Australian Hiker

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While I have recovered well from my hip replacement operation in May 2025 I’m definitely walking more slowly than my peak of 2018 and have reflected on this in the time I have allowed myself to complete this walk. I pulled up well from my journey on the Great South West Walk in April-May this year but the Heysen Trail is a different beast altogether being almost four times the length coming in at approximately 1200 km.

As such, to give myself the best opportunity to succeed on this hike when it came time to update my Multi-day Gear list I looked at every opportunity to drop weight. This year I have been more ruthless than ever. Where I could, I removed items from my pack altogether and with the items remaining, wherever possible I considered a lighter alternative.

Another reason for reducing my equipment weight is to balance a ten day food carry on one leg of my planned walk.

For me the biggest changes over the past year have been to move away from a single year-round sleeping bag to carrying a cold weather bag or a ‘warm’ weather bag. Depending on the weather forecast on my upcoming Heysen Trail trip I will go for the lighter weight bag that will cope with temperatures down to 2 degrees Celcius which, based on the forecast for my upcoming trip, will do the job. In addition, I am opting to leave my dedicated camera at home this trip and instead relying on an upgraded iPhone. I have a number of other bits and pieces that have changed.

I’ve allowed plenty of time in the week leading into the start of this walk to do an initial pack and weigh, and then a final pack and weigh a few days later. I have also allowed plenty of time to do any last minute purchases/replacements if I have forgotten anything.