Cures for cabin fever: Favourite walks in great Australian outdoors
Seven walks in the great Australian outdoors to clear COVID-induced cobwebs.
Warrumbungles, NSW
The Breadknife and Grand High Tops trail in central western NSW is considered one of the state’s great walks, for good reason. Over a 14km loop, it takes hikers through an idyllic forest of eucalypts and pines into a dramatic volcanic landscape where 360-degree vistas are dotted with giant chunks of granite. Most notable is the Breadknife itself, a striking rocky blade that cuts a 90m-high slit through the bush and measures only 4m wide in places. The walk initially follows shady Spirey Creek — watch for grey kangaroos lazing in the grass — before climbing through increasingly rugged terrain where you may be lucky to spot a brush-tailed wallaby. Pull up a boulder at the highest point on the trail and drink in the view, keeping an eye out for wedge-tailed eagles riding the thermals. The national park suffered huge damage in the 2013 bushfires and the blackened skeletons of trees remain an eerie presence en route, but regeneration has long since bathed it in green. Warrumbungle National Park, Australia’s first Dark Sky region, is near Coonabarabran, about six hours’ drive from Sydney.
Stay Warrumbungle Retreat, or camp under all those stars; airbnb.com.au
PENNY HUNTER
-
Mount Donaldson, Tasmania
The township of Corinna, two hours’ drive from Burnie, sits on Pieman River at the southern edge of Tasmania’s Tarkine wilderness. Deep green rainforest lush with myrtle beech and Huon pines lines the misty riverbank, sea eagles glide and in the evening the rustic former mining cottages glow yellow as candles. It could be Australia’s own Amazonian village, and bushwalks lead off in all directions. To tackle nearby Mount Donaldson most drive 10 minutes to the bridge on Norfolk Road and start there, but I love walking from Corinna, through the sweet-smelling forest to follow the strangely peaceful Savage River upstream, passing the semi-submerged wreck of the steamship Croydon. Moss-covered trees, ferns and fungi are soon left behind as a zigzag track climbs through buttongrass moorland. The Tarkine stretches to every horizon, lonely granite mountains seemingly float above the landscape, and far below the dark blue Pieman curls like a snake, pushing through the forest and slipping silently into the Southern Ocean. Alpine wildflowers colour the hillside and a fallen marker heralds the 420m summit, where chances are you’ll be the only one there.
Stay Corinna Wilderness Experience;
corinna.com.au
RICKY FRENCH
-
Phillip Island, Victoria
After weeks being denied the sea by coronavirus restrictions, my first Canberra-condoned cobweb-clearing expedition will be back to Cape Woolamai, a promontory sticking into Bass Strait from Phillip Island. The surf club carpark marks the start of an 8km, three hours-plus loop through the nature reserve. The first 500m is along the sand to steps rising to a groomed path to The Pinnacles, pink granite stacks guarding the end of this boardriders’ haven. Swamp wallabies are known to engage in staring contests with walkers along the cape. Tiny swallows and red-bellied parrots dart around; keep eyes peeled, too, for short-tailed shearwaters, which come here from Alaska to breed. June and July bring migrating humpbacks and southern right whales into view as well. Woolamai’s eastern shore is well protected, making the waters of Cleeland Bight a richer blue, and the trail descends to an abandoned granite quarry. Heed the advice about continuing along the beach at low tide only, otherwise you’ll be clambering up a sandy cliff and bush-bashing to find the path back to the carpark. Cape Woolamai is 130km south of Melbourne.
Stay Clifftop; clifftop.com.au
humbletrail.com/cape-woolamai-walk
JEREMY BOURKE
-
Hinchinbrook Island, QLD
Nestled against the coast midway between Cairns and Townsville, Queensland’s Hinchinbrook Island is like a bushwalker’s version of a tropical resort holiday. Australia’s largest island national park is home to the four-day Thorsborne Trail, a walk liberally studded with temptations to stop, linger and rejoice at our return to the freedom of travel. Beneath mountains that tower 1100m directly out of the ocean, empty beaches peer across the Coral Sea, and waterfalls pour into cooling swim holes.
There are days in which you might spend less time hiking than you do lazing on a beach or in a freshwater pool, but the Thorsborne Trail is designed to enable this. Spread over four days, with campsites nestled behind the beaches, it covers just 32km — an average of 8km of walking a day — and is one of the country’s most gentle and rewarding multi-day walks. The trail is accessed by ferry from Cardwell, with Hinchinbrook Island Cruises (hinchinbrookislandcruises.com.au) servicing both ends of the walk.
Stay Hinchinbrook Holiday Apartments, south of Cardwell; hinchinbrook-holiday-apartments.com.au.
ANDREW BAIN
-
Newcastle Coast, NSW
The retro-sounding Bathers Way suggests parasols, bathing boxes and neck-to-knee swimwear. Instead, this 6km trail is gloriously revealing. The full periodic table of Newcastle’s elements is on display: steel, coal, cliffs, ships, coffee, dog walkers, dunes, war, waves and more. Do the full length, ambling south from convict-built Nobbys lighthouse to Merewether. Vistas start with bulk carriers the size of apartment blocks gliding down the Hunter River and out past Nobbys. The wide, level path then skirts Cowrie Hole and Newcastle beaches, climbing through pine-shaded parklands to lookouts, World War II gun emplacements and old mansions on The Hill. At the mid (and highest) point, Strzelecki Lookout, step onto the steel Anzac Memorial Walkway that’s cantilevered over the sea. The Pacific’s emerald shallows and reefs ripple below; ahead is the long, sweeping trinity of Bar, Dixon Park and Merewether beaches. Reaching Merewether you’ve earned a coffee at the beachfront Blue Door or Surfhouse. Roll on to the Ocean Baths and perhaps even to the untamed coves beyond. You’ve just trekked the best cross-section of urban saltwater history anywhere in Oz.
Stay Noah’s On The Beach; noahsonthebeach.com.au
JOHN BORTHWICK
-
Litchfield National Park, NT
Serious bushwalkers can stretch out in this popular park 115km southwest of Darwin. The Tabletop Track, for instance, is a 39km circuit that showcases the Top End’s remote wilderness. Mere mortals can also dust their shoes with red dirt, thanks to short walks spectacularly punctuated by swimming holes. Florence Falls is a case in point. Locals tell me the plunge pool, reached via 160 metal stairs or an amble along the Shady Creek Walk, can be busy. I score the jackpot; swimmers are packing up as I arrive, leaving me at the waterhole alone. Wearing goggles, I stroke over to the twin falls and back and find myself eyeballing fish. Florence Creek Walk connects the falls to Buley Rockhole, where you can find your own pocket of serenity within the terraced cascades. As a traditional custodian says of the Florence system: “That element of running water makes it an exclusive place, exclusive to the individual. Because of the rapids and currents, it doesn’t matter if you are five metres away from everyone having fun and splashing, you won’t hear them.” Peace out.
Stay Hideaway Litchfield, two modern cabins fashioned from shipping containers; airbnb.com.au
KATRINA LOBLEY
-
Eyre Peninsula, South Australia
This triangular spit is where the outback meets the sea. It’s wild and windswept and delightfully crowd-free, despite having some of the most dramatic coastal scenery in the country. Lincoln National Park, just a short drive from the town of Port Lincoln on the peninsula’s southern tip, has dozens of walking trails, ranging from easy coastal rambles to more demanding hikes, including the 89km-long Investigator Trail, named after the ship explorer Matthew Flinders sailed around Australia in 1802. The whole thing takes about four or five days, but you can pick and choose sections and follow your nose along the coast and cliff tops for as long or as little as you please. You may go for the walks, but you’ll stay for the food because every restaurant, pub and bistro on the peninsula serves sensational seafood, and you can buy the world’s best oysters straight from the farm at nearby Coffin Bay and just about every other town on the coast.
Stay Port Lincoln Hotel; portlincolnhotel.com.au
LEE ATKINSON
