I look back at my time on the trail and how I went about hiking it. I did not set out to go fast. I set out to be light and have fun. As per most, I thought I was light till I got to Thredbo and sent more gear home..... whereby actually becoming light. I often find myself wondering if I could go faster if I had planned to do so. Carry less food as I will be out there for fewer days between food drops. Carry less clothes and less fuel, shave grams of comforts like a 20g clothes line and just sleep under a the tarp portion of my tent without the internal tent. Of course hitting it removes the tent completely!
On the other hand, my now 10 year old daughter Bailey promised she would do the Australian Alps Walking Track with me as soon as I felt she was old enough. This is a different challenge to prepare for. At what age could she do it? What could she carry...at that age? What additional plans would need to be made? The more I think about it the more exciting I get for her at the possibility of being able to see all that I have seen, to create her own special memories. To create those memories with me her Father. This could be a real coming of age event for her and my other children. When they get to the appropriate age I can take them 1 by 1 to end to end the AAWT. Even better I wonder if the whole family will do it together. Just asked my wife Megan......she said "No shower = No Megan"! I'll work on a shower solution!
Back to whats next. We often have done the Mt Lofty Summit hike in Adelaide on a nice Sunday afternoon. No packs, all bitumen trail. Bailey loves it (Judd and Andie also). So lets take Bailey and Judd for a test on the AAWT I thought. November 28th, 2015 I was able to return with my children to the AAWT to do Section 4 - refer to John Chapman's book. November 28, 2013 was the day I completed my journey in Walhalla so it was really special to be on the trail with my kids 2 years later.
The Omeo Highway to Mt Hotham section, with a side trip up to Mt Bogong seemed a great first choice to introduce the kids to the track. It has climbs and descents, bushbashing, fire tracks, roads, and some great huts. We organised with Sandy at the Omeo Caravan Park to drive Tim's car to the trail head to drop us off then keep it to collect us if we missed the Friday bus off Mt Hotham. Forgot to mention that Tim Marsden will also be joining us! The kids quickly and affectionately named Tim our 'snake bait' as he was out front...and within 10 minutes had located our first snake of the trail! The hike did not go as planned as Judd twisted his ankle and it blew up like a balloon. We is a strong quiet kid so when he was screaming to touch his toes to the ground we knew we had to change our plans.
We evacuated over Mt Bogong and out to Mountain Creek over 2 days, successfully hitchhiked from mountain Creek to Mt Beauty and subsequently over Falls Creek to the rad access near Cope Hut. We planned to rest but the surprising arrival of snow had lifted Judd's spirits and before you know it we were knocking out the 14kms to Dibbins hut in just 3.5hrs. Although we didn't stay on the AAWT the entire trek, and I had to carry Judd on my shoulders (Tim also), this trip was perfect. We rolled with what each day gave us and had a blast. Some real memories for us all.
I've made a small video summarising our adventure.
On the return train ride back to Adelaide from Melbourne I asked the kids what they learned and what their favourite part of the hike was, both responded that the best part was the 2 hours of playing n the snow. This was at 5:30am! I asked Judd what he learned. His response was epic for a 6 year old. " Dad, If I give you everything I've got, you'll give me everything you've got" .... what a kid.
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