Australian Hiker

The Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) travels approximately 680 km from Walhalla, Victoria, with the northern end of the trail located in Tharwa, on the southern outskirts of Canberra.

Amongst the many decisions that need to be made for this, or any other walk, is direction of travel. From a planning perspective this choice, as simple as it sounds, cascades on to just about every other decision you make including camping locations, food drops, transport and even distances travelled per day.

I recently published an article on choosing travel direction called Walking Home: a creature of habit where I outlined my reasons for choosing travel direction on a hike and in my case I am definitely a creature of habit. In regard to my 2020 AAWT trip I’ll be starting in Walhalla, Victoria and heading in a northerly direction.

I have two key reasons for this decision. First and foremost walking towards home, in my case Canberra, makes sense psychologically. It just feels right waking up each day knowing that I’m progressively getting closer and closer to home. Secondly, from a transport perspective it would have been so much easier to leave from Canberra; getting an uber/taxi to the trailhead from home is relatively easy and inexpensive but finishing in the south raises return transport challenges particularly if I finish early or late. In all honesty, I would be living my version of the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Starting at the Walhalla trailhead is still a public transport challenge so, to facilitate my northward journey, Gill will drop me off at the trailhead, minimising my travel time by about ½ a day. While I have contingency days up my sleeve, I’d prefer not to use them getting to the trailhead.

So northward it is!

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