Wynter wanderland: Meet the doctor who hiked 5000km during the pandemic

She had already hiked thousands of kilometres up Australia’s east coast solo, but Sacha Wynter’s biggest challenge was yet to come at Queensland’s border.

There were deep and treacherous water crossings, the difficulties of isolation in the middle of the bush, and walking on a trail originally designed for horses, all while carrying a backpack sometimes loaded with 14 days’ worth of food.

Queenslander Sacha Wynter hiked the National Trail from Victoria’s Healesville to Queensland’s Cooktown, a journey of more than 5000 kilometres. 

At the start of the year the 29-year-old junior doctor from Brisbane had embarked on the National Trail, stretching from southern Victoria to Cooktown in Queensland’s far north, in a bid to replace a cancelled trip to the US for the Appalachian Trail.

Not least among the difficulties on the trek ahead were border closures.

“I started in February and I hiked from Healesville up to Glen Innes and then NSW started to have about 30 COVID cases, and I was so close to the border, I thought they were going to shut it any day,” she says.

“So I decided to make the most of the winter and that time and fly up to Cooktown and start hiking down from there ... and swapped to a bike for a bit for most of Queensland.

“It was a big concern. This last border I ended up having to take about a month off because I got to the Queensland border and it was still shut.

“I was almost done.

“If I was just going to keep going, it would have been OK because I know a few other people who just kept going with the knowledge they wouldn’t be able to get back into Queensland, but for that, I ended up having to take a month off and waiting.”

When it was announced the borders would reopen, Wynter jumped at the opportunity.

“That was part of the reason I ended up going north because I was really worried they would shut the borders when I’d been hiking for two weeks in the bush and to then come across a shut border, would have been pretty tricky,” she says.

“I would not have had enough food to turn around ... and then I’d be stuck.”

The journey was lonely at times, Wynter says, especially being by herself in the bush for weeks.

“Definitely some days were a bit lonely but I talk to myself a lot and sound a little bit crazy,” she laughs.

“Or listen to lots of podcasts and my friend leant me her Kindle, so that was good at night.

In the Kroombit Tops National Parks.

“You’re happy enough to do long days because when you set up camp at the end of the night, there’s no one really to talk to, so that can sometimes get a bit lonely.”

But Wynter says she’s seen so much more of Australia than she would have otherwise, talking to local people, seeing different animals, and camping at creeks she discovered.

“You’ll get, you know, the local farmer who probably doesn’t ever see a stranger on his road just seeing this random person walking down and they’re always lovely. They’ll stop and check you’re OK and offer you water or give you treats along the way.

“Meeting all the people has definitely been the best part of it.”

One of her favourite new acquaintances is 80-year-old Girly Goody in Queensland’s rural town of Monto, near Bundaberg.

Wynter during the Omeo-to-Scrubby Creek 22 kilometre hike in Victoria during backburning.

Wynter stayed with the cattle farmer during her hike south towards NSW to meet back up where she left off before the border predicament.

“She was telling me, because she was a single lady, she had to get her brother to co-sign a loan with the bank because when she was growing up as a cattle farmer they refused to give a single woman a bank loan to be a cattle farmer but she’s done it her whole life,” Wynter says.

“It’s amazing to hear people’s stories on how resilient people are and everyone faces their own challenges.”

Carneys Creek to Condamine Gorge, Queensland.

Wynter completed the trail a few weeks ago, returning to Brisbane in time for Christmas, after lugging around a backpack sometimes laden with two weeks’ worth of food.

She never weighed the backpack. “Not particularly helpful,” she says, with a laugh.

Wynter focused on planning her meals ahead of time, packaging food in bigger towns and sending it ahead for herself.

“In a few spots that were a bit bigger, like when I went through Canberra, I stopped again and did another huge shop and then made boxes up for myself and shipped them forward to the really small places that just had a general store,” she says.

Wynter’s pack would sometimes include up to 14 days’ worth of food.

“If it was slightly bigger and I knew there were supermarkets, I would just buy food. My mum also got a dehydrator, so I borrowed that and made up a few meals and included that in the parcels as well.

“The most I had to carry was 14 days of food and that’s pretty heavy when you get up to that much food.”

Wynter says she will take a break for more exams next year but hopes to continue exploring Australia.

“The Victorian High Country is just beautiful and stunning and I haven’t spent that much time in that region, so I really liked it.

“But then also going through the Daintree Rainforest which is amazing, even through NSW in the last few weeks - it’s all so green and lush,” she says.