Aussie walkers are well and truly spoilt for choice when it comes to putting their best foot forward on a boot-borne adventure, whether it is a day walk or multi-day epic. We reveal some of our favourites.
Green Gully Track, NSW
If you love the hut-to-hut walking typically found in New Zealand, Nepal or even Tasmania, this is the walk for you. It has all the joys of long-distance walking without having to carry your tent, stove, and the kitchen sink. Green Gully Track, part of the World Heritage-listed Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, is a challenging 65km, four-day hike into the Apsley-Macleay gorges, one of the largest gorge systems in Australia.
This walk starts with ridge walking and endless mountain views, followed by a sheer plunge down into Green Gully, a day of creek crossings and swimming holes, before a stiff climb out of the valley on the last day. The wonderfully rustic cattlemen’s huts date from the 1890s. Built of corrugated iron and timber slabs, they are kitted out with basic kitchens, stretchers, fireplaces and water tanks. Look out for endangered brush-tailed rock-wallabies, which thrive here, especially in Brumby Pass on day two. Bookings must be made through National Parks NSW.
Thorsborne Trail, QLD
Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island is one of Australia’s great multi-day walks, providing walkers with a real wilderness experience. Only 40 people are permitted on the track at a time so you can enjoy the solitude of a relatively untouched landscape. There are few traces of human interference here. Apart from track markers, fixed to trees at eye height in the scrubland and rainforest sections, there is very little signage. Walkers must camp and be entirely self-sufficient.
Hinchinbrook Island, 53km long and 10km wide, located about 6km off the northern Queensland coast, is part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Water is a defining feature of the landscape on the island – its rugged 400sq.km landmass has been shaped by the seasonal rains and tidal swells of the Wet Tropics. An intricate network of creeks and waterways threads across the island; swollen with monsoon rainwater during the humid summer months, they give birth to falls that thunder through the island’s rock country. During winter the waterways gradually drain and evaporate, leaving many creeks dry.
The Thorsborne stretches 32km along the eastern coast of the island, from Ramsay Bay in the north to George Point on the south-eastern tip and can be walked in either direction. The trail passes through incredibly diverse landscapes, traversing mangrove swamps, sweeping beaches and rocky headlands on the Coral Sea, heath-covered mountains, melaleuca and palm wetlands, eucalypt and casuarina woodlands, and lush, tropical rainforests. Although daily distances are short, it’s a challenging walk thanks to the humidity, the need to carry your own gear and water, tidal creek crossings and the danger of saltwater crocodiles and marine stingers. Nevertheless, the island’s wild and pristine beauty is hard to resist, and you’ll soon see why people come from all over the world for the Thorsborne. Camping permits must be obtained from QPWS. Plan well ahead as this is a popular walk.
kunanyi/Mt Wellington Circuit, TAS
The imposing bluff of kunanyi/Mt Wellington (1271m) looms above Hobart, often with its tip dusted with snow or swirling with mist. In fine weather this walk promises you breathtaking views of Hobart and its environs. You will pass through some beautiful vegetation communities and have the chance to see Mt Wellington’s dolerite cap, with its natural rock sculptures, up close.
Combining several existing tracks, this walk begins at the Springs car park and takes the Pinnacle Track to start with. Panoramic views of Hobart begin to open up as you ascend to a junction with the Zig Zag track, marking the start of a stiff climb up to the summit. This steep and rocky path is protected by guideposts and chains, with fine stone walls and steps close to the top. In November and December, you will see the red Tasmanian waratah flowering in profusion. You will also see alpine plants, such as pineapple grass growing along the track. The snow gums become sparser and shorter as you approach the tree line. Soon you’ll catch your first sight of the Organ Pipes and the summit ahead, where you’re likely to be blasted with chilly winds while you admire the views of Hobart, the Derwent River and southern Tasmania.
The route descends via the less defined South Wellington track leading across alpine heathland that is strewn with well-weathered dolerite tors and boulders of truly sculptural quality. The mountain’s numerous springs have always provided abundant, clear drinking water, and even ice in the days before home refrigeration, as evidenced by the 19th-century huts on the Ice House Track, before returning to your start point. Weather on Mt Wellington can change rapidly; make sure you are prepared for all conditions.
Wonderland Loop, VIC
Grampians National Park, almost 300km west of Melbourne, is one of Victoria’s most beautiful parks. Its grey bluffs rise steeply above the western plains like a breaking wave and within its vast 1680sq.km, the Grampians’ sandstone landscape is home to more than 900 native plants and varied ecosystems.
The 25km Wonderland Loop is found right in the centre of the park, starting from the small township of Halls Gap. True to its name, this walk is a wonderland of waterfalls, canyons, creeks, and forests, with panoramic views along the way.
The track takes in the Grand Canyon, the Pinnacle, and the Silent Staircase, among the best known and most popular features of the Wonderland Range. Most people walk this one anti-clockwise because it ends with a 400m descent along the ridge but there are distracting views and plenty of benches if you want to go clockwise and save the breathtaking Grand Canyon until last. You can pick up a detailed map at Brambuk, the park visitor centre, near Halls Gap. Dress in layers as there can be a cold wind up on the ridges.
Bluff Knoll, WA
Bluff Knoll (1095m) is the crown jewel of the Stirling Range – the highest peak in southern WA and the only place in the state to get snow with any frequency. Naturally there are outstanding 360-degree views from the summit on a clear day. But swirling winds at the top mean that cloud can close in quickly. In fact, the local Aboriginal people’s name for the range, Koi Kyenunu-ruff, means ‘mist rolling around the mountains’. This challenging 6km walk starts from the Bluff Knoll lookout and picnic area. After a kilometre there is some shade by an ephemeral waterfall. The trail now turns south across the mountainside before crossing a saddle and swinging north to follow the ridge to the summit. Here you can see the Southern Ocean beyond blue peaks and a patchwork of fields below. Many walkers like to stay for sunset but make sure you take a torch for the descent.
The Stirlings are the remnants of an ancient sea, consisting of many layers of sedimentary rock – mostly sandstone and silt-stone – deposited over a long period, beginning 1.8 billion years ago. As the stone weathers differently, the alternating hard and soft sedimentary layers give the Stirlings their characteristic jagged edges and steep cliffs. As you climb to Bluff Knoll exposed outcrops reveal these layers in the rock.
Like the neighbouring Porongurups, this park has incredible biodiversity. More than 1500 native flowering plant species have been identified, with more than 80 found nowhere else. The different soil types and elevations have resulted in a variety of vegetation communities, from wetlands to woodlands, thicket, and mallee-heath. The taller peaks above 750m also house a unique ‘montane’ ecosystem. Flower-lovers should plan to walk from Aug–Nov.
Both the Stirling and Porongurup ranges are deep-seated in the culture of the local Noongar people, but they have different meanings to different groups, depending on their location and the view of the ranges from their traditional lands. To the Goreng of Gnowangerup, north of the range, the Stirlings are a place of great significance, only visited on important occasions. Bluff Knoll is also known as Bular Mial, or ‘many eyes’. The Goreng believe it is where their spirits go after death, and the eyes are their ancestors watching over them.
