Australian Great Walks

The Hell's Bell's 24 hr Adventure Race was held on 17th October on the Sunshine Coast. (This is how we stay fit while not trekking). Disciplines included trekking, mountain biking, abseiling, high ropes orienteering and canyoning (Stan in picture left). The team of Glen, Stan and Joe made it home for breakfast in just over 21 hours.

On a recent Carnarvon Gorge Outback explorer tour we encountered a new species of bird to visit 'Sunnyholt' in the Arcadia Valley.

The Comb Crested Jacana (Jesus Bird) can now be added to Rowan's comprehensive bird list that visit his property.

We look forward resuming our tours next year in May.

Adventure Active Advice - Pack Training

A lot of clients ask me " What sort of pack weight will we be carrying on our tour?" Well it varies. On our Carnarvon Gorge and Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walks 8kg max but on our more remote and extended Tasmanian walks 16 - 20kg. So how do you prepare yourself to carry the heavier loads?
To obtain the strength to carry heavier loads follows one main fundamental principal - INCREASE LOAD OVER TIME. Doing repetative training walks with the same weight will not increase your strength.
Firstly, timing is important. You need to aim to get your legs, heart and lungs fit a couple of months before you go on your walk. If you run or cycle a lot, "thats great" but do it on hills and progressively find higher and steeper hills to tackle.
My advice, grab your pack, have a look at it. Is it big enough to carry the essential items + supplies? Is it the correct size for my back length? Is it adjusted correctly? Not sure - take it into your local outdoor shop and get it professionally fitted.
Now for the training -
From our gear list throw in about 5 kg and walk about 4km at least 3 times a week. Each walk increase your weight by 1 kg.
Taking into consideration the weight of your pack; for your 1st walk on week 2 your pack weight should be 12kg. Once again do 3 walks increasing your pack weight 1kg for each walk that you do.
Week 3 - Total pack weight 15kg. This is the average weight for the ladies but guys you can keep adding a bit more!
It's time to find some bigger and steeper hills. Ladies - remove 2kg of gear and add 3 x 1 litre bottles of water, get cracking up a hill (at least 1 - 2km climb), empty out the water at the top and walk back down (saves the knees). For the guys do the same but with more weight.
Week 4 - Repeat this process by increasing your load by a bottle of water each walk up to as heavy as you can handle.
Some tips: 1. Walk in the boots that you intend to walk in on your tour. 2. Place the water bottles in the middle of your pack and close to your back.

Snowdonia, Wales, UK

Stan & Senna stopping for a breather whilst climbing Crib Goch (1 of 4 summits to be climbed that day).

Snowdonia, Wales, UK

Stan, Rob and Senna completed the Snowdon Horseshoe on Wednesday 5th August. The day started overcast but later cleared to give us wonderful veiws of Snowdonia. The picture shows Robert & Senna on the precarious summit ridge of Crib Goch @3022 feet.

Glasshouse Mountains Rock Climbing Sat 5th June

Although a glorious day, the winds from yesterday remained, and it was cold! The shelter and shade of the nursery cliffs saw us climbing topside for the warmth of the sun between climbs. One climb "Cold Girl" was an appropriate name and yes she was a bit cold to climb first thing.

Glasshouse Mountains Rock Climbing

On Friday 4th July the climb up to the summit of Mt Ngungun wasnt without reward. The weather was beaut and so was the veiw. The guys got stuck into the many climbs on the nursery slopes and they had a ball. The forecasted windy weather blew in from the west at lunch time but without hinderence to our climbing.

Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk

Ok wev'e worked out the logistics and are happy to announce that we will soon be underway with our tours on the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk. The recent wet weather that we have had has called for a bit of track maintainence but all is good now.
This is a 3 day walk joining the National Parks of Lamington and Springbrook via the Numimbah Valley. Tours start in late August and continue monthly into summer. A detailed itinerary can be found on our website via the bushwalking page.

Mount Tinbeerwah

Saturday morning up at Mount Tinbeerwah, Noosa was the perfect morning. Clear skies, no wind and picture perfect veiws over Noosa and the hinterland.

Daniel, Jason, Laura and Anna had joined us for a 1/2 day abseiling adventure, so after a bit of tuition and a demo it was straight into a 40 metre abseil off 'Degrees of Freedom".

After a BBQ lunch we moved to our 2nd abseil location" Me and my dog" which was slightly higher at 45 metres. Totally worn out from the climbs back up to the top we wrapped up the session at 2pm.

Satuday Abseiling at KP

After friday nights downpour the next days activities were at risk but thankfully saturday morning dawned a fine day. Our clients got in some awesome abseiling time at Kangaroo Point and no one was dissapointed.

Carnarvon Gorge & Arcadia Valley

Carnarvon Gorge & Arcadia Valley

Tour has just returned from Carnarvon Gorge via the Arcadia Valley just north of Injune in Queensland. Thankfully the storms that hit the south east just missed us, which gave us perfect bushwalking weather. Our farmstay at Arcadia Valley Escape was great, we enjoyed a farm tour as well as the amazing bird watching opportunities. Carnarvon Gorge was peaceful and serene and we camped under a star studded sky at Big Bend. The aboriginal artwork and side gorges always amaze us on each and every tour. We look forward to the next very soon.