“Although the task may appear overbearing at first, every adventure has a starting point. Tackled by putting one foot in front of the other, even the longest journey becomes a series of manageable steps.”

Now that’s a loaded pack! 2014, Australian Alps. Olympus Em-1.

This is a story that I wrote about eight years ago. Some of you have read it. Most of you haven’t.

It is a story about my first long solo bushwalk, which I undertook in 2014. It' was a 74 day trip where I walked along the spine of the highest section of Australia’s Great Dividing Range, from the relic gold mining town of Walhalla in Victoria, to Tharwa in the Australian Capital Territory, along the Australian Alps Walking Track.

During my journey, I kept a journal, and this formed the backbone of a story I wrote and which I shared on a website titled Mountains of Australia. This website is no longer online, as I pulled it down when I started writing my weekly posts about three years ago. But it is a story that is very central to my development as a storyteller. It is also the longest story I have ever written. So I thought it was time to revisit it.

My trip across the Australian Alps was a formative experience that taught me a lot, not only about Australia’s mountains, but also about myself and my place in the world.

A quote from my journal will do much to introduce the theme of this particular story.

“Away from technology and jacked up pleasures, the illusions of our thoughts are left behind and we begin to marvel at the simple beauty in life. We are struck blind by the rising sun, we are soothed by the breeze on a warm day and we marvel at the landscape that fills us with a deep sense of peace. In nature we find our redemption. The longer our stint in the wilderness, the more our awareness grows and we are able to adopt our true form, as a consciousness that is free and awake to make its own original decisions. Finally free of thought, we are free to start living.”

Bon Voyage my fellow adventurers.

-A.S. 10/02/2023, Lenah Valley

The author, looking about ten years younger than he does now. 2014. Olympus Em-1.

The Australian Alps Story

Chapter I: A Leap of Faith

“That looks like a massive stash of drugs.”

My housemate was looking at the neatly laid out plastic packages. They covered the entire carpet in the lounge room of our sharehouse. It was a big carpet.

“It’s food. 74 days of food” I said.

“That’s a lot of food.”

“I only hope it will be enough” I replied.

It was mid May in 2014 and preparations for my Australian Alps walk were in full swing.

“How long do you have to walk again?” she asked.

“800kms, with side trips” I replied.

“And you can’t buy food along the way?”

“No towns. Only mountains.”

My housemate looked at me confounded and paused before asking her next question.

“You’ve done something like this before, right?” she asked eventually.

“Kind of...” I didn’t want to tell her the truth.

One of the trail markers on the AAWT. 2014. Olympus Em-1.

I remember the day my maps were delivered in the mail. All 27 of them.

I laid them out neatly on the floor, and highlighted the Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT), then pinned them on my wall. At least I managed to pin half of them, the other half wouldn’t fit. I stared at that highlighted line marking the track as it wound its way across my wall, shrunk down by 50 thousand times compared to real life. It still seemed too long.

“I’m going to have to walk a bloody long way.” I thought to myself then.

As I continued my research, each new revelation added to the number of my friends who were concerned about my mental well being.

“You’re going to do it alone?”

“Aren’t you going to get lonely?”

“What if you get lost?”

I even had a friend message me just before I left, wishing me luck and that she was hoping I’d still be able to hold a conversation when I returned.

That’s when it hit me.

Most people have no idea what it’s like being alone in the mountains for 74 days.

To be away from our comfortable lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to can be truly terrifying. To abandon all that is known for the unknown takes a leap of faith.

Yet, it is only by taking the leap that any rewards in life may be gained.

To be continued…