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Welcome to the Walking Stories page. Here are the openings of a selection of available articles, all of which can be tailored to your requirements. Email for more information about these and other destinations/story angles or forthcoming adventures. AUSTRALIA Heaven on Earth - Walls of Jerusalem National Park The Walls of Jerusalem are as near to heaven as I am likely to get. But not the centuries-old walls that encircle the troubled Biblical city or the afterworld common to the faiths that uneasily share it. On stepping through Herod’s Gate into Walls of Jerusalem National Park I approach a sensory nirvana of mountains that dwarf walkers, of crisp air perfumed with alpine herbs, and of silence so profound it makes my eardrums hum. Great Explorations “Never work with animals or children,” warned the great W.C. Fields, but Australia’s explorers would have accomplished little without animals. Camels, in particular, were vital to expeditions and to major works, including constructing the Overland Telegraph and the Ghan railway, named after the Afghan cameleers. So there is a double shot of history with me as I set off on a trek through outback Queensland in Edmund Kennedy’s footsteps with leader Tim Daniel, Kennedy’s great, greatt nephew, Richard Boyle, and six pack donkeys. Bronson, Charlie, Fat Albert, Sonny, Jack and Pumpjack, named after the mechanism that converts a windmill sail’s rotary action into a water pump’s up-and-down, will carry our provisions for the next three weeks. Stepping Into The Blue - Blue Mountains, New South Wales It was a dark and stormy night. Perfect for fireside murder mysteries but, alas, not for a walking holiday. Checking off elastic bandages (two), spare socks (one pair), whistle, water bottle, I imagined my boots squelching through mud for a week. My sister and I had alighted from the train in Mount Victoria eager to see the country described in our walking notes. Sunday dawned so damp and dreary we wanted to stay in our beds. Instead we wrapped up and stepped out of the Hotel Imperial into Blue Mountains mizzle (misty drizzle)... Walking Through Time - MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory Two days past full, the rising moon is still a huge orb that outshines the stars strewn across the sky and white-washes the river red gums. Moon shadows of our 4WD and unrolled swags stripe the pale river sand. Night lightens into day around six next morning, when our guide’s dingo howl rouses us from canvas-covered sleeping bags for muesli and toast. We’ve already discarded second layers of clothing when Adrien leads us into dry Jay Creek, leaving Liam, his support, to move camp along the Larapinta Trail... Fraser Island on Foot - Queensland A hundred and sixty-eight years after Captain James and Mrs Eliza Fraser were shipwrecked and landed on Great Sandy Island, there being captured by aborigines and the Captain killed, the island renamed in their honour is still a great place to have adventures. Twelve years after a dingo stole my towel off the beach and I laughed so much I nearly drowned in the sea (only later did I hear about the sharks), I’m back on Fraser Island. And half an hour after being dropped off at Lake McKenzie, its famously blue water moody as rain threatens, my companion, Michelle, and I are standing among rainforest palms and majestic satinays... Mountain Rescue Retrace - South West Queensland “Lost Stinson - reward offered.” “Many conflicting reports.” “No trace discovered.” The disappearance of Stinson aircraft VH-UHH between Brisbane and Sydney on 19 February 1937 grabbed the nation’s attention and fuelled huge headlines. Bernard O’Reilly’s trek through the McPherson Ranges, his discovery of the plane, nine days after cyclonic winds brought it down and about 600km from the NSW coast where “reliable” sightings had concentrated the search, and his dash for help after finding survivors, was the stuff of legend. It made O’Reilly a reluctant hero and his beloved mountain home a household name. It was from O’Reilly’s Guesthouse that Bernard set out on 27 February 1937 to find the Stinson. Sixty-five years later, eleven of us set out to retrace his journey, leaving the glow-worm lights of a much-expanded mountain retreat... My Precious! - Carnarvon Gorge National Park A popular meditation technique is to picture a special place, perhaps somewhere from your childhood, often drawn in softer focus by the time passed since you last saw it. Rather than try to empty your head of thoughts and/or problems, you watch them float by on a stream running through this special place. Carnarvon Gorge in southern Queensland, where Carnarvon Creek has cut 200m down through ancient sandstone, nature has planted prehistoric ferns, and Aborigines have festooned cliffs with stencils, etchings and free-hand art, is my special place... Easier Times on a Prison Island - Maria Island, Tasmania There were worse places to be a convict. Granted, those sent to Maria Island, off eastern Tasmania, would not have dined on whole Atlantic salmon, or spent their nights in elevated tents and lace-trimmed luxury, and more would have been demanded of them than treading several kilometres of forest trail and beach each day. Yet discipline was lax and escapes common, on rafts made from the same reeds Aborigines used. And then there was the scenery... On second thoughts, perhaps there was nowhere worse to be a convict, because they could not appreciate Maria Island’s beauty, as I do on a four-day guided accommodated walk... ETHIOPIA Stepping Out In The Simien Mountains Deeply ingrained with dirt, the tiny hand inches forward, then jerks back, as the youngster steels himself to shake my paler but not much cleaner hand. He takes a steadying breath and reaches out again. Brushes my fingers with his. Smells my scent on his skin. A white woman. Perhaps the first he has seen in his short life... INDIA Himalayan High - Sikkim Twenty to five in the morning and my tent crackles with frost as I unzip. There to greet me is Orion, reclining on the mountain range painted black across a sky turning apricot and blue at its eastern extreme. Cold reaches in and grabs my fingers, ungloved so I can write. Breathing produces vapour clouds like cartoon speech bubbles. At least my legs are cosy, protected by double long johns and sleeping bag. My top half, too, layered in a thermal top, walking shirt, two polofleece jumpers and the down jacket that World Expeditions provided for moments like these. Welcome to the north-east Indian state of Sikkim. SPAIN White Town Ramble - Andalucia Thyme perfumes the air as we climb, hints of peppermint and lemon spicing the mix as our boots crush wild herbs. A griffon vulture wheels overhead. Bells clink on grazing cows. Under some trees we drink from a wine skin, learning to swallow while squirting the stream between almost closed teeth, or wear the water. Slightly damp, we continue along the track until it meets a mountain road. Antonio Galindo and his handsome mule Rojo (Red) are waiting around the first bend to escort us along an old tobacco-smuggling trail. They drop behind as we push through thigh-high shrubbery, but when we stop to admire the snowdrift pueblos blancos (white towns) on the hills opposite, Rojo's bell sounds loud in Andalucia's midday silence... Go To Top of Page |
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