December 2021
The Surf Coast Walk stretches from Fairhaven to Point Impossible on the northern fringe of Torquay. It’s a walk we’ve done before, but this time we’re starting in Lorne, 16 kilometres to the west of the waymarked trail. Our plan is to walk 55 kilometres over two days, taking in deep draughts of coastal wildness as an antidote to this pandemic-restricted year.
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Our first overseas journey, to Papua New Guinea, remains one of our most adventurous. While not the hardest physically, nowhere else have we ventured so far off the beaten track, days away from any means of communication with the outside world and deep into a realm so unknown to us.
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It’s our first spring in 18 months and we can’t get enough of the Cinque Terre; its vividly coloured villages, sparkling beaches, warm Italian sun and hillsides splashed with red poppies, purple orchids and white narcissus.
Centuries ago, the steep hills of the Cinque Terre were terraced with dry-stone walls and planted with vines. The inhabitants of its five villages farmed the land, fished the seas and made wine. But poverty, war and the lure of the city led to the abandonment of many of the hillside plots. The stabilising stone walls fell into disrepair and devastating landslides became more common. In response, the Cinque Terre National Park was created to restore and protect the natural and cultural heritage of this achingly beautiful coastal area.
We plan to walk for four days; two days on the Cinque Terre’s high route (the Sentiero Rosso), one day on the coastal route, and one day further north, in the wilder Portofino Natural Park.
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A walking festival draws us to Achill Island on Ireland’s wild and beautiful west coast.
On the first night of the festival, we meet walkers from all over Ireland. Among them are Maree & Seamus O’Brien, Brid & Paula (named after the last Pope), the O’Reilly brothers and their nephew Jean-Paul (also named after a Pope) and Michelle, a fellow Camino aficionado. There’s also Anne & Ivan, an American couple keen like us to walk the land of their ancestors and know more of its stories.
Our leader is Tomás, an Irish-speaking archaeologist and mountaineer. Before we start climbing, he advises us to move gracefully up the slope, stop and let the wind pass and be mindful of our fellow walkers.
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Easter holds the promise of granite landscapes and white sandy beaches. Short walking days, languid afternoons swimming in crystal clear, turquoise water. But, like every plan made in the last 12 months, this one goes awry. This time, it’s flood damage, not the pandemic, that closes Wilsons Promontory’s walking tracks and has us scrambling for an alternative. Our walking companions, Marc & Miranda, suggest a walk in the high country. So, why not as high as possible and climb Mt Bogong, Victoria’s tallest mountain.
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The Grampians Peaks Loop beckons. After a year of confinement, the allure of wandering through wild landscapes for days on end is irrestible.
Starting at Mt Zero and extending southwards to Mt Abrupt, the yet-to-open Grampians Peaks Trail is a 160-kilometre-long walking path. As a precursor to its launch, a 35-kilometre loop walk showcases a section of the new Trail. It features some of the most spectacular scenery in the Grampians, including the Wonderland Range, the Pinnacle and Mt Rosea.
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This is a two-night / three-day 36.6km circuit walk that can be shortened to an overnight walk by arranging transport from Borough Huts Campground back to Halls Gap.
(Note: the full length of the Grampians Peaks Trail, a 160km 13-day walk, is now open).
For the three-day walk, we carried 2 days’ food by having breakfast at a cafe the day we started and arrived back in Halls Gap for a late lunch on day 3. Fuel stoves must be used at Hiker camps. Water tanks are located at each camp. Parks recommends treating the water.
Day 1: Day 1: Halls Gap to Bugiga Hikers Camp: 8.6km. A well-made track that climbs nearly 500 mostly well-graded meters. It takes in some of the most popular sights in the Grampians including the Grand Canyon and the Pinnacle, so expect plenty of day-walkers in the Wonderland Carpark to Pinnacle section. The trail marking is very good but you’ll need to pay attention when leaving the Pinnacle as there are a few tracks and not every intersection is marked.
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Back in March, when our knowledge of pandemics was, at best, naive, we picked up a map for the Surf Coast Walk, thinking to do it before winter closed in. But even as we cycled towards home, a tempest was whirling around us and uprooting normality. Borders were closing and Melbourne was going into lockdown. In July, a ‘ring of steel’ was imposed, prohibiting travel out of the city.
Melburnians, steadfast in adhering to the lockdown restrictions, were rewarded for their forbearance. In November 2020, with no COVID-19 cases for weeks, the ‘ring of steel’ that held us to within a few kilometres of home came down. Soon afterwards, we caught a train and bus to the coast, southwest of Melbourne, and breathed in deep draughts of wildness.
The Surf Coast Walk traverses the clifftops, beaches and Moonah woodlands that hug the coast between Fairhaven and Point Impossible. For almost 50 kilometres, over two days, we wandered along the edge of the continent, absorbing the intense blue of the sea and sky, the dusky green of the trees and the red and yellow ochres of the crumbling cliffs.
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Winter 2020 unfolds as a season of discontent. Borders are closed. The joy of walking long distances through unknown, beguiling lands is lost to us and, as the winter progresses, even the hope of a sojourn in tropical Queensland is extinguished.
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In Australia, in this time of isolation, all travel is banned. Marooned at home, we find ourselves yearning for the long-distance paths of Spain. Alluring, elusive, unattainable. Until a challenge goes out, to walk the Camino Inglés wherever you are in the world. A spark is ignited. We decide to walk it and transition, step by step, out of our state of restless confinement.
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