Great Walks

MOST summer breaks are filled with wonderful times with loved ones, and the break I had (and hopefully you had) was just that – but there was also the overwhelming sense of sadness and loss caused by the utter destruction of the bushfires that contin

In the story Hiking in the Harbour City (GRW Dec-Jan 2020) the writer says Australia’s only mainland colony of fairy penguins is near Manly, Sydney. In fact, fairy penguin colonies remain on the Australian mainland in Victoria too. There is one near

IT would be disingenuous of us not to talk about the current bushfire crisis and editor Brent touched on it on pg3 but here is the latest on the fire as we went to press with this issue. More than 5000 grass and bushfires have destroyed more than 8.4

IN 1991 I was lucky enough to spend my dental student elective working in rural Nepal. I had always wanted to return to this interesting and beautiful country, so when a post popped up on my Facebook feed earlier this year saying that an organisation

THERE’S something quite mystical about Mount Buffalo National Park and every time I enter its realm I almost feel as if I’ve passed through a magic portal and entered another world. With its majestic granite boulders perched precariously atop massive

THERE seemed to be a hex on arrangements for our hike along Tasmania’s South Coast Track. It began with my walking partner Tom being dubious about the seals attaching the soles of my boots. In an outdoor shop in Adelaide the attendant, younger than m

SO you’ve dreamt of walking one of Australia’s classic long-distance walks but haven’t had the time. Well maybe the first thing to do is a three or four day taster of the walk. Great Walks spoke to those in the know on how to experience some of Austr

YOU might think hopping naked into traditional Japanese hot springs – or onsen – with your fellow hikers might be a challenge to your Australian sensibilities, however, you’ll find any modesty quickly fades away as the hot mineral waters ease your ti

Julie: “I took this photo in the Flinders Ranges in October. My wife and I were on a guided walk for three days. We were taken by helicopter to the top of the Chase Range, set up our swags, settled into a few glasses of wine and sat back and enjoyed

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 b

FROM an airplane window Jordan looks a tad on the barren side – a flat desert-like land, monochromatic in orange. Descending into its capital Amman, I can’t help but wonder how its terrain could sustain a long distance hiking route, but in 2013 the J

IF you laid all of Switzerland’s walking trails end to end they would stretch all the way around the world with some to spare; and thanks to the county’s compact size and efficient rail network you can get to the start of many of these walks in a mat

PUT the passport away because our island home boasts many smaller islands scattered from the Tasman Sea through to the Indian Ocean, offering wonderful walking opportunities. Here are some of our faves. Stretching over 123km in length, this World Her

TWO thousand metres below the surface of the South Pacific, a fury of molten lava burst through the mantle and vented upwards. Boiling rocks from the heart of the earth rose through the incredible pressure of the deep. Over time, there built an under

Tenuously included here as a centerpiece for people sitting around on furniture, the Biolite smokeless Firepit is a fantastic addition to your camping kit, although you’d need to hire a porter to carry it. The battery pack powers a row of fan jets wh

THIS is the tale of a rather wet time spent negotiating day two of the Tongariro Northern Circuit. In January of 2019, a friend and I decided to escape the hellish hot weather of Wagga Wagga and head over to New Zealand for a spot of ‘tramping’. We w

THE big day is finally here. After months of saving and training, and two weeks of dehydrating, you’ve finally made it. The planning, spreadsheets, endless packing (and re-packing) are now behind you and you’re stepping out on your big bushwalk. Noth

Travel back into the wild days of early Australian settlement. When gold was gathered and guns were glory – travel back into Australia’s bushranging history. As the second instalment of Greg Powell’s 2016 Bushranger Tracks, this book continues tracki

“Traveller there are no paths; paths are made by walking.” Australian Aboriginal saying. I’ve just returned from a 1000km hike along WA’s iconic Bibbulmun Track. It’s named after the Bibbulmun Aboriginal people who were known to travel long distances