It’s right in the middle of the peak South Australian walking season, so I’ll keep this brief. You’ve got trails to walk.

The headline article is the sort of thing we all want to see a LOT more of. That is, stuff by you, in your voice. I can’t tell you how much I love this article. Just read it and see for yourself.

Mike has then written an entertaining piece about the big pond at Wilpena. It’s so great to ...

So, I’m watching episode 7 of House on Netflix, fiddling with my laptop and staring at the ABW website walks page.

Packrafting in Tasmania. End of March this looks good. TREVOR oh no! That can’t be good.

Hit the View button, the red JOIN THIS ACTIVITY button is staring at me, voices in my head say no don’t do it, press it, no don’t do it, you know he’s crazy, don’t do it.

5:15 pm March 5th, 2025, and I’m stepping off flight ...

Wilpena Gap’s ‘Big Pond’ as I call it, sits in a peaceful setting just meters off the dirt road that takes you into the Pound from the tourist village, and this surely must be the most visited pond in the Flinders. It’s filled by water from Wilpena Spring which is situated in the Pound as close as the creek gets to the former Hills homestead and with probably a much larger contribution from underground flow.

Below the pond, ...

Look out there, what do you see?

I see a blaze of sun coated peaks surrounding this rocky mountain zenith,

A scarlet currency of outback and altitude that draws both climber and gaze,

And like the many climbers up here before me, I’m not disappointed atop Patawarta,

So I see the world as others do, mostly, logically, typically…

Look out there again … what do you see?

I see jagged summits guarding a distant plain, postcard soldiers beneath a blue Camelot sky,

I see an encircling ...

Patawarta Hill, an impressive landmark some ten miles north of Blinman, is a red sandstone peak, 3,306 feet high. It is at the south-western end of the pound-like formation which has Mt. Hack at its northern end, but unlike Mt. Hack, which appears simply as a bump on a ridge, it is a distinct peak rising well above its surroundings. A trip to Mt. Hack was described by Alison Beer in “Tarndanya”, 1967. [Mt Hack is the highest bump on ...

The Arthur Range in Tasmania sits at the pinnacle of Australian hiking experiences. Spectacular, unique landscapes line a trail that is both challenging and extremely fulfilling. Who wouldn’t want to go?

So your question is: ‘I’ve done easier hikes, am I ready for South-West Tasmania?’ This guide aims to answer that question. After all, these are probably the hardest on-trail experiences in Australia.

It’s a region where many hikes don’t go according to plan. Mostly it’s for mundane reasons, but occasionally they ...

I first found reference to this in the Australian Emergency Plus app (a very useful app to have on you phone for emergencies) and saw it used in the UK by the driver of a broken-down car to give his location. 

what3words is an app that has partitioned the earth into 3-metre-square areas and given each square a unique three-word ID. For instance “strike.eggs.sake” is the front door of the ABW meeting hall.

As can be seen from the above, when entering an ID, the ...

Are you interested in hiking the Larapinta? Hopefully after reading you’ll have a better idea if it’s for you, and what preparation you’ll need. Then you might like to take a look at our 17-day itinerary.

This article is designed as a quick summary of the important points. Additional resources include the excellent official trail site and Chapman’s guide to walking the Larapinta Trail. While all effort has been made to ensure accuracy, please do not rely on this information alone.

When ...

Five of us recently walked the entire 223km Larapinta Trail route west to east, including a highly recommended side trip. We took these notes along the way.

Why west to east? To all of us it felt more significant to finish in Alice Springs. That and it was less hassle not having to coordinate with a transport company*. A lot of ink has been spilled about walking east to west so the sun isn’t in your eyes. It wasn’t in ours ...

The creature challenge for readers this month is to identify the moth or butterfly in Ann’s excellent photo from the Gammon Ranges. For the moment, it could be either a butterfly OR moth – see below!

Image by Ann Ward

Butterflies and moths differ in their wings, antennae, body shape, activity patterns, and how they transform from larva to adult. 

Wings  Butterflies: Generally have wings that are folded vertically over their bodies when resting Moths: Generally have wings that are spread flat while resting Colour Butterflies are generally more ...

The following is a brief account of a walk in 1992 round the perimeter ridge of Wilpena Pound completed by Steve Weir and Graham Dingley with Jan Dingley supplying back up support.

Anyone visiting Wilpena Pound can’t help noticing the broken ridge running all the way from Pompey Pillar to St. Mary’s Peak – that’s what makes it the ‘Pound’. It’s such an obvious feature that the idea of walking round the ridge probably jumps to most walker’s minds when they ...