Australian Hiker

Over the past couple of years I have been planning on walking the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) and given that 2020 has been the year that it has, working towards this trip has been a challenge to say the least. Between the fires and COVID I have been been paying attention on an almost daily basis and trying to piece together the state of the track and the ability to travel. And now just on a month out, it’s time to make a decision and unfortunately the decision is to pull the pin! This decision is based on two main factors:

1. COVID
   • Until the Victorian second stage hit everything was on track but now the recovery process has become painfully slow and I don’t even live in Victoria. There are a number of issues here. Firstly Gill was going to drive me to the trailhead with the potential issue being not being able to get back across the border or having to self isolate when she did. This was also an issue for me in that I have a personal commitment post trip that requires me to not have been in a designated hotspot for two weeks prior. While the COVID situation may have resolved by my start date, from my perspective that was too much of a gamble.
2. Fire closures
   • There are chunks of the trail in Victoria and the ACT that are impacted by fire closures and even in NSW there have been some impacted areas but I had managed to find work arounds for those. In contacting the Victorian Parks service they indicated that many of the fire closure areas weren’t due to open until December-January which wasn’t going to help my situation. Potentially I could have delayed my start but that would have very firmly placed me in the middle of fire season and hiking in the middle of summer in exposed remote areas which is something I wasn’t willing to do.

Many of you will be familiar with the saying of ‘There’s no use flogging a dead horse’ and in 2020 that’s what the Australian Alps Walking Track is. Safety and enjoyment rule when I decide to do a trip and while there are some risks that I am willing to take, there are some that I’m not. The trail will be there next year and the year after. Realistically I am looking at November 2021 to re-engage with the AAWT to try again so keep following us for when that happens. In the meantime go to the link below to see our 2020 replacement trip! Definitely a very different sort of trip to the AAWT but one that meets my needs.

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