This page will host a review of this new book in the next few weeks

What could possibly go wrong? Death and Disappearance in Tasmania’s National Parks, Reserves & Wild Places. Paul Helleman.

Perenties are the world’s fourth largest reptile, and can be 2.5m long and weigh 20kg. Their head and neck has a distinctive reticulated pattern of black on a cream background and the body has light rosettes edged in black.

Perenties are found across the arid country in the centre of Australia. Their name comes from the Dyari language from the east of Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre. They eat eggs, birds, reptiles and small mammals.

Australia is a stronghold for monitor lizards, ...

I joined ABW in 1980, but I have no record of when Frank joined – maybe a year or two before that. From the time I joined ABW, Frank was a driving force in the Club. In due course, he was justly awarded Life Membership.

I formed a firm friendship with Frank, particularly as a result of the many walks and trips I shared with him Sadly, a debilitating illness took hold of him, and he saw out his days in a ...

We left at approximately 8 o’clock on the Thursday morning, but the train was slow and, of course, late, so that we had practically no time in Pt. Augusta. Fortunately, we now know the eating shops in Quorn, and so we dived for the nearest as the train pulled into the station and made short work of ham and eggs.

On again, reaching Copley at 5 a.m. we stumbled across the station yards in the darkness towards a glimmer of light ...

If you’ve been bitten by the bug for long thru hikes, Australia is a great place to be. However, it doesn’t take too many years before you start running out of practical options. How many long-distance (over 14 day) Australian hiking trails are there?

The six below are the main ones you’ll keep hearing about. With the exception of the AAWT, each of these is within the reach of the average, fit hiker.

TrailDescriptionAustralian Alps Walking Track (650km) 🔗Traverse of remote ...

In part two of our series on walking South Australia by public transport, life member Mike gives some additional detail on bussing to bushwalks, along with few travel-related tales. 

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 ...

“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, ...