FOR most of us, the Christmas-New Year holidays is about as adventurous as camping by the coast, or maybe an overnight walk at Wilsons Promontory, if you’re really into it.
Spare a thought then for a couple of blokes the Sentinel-Times crossed paths with while driving over the top of Mt Hotham, between Bairnsdale and Bright, prior to Christmas.
Stopping off for a night at ‘The General’ Hotel at Mt Hotham were Chris Kerr of Surrey Hills, formerly with connections at Kilcunda, and Matthew Burt of Sandringham, both home builders and renovators from Melbourne.
They were already 14 days into walking the entire length of the 655km Australian Alps Walking Track from Walhalla to Tharwa, just outside Canberra on walking tracks connecting the Baw Baw, Alpine, Kosciuszko and Namadgi national parks.
It’s a walk that can take two months to complete but our intrepid friends are aiming for 20km-25km-a-day, and with a couple of comfort stops at Mt Hotham and Mt Kosciuszko (Thredbo), they expect to complete the epic in 40 days.
“Chris has always had it on his bucket list, I’m just along for the ride,” said Matthew Burt, as he gets set to tuck into a mixed grill at ‘The Genny’.
“This is going to be the best meal I have ever eaten,” he said. It was.
The pair have been living on dehydrated meals they cooked, dried, packed and placed in food stashes along the route during two months of preparations, so prime steak, sausages and all the trimmings was just what the doctor ordered.
“The day we started, it just rained and rained, and in the hills, that first night, we saw an unbelievable lighting storm that just ricocheted around the valley. Amazing, and so low, it was like a war,” said Matt.
The first week was pretty wet and parts of the track slow going, overgrown with bush and no clear path to follow.
“There’s parts of the track that people come out to and walk regularly but some parts never see walkers but it does provide access to some amazing scenery. Low Saddle to Mount McDonald (north of Heyfield, a third of the way between Walhalla and Mt Hotham) was a highlight.”
Chris is a serious walker, having completed dozens of iconic treks overseas and in Australia, Everest Basecamp and the Khumbu Glacier in Nepal and the Western Arthur Range Traverse in Tasmania.
Matt, not so much.
“I’ve only done three bushwalks before this one. I did it pretty hard on the first three or four days, particularly Achillies soreness, but I’m getting into it now.”
The pair carry a 22kg pack each of which 4kg is water and 4kg food.”
“I’ve got three pairs of undies, three pairs of socks, 1 pair of pants, I shorts, shoes and a pair of Crocks for crossing the creeks,” said Matt.
“For all the rain we’ve had, there aren’t that many creeks and water can be hard to find. We’ve got all the maps and done our research so we know where the water is but you’ve often got to go out of your way to get it,” said Christ.
“We’ve got all the technology we need as well, communications, GPS and all the rest.
“We’ve had a few people meet us along the way, which has been nice, but we’ve made it so we’re self-sufficient.”
After a break at Mt Hotham where they’re hoping for a pre-Christmas catch-up with family, they’ll actually be out, camping on the trail, north of Falls Creek, by the time Father Christmas flies over in his sleigh.
“We’ve given up Christmas for this but so far, so good.”
There’s still a bit of rough weather on their way over the next week but the walkers have been happy with the conditions so far, mostly cool and fine, good walking weather.
