In part two of our series on walking South Australia by public transport, life member Mike shares his experiences good, bad and downright terrible.

I love it when you can set off and complete linear walks by simply catching a bus or train at either end. You can often do so for interstate walks, most recently for me, Victoria’s Great Dividing Trail (and now with free transport!) and coast-to-coasting Tasmania. Walkers of WA’s two most popular long walks (Bibbulmun and Coast ...

“Roads? Where we’re going , we don’t need roads” – Dr. Emmett Brown, Back to the Future

With the likelihood that the fuel crisis will be with us for some time, lets go back to the future and look at alternative transport options.

There are good reasons to leave the car at home. Not just the cost of fuel. Vandalism, theft, fuel syphoning, being environmentally responsible, peace of mind to name a few.

But what is possible and what is practical are two ...

Over many years of bushwalking in Australia I have come to appreciate the eucalypts more and more. Instead of seeing just gum trees, that constant dull green background, I have grown aware of the diversity of these trees from the giants of over 100 feet, wide and shady to the dense thickets of mallee, smooth or rough barked, the ever changing varieties of colour of the trunks, the weird shapes that branches can form and of course, that ever-present myrtle ...

The idea of a walk in Japan had been discussed for many years by Ben McInerny and me. Our occasional research hadn’t turned anything up that we were looking for. The Kumano Kodo and Japanese Alps seemed to provide for walks of about four days length and we were wanting something longer in order to make an overseas trip more worthwhile. Googling turned up endless brief videos and articles by ‘influencers’ who had been paid or supported to do short walks ...

The Tale of Some Shonky Shoes

Names have been disguised to protect identities.

Shonky: poor, dubious quality, unreliable (Wiktionary)

If ABW has another pre-loved (or hated) gear sale like the one held at the General Meeting in February last year, it could pay you to be there as it just might just be another buyers’ market. But that said, such markets are often a case of ‘buyer beware’and so it was and I wasn’t, so I’ve learned a lesson and now perhaps, ...

Recently we had a working bee on the Bill Lindsay Trail which will need attention in late Spring every year after the spring  growth. I appeal to all leaders to consider posting a walk for November of each year that includes time to tidy up our trail.

This year the growth was particularly high and here we are admiring our work after slashing the grass to find our trail beneath it. L to R Tim, Iain, Paul, Lorraine. Photos by ...

Back in December 2015, my son Thomas who was seventeen at the time, and I undertook a four-day loop hike in the Jagungal Wilderness area in the Northern Kosciusko area of NSW. One of our aims was to climb Mount Jagungal, but through some poor planning on my part, we missed that goal. I wrote an article in Tandanya at the time about the trip and you can read that here.

Ten years on and my son is now twenty-seven and I’m ...

I was keen to hike the GSWW because I wanted to experience the freedom of a longer hike. New to pack hiking in 2025, I had previously only completed the Great Ocean Walk and a few weekenders, so the idea of staying in my tent, carrying everything I needed, for two weeks was appealing.

What I hadn’t anticipated was the challenge of constant wet boots.

On our way to Swan Lake Campground via the extensive dune system

Our walk started at Nelson and ...

We’ve all walked their trails. They’ve helped us install our water tanks. But who are they?

The WTSG arose out of an initiative of the Royal Geographical Society of SA (RGS) in 1990 to provide good information for tourist regions of the State. Visitors to National Parks if asked what they want to do, will answer “We’ll go for a walk.” But where? What? –- ½ or 1-day walk?

‘Bush Walks’ and ‘Country Walks’ were recognised as an essential component of the ...

In the past year I have been on three ABW walks where leaving faeces behind was not the right thing to do. However, if it wasn’t for Snow Week, the thought would not have even crossed my mind. Yet, despite the unpleasant subject, it’s becoming something that more of us need to consider.

Why? There are probably three environments where it is best to follow ‘Leave No Trace’ principles:

where the breakdown of urine and faeces is too slow where the volume of ...