Win A Copy Of Laura Waters New Book Ultimate Walks And Hikes
If there’s one travel writer out there who knows her hikes, it’s Laura Waters! Laura has just released her new book ‘Ultimate Walks and Hikes Australia’ and we’re giving away three copies, just in time for the holidays.
Laura has hiked thousands of kilometres to put together this guide to 40 of the best walking tracks across Australia.
Ultimate Walks And Hikes Australia is a fantastic read and inspirational for all walkers, whether you’re interested in multi-day walks like the Great Walks Of Australia or short walks.
To win a copy, email us by 6pm December 24, 2022 with ‘Win Ultimate Walks & Hikes’ in the subject line. We have three to give away!
*Winners will be chosen at random and notified by email.
Celebrate the winter solstice in 2023 in Tasmania with a twist! ‘Restaurant At The Edge of The World’ returns to Three Capes Lodge Walk in June, and is one not to be missed.
Featuring the full four day walk, guests will experience a special winter inspired gourmet feast by local chef Luke Burgess (Garagistes, Noma), utilising delicious local Tasmanian produce, each course paired with the perfect wines.
But there are more twists on this special edition walk too: storytelling and some live performances make for a very unique adventure!
Get more info on Three Capes Lodge Walk or book this special edition gourmet walk here.
It’s a four day journey through one of the most extraordinarily beautiful parts of Australia, and in 2022, Freycinet Experience Walk in Tasmania – one of Australia’s original and premier eco-tourism experiences and multi-day guided hikes, turns 30.
Founded by Joan Masterman in 1992, Freycinet Experience Walk remains grounded in their family ethos. In 2019, Joan was awarded an Order of Australia for her contribution to tourism in Tasmania and her commitment to protecting and preserving the environment. Joan’s family continue to run the walk to this day and champion her legacy.
“Joan’s legacy is that the quality of ecotourism can be expressed through architecture, culture, and long-lasting relationships. In Freycinet Experience Walk, there’s a deep passion and care for Tasmania and for the experience that we have of Tasmania,” describes former Friendly Beaches Lodge Host, Dan McMahon.
Across the four-day walk, guests walk the entirety of Freycinet Peninsula including Wineglass Bay. On the trail they are immersed in indigenous stories; the area once a rich food bowl for local first nations people. Rare and endemic flora and fauna abounds throughout the beaches and forests you walk through, from the diverse bird life and numerous marsupials, to ancient grass trees and stunning wild orchids. There’s literally something fascinating nature has on show to see around every corner.
Then there’s the accommodation. For many, Friendly Beaches Lodge is a place hard to forget. Lightly floating on the landscape on the stumps of old Fishermans shacks, surrounded by 130 hectares of nature sanctuary, you won’t be alone in finding it hard to tear yourself away from this beautiful, deeply relaxing place.
Used exclusively by hikers on the walk, the lodge set a new standard for sustainable, environmentally focused tourism. Designed by Ken Latona and built out of sustainable Tasmanian wood, it continues to impress walkers with its functionality and classic minimalist lines, as well as its welcoming, relaxed feel. Plus a new refreshed menu launched by David Quon, highlighting the ‘bush tucker’ influence of the surrounding landscape, is a new addition to staples such as the freshly caught flat-head hikers bring home for dinner.
Always adapting and evolving, in 2023 the award-winning Freycinet Experience Walk will launch an Artists in Residence Program. Artists will be housed in a space separate from the walkers, and will be site responsive environmental / ephemeral artists. Artists will leave something of their process, and some written documentation of their experience of Friendly Beaches and the peninsula that future guests can experience – a nod to the family’s appreciation of the arts.
A chance to escape urban life and reconnect in sweet relaxed bliss with nature, the Freycinet Experience Walk is one worth celebrating.
Get more info on Freycinet Experience Walk and book here
“If asked by the right person to nominate one of my favourite spots on Earth, I would pause, and in my mind’s eye, take a breath of sea air from a long, deserted beach on the Freycinet Peninsula. I would try to describe a walk on white sand, past a lagoon flecked with black swans, along a wattle-shaded track impressed by wombats and devils, to a lodge concealed in the trees.” Nicholas Shakespeare, Author
“Friendly Beaches Lodge is one of those places you never want to leave, and one of those places you always long to return to.” David Handley, Sculpture by the Sea
“Freycinet Experience Walk is a bushwalking experience…but it’s about far more than the bushwalking.” Reuben Wells, Former Freycinet Experience Walk guide
“Never underestimate the restorative power of the Australian bush.” Joan Masterman
“I haven’t met many people who are so in love with Tasmania as a place, but who also realise that that love is as much about people as it is about the landscape itself. That’s the main impression I have of Joan – that to her, the place is people.” Richard Wastell, artist
“Ten days ago, I’d have struggled to identify a single flower, bird call or animal track in either of these magnificent Australian landscapes. Now, thanks to this clever and considering pairing of walks, led by two sets of infectiously passionate and wonderfully knowledgeable guides, they feel like reassuringly familiar treasures.” Rob McFarland, Traveller, Sydney Morning Herald/The Age.
Ranges To River combines two of the Great Walks of Australia – Arkaba Walk and Murray River Walk – into one magical nine day, 80 km hiking adventure through some of South Australia’s most iconic and stunning outback landscapes.
Traveller Magazine (Sydney Morning Herald/The Age) recently came and experienced the double Great Walk, profiled in their July 2021 cover story.
Read the full Ranges To River Double Great Walk Of Australia article in Traveller
Interested in experiencing it for yourself?
Remaining dates of Ranges To River Double Great Walk in 2022 are:
June 23 – July 1, 2022
July 28 – August 5, 2022
August 24 – September 2, 2022
Get more information and book the Ranges To River Walk here
Pinetrees Lodge – home to the Seven Peaks Walk – is playing a vital role leading the restoration of the world’s critically endangered Sallywood Swamp Forest.
A plant community dominated by the Sallywood tree, Lord Howe Island is the only place in the world that the species is found.
With over 95% of the original forest destoryed over decades of grazing, the Pinetrees Lodge Team (headed by former UN ecologist and Seven Peaks Walk owner and guide Luke Hanson) joined with the Lord Howe Island board on a restoration project to save the trees from extinction.
The project has included fencing one hectare of floodplain, extensive removal of invasive grasses and weeds (oleander, kiuyu, thistle), and planting more than 6,000 tress and palms typically seen in the Sallywood Swap Forests.
With $100k in funding secured from the NSW Government’s Environmental Trust and another $100k matched from Pinetrees Lodge, the team have rolled out phase one and completed phase two last year, replicating a second one hectare site to the south of the first site.
This second site has now connected with the lowland forest in Edies Glen, restored by the Friends of Lord Howe Island – a bush conservation group – over the past two decades.
Also assisting is Lord Howe Island Nursery, who have readied 5,000 seedlings ready for planting over the next 10 years – an extraordinary commitment from many teams.
Having become one of the first carbon neutral hotels in the world in December 2020, this is yet another exemplary show from Pinetrees Lodge and Seven Peaks Walk of continuing to invest financially and with action to the conservation of this amazing island and the environment at large.
Read more on Seven Peaks Walk /
Pinetrees Lodge’s Sallywood Swamp Forest restoration work
For those short on time, the Scenic Rim Trail in South East Queensland is offering a number of special departures to complete the full 60km walk in four days instead of five.
This new special edition condensed itinerary has the exact walking itinerary as the five day Great Walk, but loses the first day (a non-walking day) at Spicer’s Hidden Vale.
The Scenic Rim Trail Express package is all inclusive, and starts from $2,399 twin share.
Scenic Rim Trail Express Dates for 2021 are:
Tuesday 13 July
Tuesday 10 August
Tuesday 24 August
Wednesday 25 August
Tuesday 7 September
Get more info the Scenic Rim Trail itinerary
