Great Walks

WILDFIRES, viruses, global conflicts, climate change... sometimes it feels like the world’s going to hell in a HiLux, however wrapping yourself up in a blanket of fear and never leaving your house is not the way. American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emer

There's been so much news about the bushfires in our beautiful wilderness areas you might think there’s no where to bushwalk at the moment. But you couldn't be more wrong! The NSW Blue Mountains is a great example of an area open for business – and w

Hello, just reading your article on the Bondi to Manly Walk (Hiking the harbour city, GRW Dec-Jan 2020). Thanks for keeping us updated on new walks. The new walk can in fact be extended south from Bondi down to Malabar and beyond along the Eastern Be

TASMANIA PARKS AND Wildlife Services wants bushwalkers to think twice about picking up walking sticks. “People’s small actions can have a very large impact over time,” the Parks and Wildlife Service’s Tracey-Ann Hooley said. A walking stick is much m

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 sho

WITH many of the Australian national parks either burning or burnt, I faced a hiker’s nightmare, of being on holidays but nowhere to go. Making plans was meaningless when each new proposal came another fire and another road closure. A complete review

Length: 54km | Time: 7 days | Grade: easy-medium Day 1: Karangahake Gorge – 5km/1.5hr Day 2: Homunga Bay Track – 9km/4hr Day 3: Whenuakite Kauri loop walk – 2.5km/1.5hr New Chum beach walk – 2.5km/ 1hr Day 4: Stony Bay to Fletcher Bay lookout – 1

Dawn: “Whilst trekking in the Annapurna region of Nepal, we stopped beside a small, murky-looking and insignificant lake for a short break. We walked to the opposite side of the lake to check out a small overgrown stupa. What we discovered, when look

WE’D booked a December trip to world heritage listed Fraser Island (K’Gari), off the southern coast of Queensland, accessible via barge trip from Inskip Point. We enjoy completing walks as a family and find them great bonding experiences with the add

WHILE bushfires have naturally been a part of the Australian environment, every bushfire season still has a grave effect on the Australian landscape, native wildlife and its people. Vegetation is destroyed – promoting new growth, however, the natural

Great Walks spoke to Snowy Mountains tour guide Mike Edmondson about the situation on the ground in the Kosciuszko region. It’s been devastating up the northern end of the park with a huge firestorm with 170+ kph winds and 70°C+ temperatures in early

THE recent bushfires across Victoria’s High Country have devastated the region and left a trail of destruction that is truly unbelievable. Lives were lost, houses were gutted, farmland and forests were scorched, and hordes of native wildlife and live

AS you know many communities are struggling to get on their feet after the bushfires and the overall message coming from these towns and wilderness areas is that they need people to come back and visit; to spend money and to see how the regrowth and

MOST people lucky enough to have walked all or part of the 223km Larapinta Trail in the West MacDonnell Ranges, near Alice Springs, would agree it’s the combination of stunning scenery and the rich Indigenous history that combine to make the Larapint

STEVE and I stand before a cluster of bush studiously eyeing the map. Surely we’re not in the right spot, although we’re in agreement: this is definitely the point we leave the Overland Track. It’d be helpful now if we had a superpower that could tur

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill

PATAGONIA is well documented as a top hiking destination, but most of the coverage you’ll see is around Torres del Paine NP and Los Glaciares NP in Chile and Argentina respectively. While these excellent circuits are generally considered to be pretty

WHEN I was a kid, the founding of the scouting movement, Baden Powell, had a very strong influence on me. Scouts reinforced my desire to have contact with nature and fed my thirst for adventure and being in the mountains. For the first 20 years of my

Time: 4 days (more required to include side-trips to the Acropolis, Mt Hyperion and other peaks) | Distance: 35.5km (approx.) | Grade: Moderate/Hard Day 1: Narcissus Bay to wild camp at Gould Plateau via Gould Plateau Track (access by ferry or 18km

HIKING with a group is a great way to push your cooking boundaries with the support of your friends, and there is nothing like coming together at the end of a long day to debrief and share a meal. After a recent multi-day bushwalk Great Walks worked

I know you think you’d rather be tucked up warm inside, reading a good book or watching TV, but if you do, you’ll be missing out on the best season for hiking in Australia. Here’s why: IT’S JUST MORE COMFORTABLE: As much as I joke about being Sweaty

RENOWNED as a true wilderness walk, the 65km Overland Track will take me north to south from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair through the rugged Tasmanian highlands. I’m carrying all my own gear and food, and sleeping in a tent, so I’m packing reliab

1 Your toothbrush is a feather 2 You use soap for toothpaste 3 You wear a newspaper hat 4 Your sleeping mat is piece of cardboard 5 Your tent pegs are chopsticks 6 You cut all the tags off your clothes 7 You’ve replaced your shoelaces with dent

The Osprey Atmos AG 50 (1.9kg) is a great fitting, well ventilated and comfortable pack ideal for bushwalking trips of up to a week. The innovative AntiGravity suspension makes it feel like you’re carrying less weight and seamlessly wraps around your

IT was winter 1982 when I tagged along on a weekend walk with my old schoolmate Michael and his new fiancée Gilda. I was a young Army officer and Michael a tough Army Reserve Commando. We were west of Mittagong in steep, rugged country around Tomat C

ONE hundred and six years ago the first Australian and New Zealand troops to fight in WWI assembled in WA. Soon to be named Anzacs, they were transported to Egypt in a convoy of ships sailing from the port of Albany. This scenic coastal town, surroun

NZ’S iconic Hollyford Track 3-day guided walk shows why Fiordland NP is the gem in the South Island’s crown. Following your experienced guide you’ll traverse this historic valley by foot, jet boat and finally helicopter as your guide brings to life t

IF you’re heading north for the winter break you should consider doing one of these wonderful day walks that showcase the Cairns region. This is a 600m climb through the rainforest to huge, impressive, granite boulders, about 1300m high, which have e

William was amongst the nearly 30,000 men in the first convoy. Born in Victoria in 1893, and educated at Scotch College, he was a single 20-year-old working in accounting when he enlisted in 1914. After initial training in the cold and mud at a Broad

“There’s nothing more magical than finding a shiny shell and knowing you’re the first person to have seen it for 150 million years.” – Sir David Attenborough WHILE hiking the Overland Track in Tasmania, I came across a little creek at the foot of a

Come along on the adventure of 25 of the best herpetological photographers as they do what they do best. To create this book, each photographer chose five of their most inspiring images and submitted a story alongside each shot. It reads like an adve