Bushwalk Australia

Hi. I'm new here so forgive me if i stick my foot in it somehow.

My first question is about timing the start of my walk. I plan to start from the Canberra end and would ideally like to go at the beginning of December but I am afraid it might be too hot and the fire danger too high. Is this the case? If so i'll postpone until february but doing this poses some other challenges, so i need to be sure that December and January are out of the question.

Hi Stroller
Do you know the weather in that part of the world? It will be hotter in Feb than in Dec.
Where are you based? What do you consider hot?
I did the Jagungal loop walk in the Snowy's in Dec - Jan last year and had almost perfect weather (there was the issue of the severe lightning storm when crossing the open plains towards Mt Jagungal...).
I would definately prefer Dec to Feb...
Steve

Wot 'e sed ^^^

February will be hotter, drier and far more fly-blown. Only advantage is that the weather should be a bit more settled - in December you would still be getting the early summer storms.

Thank you for your replies. I am from North Queensland. My first concern is the fire risk. But yes i don't want to get over heated either.

Hi Stroller
I spent a decade or more in FNQ but even there Feb can be a killer.
Fire risk is unpredictable but Feb is more likely to be scarey...
How far are you planning on walking? If you have some multi- month walk planned that would be different (seasonlly) than just a few days.
Can you give us a few more details?
Best
Steve

The whole trail. I am on an long tour which includes up two months walking this track or biking a similar route through the mountains. I need to figure out when I should do it. I will arrive in the Canberra area in December. I am trying to figure out if i should do the trail then or go away for a month and come back.

Otherwise where to go in December and January. My general route is from FNQ to Victoria and back home via Alice springs. So you see i don't want to buzz off to perth with my bike but i could go to New Zealand but only in 2016.

What's your suggestions to deal with this heat predicament. I don't really like riding in the heat either but a certain amount of dry heat is fine. I don't like being really cold though. And i avoid short days.

Stroller wrote:The whole trail. I am on an long tour which includes up two months walking this track or biking a similar route through the mountains. I need to figure out when I should do it. I will arrive in the Canberra area in December. I am trying to figure out if i should do the trail then or go away for a month and come back.

Otherwise where to go in December and January. My general route is from FNQ to Victoria and back home via Alice springs. So you see i don't want to buzz off to perth with my bike but i could go to New Zealand but only in 2016.

What's your suggestions to deal with this heat predicament. I don't really like riding in the heat either but a certain amount of dry heat is fine. I don't like being really cold though. And i avoid short days.

There are many days of preparation, food drops hundreds of kilometers apart in remote areas is just one issue.
You have to be totally self reliant.
The whole track takes around 68 days, 2 months is most likely not long enough.
There are little or no services or supply points on the track and and those that are, are many days walking apart.
You cannot ride a bicycle end to end on the AAWT.
High heat and extreme cold (well below 0C) are not avoidable in any summer month in the Australian Alps.

You need to research the AAWT more thoroughly. Search this forum and you will find heaps of information. Walking the AAWT is a major undertaking.

Neil you haven't said anything I already don't know. I am merely trying to establish whether December of any summer months for that matter are ill advised.

As to the 68 days. That's not what i have read.

http://www.john.chapman.name/vic-alpt.html

Stroller wrote:Neil you haven't said anything I already don't know. I am merely trying to establish whether December of any summer months for that matter are ill advised.

As to the 68 days. That's not what i have read.

http://www.john.chapman.name/vic-alpt.html

Sorry stroller 68 was a stuff up.
If you look at http://www.australia.com/en/itineraries ... track.html you see 50 to 60 days.
Some amazing fit young guys did it in winter and took 43 days and lost 10kg each in the process...........I'll leave it at that.
Good luck and I hope you enjoy it.

I am by no means amazingly fit but I did it in 39 days including several half rest days and one full. That said if I did it again I would allow an extra week or so, mainly to have a lot more half days to sit around and soak in the views. [WHITE SMILING FACE]

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I did it at the same time as JoBell (Hi JoBell!) in 35 days with a few half day rests which was comfortable and I never had more than 6 days food on board. As JoBell says some of the most beautiful spots in Australia are on the AAWT and so you want enough time to soak them up. Good luck!