORY” WITH our Wildness Photographer of the Year presented by Southern Ocean Walk well underway (see pg 23) we thought we’d give you a few pointers on how to improve your images and your chances of winning some awesome prizes including luxury guided walks, personal locator beacons and cash, cash, cash! There are two Wildness Photographer of the Year categories – People and Places. In this issue we’re looking at People. Just look at pretty much any photo in this issue of Great Walks and you’ll see people in the image – people walking and interacting with their environment. Putting people in an image puts the reader in the image. So, here are five reasons why people photos are a good…

WHEN the helicopter lifts off and disappears north over the sea ice and the only sound you can hear is the penguins, that’s when it hits – boy are we alone. The five of us, our food and gear has just been dropped off at Cape Denison, Antarctica; ‘The Home of the Blizzard’, the windiest place in the world, 2500km south of Hobart. For the next month, the nearest people are at the French base 120km away. The second closest, some nights when its orbit dips down over the deep Southern Ocean, are aboard on the International Space Station. In 1911, Douglas Mawson and the men of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) made Cape Denison their home. They built a big wooden hut and some outbuildings and set about exploring.…

The Great Noosa Trail Walk is a 3-day/56km self-guided walking experience over the October long weekend. It traverses the country towns of Cooroy, Kin Kin, Cooran and Pomona via a series of dedicated trails through farmlands, forests and spectacular lookouts of the hinterland through to the ocean. Walkers experience this unique path at their own pace and with the local knowledge of volunteer Trail Guides along the way. The organisers can porter your luggage while you walk, leaving you all the time to enjoy the slow, natural beauty of South-East Queensland's iconic Noosa Hinterland. Camping accommodation is provided in Kin Kin and Cooran or you can book one of the numerous guesthouses. For all info visit greatnoosatrailwalk.com…

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…

Cradle Mountain, Tas Rachel Baird, Ascot, Qld Camera: Samsung Galaxy S21 “My son and I enjoying a beautiful cloudless day after conquering the mountain. Tasmania has so many magnificent walks – crisp air, stunning views and opportunities to be truly alone in nature”. Cooloola Wilderness Trail, Qld Bruce Cathie, Eumundi, Qld | Camera: Pentax K1 DSLR Bruce: “An overnighter to Neebs Waterhole on the Cooloola Wilderness Trail is rewarded with a cool and misty morning to enjoy the tranquillity of sunrise. I witnessed the local inhabitants begin their day and took many photographs before reluctantly packing up and returning to civilisation.” Bruny Island, Tas Cathy Adams, Townsville, Qld Camera: iPhone 12 Cathy: “Walked along the beach at low tide at Cape Queen Elizabeth, Bruny Island to visit this incredible geological…

IF I was Kelly Slater, I would be frothing. On what is my first visit to Margaret River, I am blown away by the surf breaks that line the rugged Indian Ocean coastline. No wonder this part of the world is so revered by surfers far and wide. But I am not here to surf; I am here to hike, and it is very early in the piece that I realise that the Cape to Cape Track is just as much a siren call for walkers, as the waves are for Kelly, Owen Wright and a sea of surfers searching for stoke … and finding it. My journey to the Cape to Cape, a much-vaunted track in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP in WA, is down to the C-word. COVID. What else…

SOME hikers swear by walking poles while others can’t see the point. We spoke to walkers on a recent Park Trek tour – five out of the ten walkers were using them. Some used one, some used two, and each of them had different reasons and techniques. Lesley uses two poles, mainly for balance. She has broken her ankle twice in the past and is cautious about protecting her weakened ankle. When she walks along level ground she holds both poles in one hand and doesn’t use them, but when the ground starts to become rocky or unstable she puts one pole in each hand and uses them to absorb the impact on her ankles and to offer additional stability. Carol uses two poles to propel herself along the track,…

WHO said you can’t hike in the outdoors well into your 70s, or beyond? Adventure, defined as undertaking an exciting experience which can involve danger and unknown risk, is no longer the prerogative of the young. Older Australians are becoming fitter and healthier and just as adventurous. Do you remember the thrill of swinging from a rope, precariously hanging from the water’s edge till you fell safely into a deep cool water hole? Or how your childhood-self enjoyed jumping through puddles and sliding through mud-drenched playing fields? The fun of running over jagged rocky headlands when the tide ran out to discover the fascinating marine life in each rock pool. As older adults, we are better prepared than at any other stage in our lives to be adventurous. We know…

“WHAT have the Romans ever done for us?” To quote Monty Python’s Life of Brian, apart from the aqueduct, sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, and wine, what have the Romans ever done for us? Well, they also built a great big wall in the north of England, which 1900 years later, makes for a rather great walk. Built on the orders of Emperor Hadrian, work commenced in AD 122 and took at least six years to complete. It is a remarkable feat of engineering. The 117km (80 Roman miles) long UNESCO World Heritage Site winds from Bowness-on-Solway on England’s west coast to Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east. As the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire, it separated the barbarians from the Romans. In its heyday, Hadrian’s Wall…

Bryce Canyon NP, Utah, USA Matthew McKean, Everton Park, QLD Camera: Pentax K-5II Matthew: “My wife and I hired a motorhome and toured around California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Oregon. One of our favourites places was Bryce Canyon. We were there in May 2019, and it was a particularly long winter, so it was still snowing, which is a novelty coming from Brisbane. We did the Queen’s Garden / Navajo Loop / Peek-A-Boo tracks (commonly called the figure 8 combination sunrise to sunset point, I think). It was one of my favourite walks. It was overcast and quite cold in the morning, but it fined up and the blue sky, white snow and the orange canyon made for spectacular scenery on the walk.”…

WHEN COVID-19 came to Australia, Phil and I were away on a hiking trip with friends in the Flinders Ranges. The threat of state borders closing sent us packing and hoofing it back into Victoria. The next couple of weeks were spent cancelling numerous bookings and arrangements for a hiking and canal barging holiday in France that was due to start the following month. Now, what to do with all of this unexpected free time? Having a lengthy background in walking all over Australia and in many other parts of the world, we decided to walk (or re-walk) every track in the Grampians. It would keep us occupied, fit, and lead us to rediscover places we hadn’t been to in a very long time. It was to become our “COVID…

FROM dense forests with prolific wildlife and waterfalls to panoramic clifftops overlooking pristine beaches, Southern Ocean Walk is a walk of outstanding beauty. As the name suggests the Southern Ocean is your companion as you follow the iconic Heysen Trail. The jewel in the crown is Deep Creek Conservation Park, the largest parcel of sclerophyll forest in the Mount Lofty Ranges. Accommodation is located in the heart of Deep Creek Conservation Park. Sit back on the balcony with a pre-dinner drink and watch the local wildlife go about its business at close range. Staying at the comfortable homestead each night means you’ll only unpack once. If you love the sound of this but have limited time why not consider our 1 day / 1 night introduction to this wonderful journey.…

THE most famous national park in the world, Yellowstone, has just turned 150 years old. Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), America’s – and the world’s – first national park was set aside to preserve and protect the scenery, cultural heritage, wildlife, geologic and ecological systems. Yellowstone serves as the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the last and largest nearly intact natural ecosystems on the planet. It has the most active, diverse, and intact collections of combined geothermal features with over 10,000 hydrothermal sites and half the world’s active geysers. It’s also rich in cultural and historical resources with 25 sites, landmarks, and districts on America’s National Register of Historic Places. Based on the park’s location at the convergence of the Great Plains, Great…

WHEN Mel Gibson bellowed, with blue painted face, the rousing battle cry, ‘They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!’, he may well have been referring to the Scottish Land Reform Act of 2003, instead of the 13th-century war of Scottish independence. This broad piece of legislation, interpreted alongside the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, gives anyone in Scotland the right to walk on nearly any land in the country, as long as you behave responsibly. Not quite as broad as those canny Scots, their neighbours to the south in England and Wales benefit from a network of public rights-of-way across areas known as ‘open access land’. These freedoms, often known as the ‘right to roam’ or ‘freedom to roam’, run deep in the UK and Northern Europe,…