Jugglebutton's World Home Page < Hiking < AAWT

The Australian Alps Walking Track

The Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) is a long distance walking track from Walhalla in Victoria to Tharwa, close to Canberra in ACT. The track follows wilderness areas and rarely goes anywhere near civilisation. I solo walked the AAWT in February 2002, however, I started from Warbarton and use the Upper Yarra Trail to link into the AAWT. The total distance I walked is 720km in 28 days plus one rest day at Threadbo.

To see what I carried check out my gear list and food ideas.

The Schedule

My original schedule as listed below was fairly correct for some sections and wrong for others. As my fitness improved and the terrain got easier the distances I was able to cover increased and I ended up making up each day as it happened. In the end I was one week ahead of schedule.

Stage 1 - Warburton to Rumpff Saddle - 155km - 8 days
Stage 2 - Rumpff Saddle to Hotham Village - 105km - 5 days
Stage 3 - Hotham Village to Cleave Cole Hut - 44.5km - 2 days
Stage 4 - Cleave Cole hut to Threabo Village - 161km - 9 days
Stage 5 - Threadbo Village to Kiandra - 114km - 6 days
Stage 6 - Kiandra to Tharwa - 119.5km - 6 days

At the end of each stage I had one of three types of food drop: mail to the village post office (Mt Hotham and Threadbo), a food drop placed by driving in prior to the walk (Rumpff Saddle and Kiandra), or a food drop placed by walking in prior to the walk (Cleave Cole Hut).

For car food drops I simply hid my plastic bucket full of food in the bushes. There were no problems with this in terms of animals or theft.

The Walk

Read a diary account of my walk.

References

Books

"Australian Alps Walking Track" by John Siseman - the definitative guide

Australian Alps Walking track Map Guide" by Australian Alps National Parks - a book of large scale maps that follow the route, useful for planning

"The Australian Alps Walking Track" by Ken Cleine - the author completed the AAWT in 1997 and provides details of his preparation and planning as well as a diary account of his walk, a bit expensive for what you get

Websites

John Chapman - good information but I disagree slightly with his suggested map list

Australian Alps National Parks - the joint site of the controlling bodies of the vaious parks that make up the Australia Alps

Canberra Bushwalking Club - a useful site with the report of four club members who completed the AAWT in 2000

Martyrs Bus Service - bus service from Lilydale to Warburton for access to the Upper Yarra Trail and AAWT

Maps

I have a total of 27 maps that I used throughout the walk. Maps for each stage were placed in the food drops. For many of the maps it is not necessary to carry the entire map as the AAWT only crosses a small section or corner of the map. In these case I cut the map down to size in order to save weight.

Stage 1 - 1:25,000 Ada River (Vicmap), 1:25,000 McCarthy (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Toorongo (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Tanjil Bren (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Mount Gregory (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Mount Easton (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Connors Plain (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Skene South (Vicmap)

Stage 2 - 1:25,000 Skene South (Vicmap), 1:25,000 Skene North (Vicmap), 1:50,000 Tamboritha-Moroka (Vicmap), 1:50,000 Howitt-Selwyn (Vicmap), 1:50,000 Dargo Plains-Cobungra (Vicmap), 1:50,000 Bogong Alpine Area (Vicmap Outdoor Leisure Series)

Stage 3 - 1:50,000 Bogong Alpine Area (Vicmap Outdoor Leisure Series)

Stage 4 - 1:50,000 Bogong Alpine Area (Vicmap Outdoor Leisure Series), 1:50,000 Benambra-Leinster (Vicmap), 1:50,000, Dart-Gibbo (Vicmap), 1:50,000 Suggan Buggan (CMA), 1:50,000 Threadbo (CMA)

Stage 5 - 1:50,000 Threadbo (CMA), 1:50,000 Mount Kosciusko (CMA), 1:50,000 Khancoban (CMA), 1:50,000 Eucumbene (CMA), 1:25,000 Denison (CMA), 1:25,000 Cabramurra (CMA), 1:25,000 Ravine (CMA)

Stage 6 - 1:25,000 Ravine (CMA), 1:25,000 Tantangara (CMA), 1:25,000 Rules Point (CMA), 1:25,000 Rendezvous Creek (CMA), 1:25,000 Corin Dam (CMA)

Transport

To get to Warburton from Melbourne take a metro Melbourne train to Lilydale. Martyrs Bus Service provide regular buses from Lilydale Railway Station to Warburton. Timetables and fares can be found on their website.

Food

Organising the food was the most involved thing I have had to prepare. Organising food for 36 days of hiking plus extra for unscheduled delays and treats in each food drop, as well as getting this food into place took many days work.

After many trips to the local supermarket I bought about AUD$270 and 33kg of food. I individually packaged all 33 dinners for ease out on the trail. All the food was sorted into the various stages and boxed depending on the type of food drop. For food drops to be left in the bush I used large plastic bucket type bins which stood up the the weather perfectly.

On the few nights I spent at Hotham and Threadbo I will bought food from the shops in those villages.

In each food drop there was extra emergency food. If I hadn't eaten the emergency food from the previous stage I ate this food as extra rations so that the emergency food didn't accumulate (and also it meant that I could pig out every so often).


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This page last updated on 21 March 2002
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