Year: 2015

Survey on the Best Walks of SA

Posted on

Survey on the Best Walks of South Australia

The Bushwalk Australia eMagazine October’s edition will focus on South Australia. They are seeking input on the best walks in South Australia.

Submit your favourite Heysen Trail walks! Browse through our Walk Selector for some inspiration.

Submit the survey below and enter your 6 favourite walks:

  • 3 x favourite day walks
  • 3 x favourite multi-day walks

For each walk:

  • name the walk/trail
  • short description of why you think it is good
  • a link to webpage somewhere with more info

If you are a day-walker only, or overnight-walker only, you could skip entering info on the other category.

Get Inspired
Submit Survey

Buckaringa Sanctuary Feral Control Closure, 28-30 August and 25-27 September 2015

Posted on

Buckaringa Sanctuary, managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy will be undertaking feral animal control in Buckaringa Sanctuary during coming months.

The cull program is somewhat opportunistic depending on numbers of goats present and availability of shooters so we cannot provide a set of dates when access to the sanctuary may be closed.

The next planned closures are:

  • Friday 21 August to Monday 24 August 2015 Friday 28 August to Sunday 30 August 2015, and
  • Friday 25 September to Sunday 27 September 2015

The Heysen Trail passes through the sancuary between Quorn and Hawker, on map 6, chapter 4, of the Northern Guidebook.

Signs will be placed at points where the Heysen Trail enters the Sanctuary during all times of closure.

We remind hikers to obey these signs, and also to not camp within the sanctuary (a campsite that was located there was closed in 2006).

The sanctuary is home to many Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies.

Free Seminar: Why Take a Hike on a Long Distance Trail? Integrating Tourism and Recreation Through Research

Posted on

Free Seminar, Why Take a Hike on a Long Distance Trail 2 Free Seminar, Why Take a Hike on a Long Distance Trail 2

Professor Taylor Stein, University of FloridaProfessor Taylor Stein
University of Florida

Free seminar
Friday 21st August 2015
2:30pm – 3:30pm
At University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, P2-06

Find out about the United State’s National Scenic Trail System and the challenges of managing these trails for tourists while providing opportunities for locals. Taylor will talk specifically about the Florida National Scenic Trail, which is a similar concept to our Heysen Trail. The talk will focus on market segmentation – who’s hiking and what they want.

Professor Taylor Stein is visiting UniSA as part of his sabbatical from the University of Florida. His trip has been funded in part by UniSA’s Visiting Distinguished Researcher Grant.

University of South Australia, School of Natural and Built Environments

All 8 new sheet maps for Heysen Trail now for sale

Posted on

Purchase any of the new 8 new sheet maps for Heysen Trail

The full series of Heysen Trail map sheets have been released and are available for purchase.

These new fold-out map sheets replace the Southern and Northern Guidebooks.

Each map is available for purchase now via our online store, for $15 with postage from $2.15.

The maps are double sided and printed on water resistant paper. The maps include elevation profiles with kilometre markers and crossing point names. The new map style allows walkers to gain a “big picture” understanding of where they are on the trail, with a continuous trail line and a constant 3-5km of mapping around the trail.

Remember, you can sign up to receive re-route notifications for your guidebook or map sheet editions. All guidebooks and map sheets published since 2014 are available for notification.

There are 8 maps in this series:

Kangaroo Island Long Weekend FoHT Trip, October

Posted on

Rocky River beach

Come hike Kangaroo Island with a fun-filled bus of hikers, over the October long weekend. Three walks in different areas of the island show off the varied scenery, flora and fauna of this special island.

Three days of hiking:

  • Rocky River Hike, stage 1 of 63km Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. Following platypus pools on the Rocky River
  • Kelly Caves to Hanson Bay Hike, walking through coastal heath, woodlands, alongside freshwater lagoons, and over dunes to Hanson Bay
  • Murray Lagoon, see aquatic birdlife

Book via the website or office.

View Trip Detail

Heysen Trail returns to Wirrabara Forest & Sampson Flat Fireground

Posted on

Heysen Trail returns to Wirrabara ForestWirrabara Forest Trail Open

Following on from our earlier update, we’ve been negotiating with stakeholders and can now announce that the Heysen Trail has been restored and re-marked to the original route through Wirrabara Forest. This removes the 44km temporary re-route which went around the entire forest and via the town of Wirrabara.

There are two small re-routes in the northern section of the forest.

Sampson Flat Fireground Re-Opening and Re-Routes

Following the January 2015 Sampson Flat Bushfire the Heysen Trail has been re-marked through the fireground, from Nugget Road to near Kersbrook.

A temporary re-route is in place from Chain of Ponds to Kersbook.

View re-routes:

Proposed Heysen Trail Realignment in Flinders Ranges Draft Management Plan – Have Your Say

Posted on

Aroona-Valley-and-Heysen-RangeThe Flinders Ranges National Park Draft Management Plan has been released for public consultation. It sets out objectives and strategies for the ongoing protection and conservation of the natural and cultural values of the Park.

View Plan and Have Your Say

Our Concerns

We at the Friends of the Heysen Trail consider that the plan is well presented and a valuable addition to strategic planning for the region. We wholeheartedly agree with the investment in upgrading the hiking opportunities in the Park.

We would suggest the plan provide the vision of a diverse trail network of well managed trails covering the many diverse landforms, plus the natural and cultural features of the park. And as such we would have to disagree on the suggestion to re-align the Heysen Trail.

On page 18, “Developing a world class multi-day walk (with minimal impact hiker accommodation) based on a realignment of the Heysen Trail along the foothills of the Heysen Range between Bunyeroo Gorge and Aroona Campground.”

The most cited comment on hikers completing the Heysen Trail is that it provides such a variety of experiences. The countryside, vistas, flora and the fauna.

The proposal has the Heysen Trail continuing along the valley floor (mostly accessible by vehicle), rather than climbing to seeing the breathtaking vistas, trekking through geological ages, and through Sir Hans Heysen painting landscapes.

The proposed re-alignment of this section of the Heysen Trail:

  • miss out on some great vistas back to the Heysen Range and from walking through the Three Sisters from Sir Hans’s paintings. It misses the diversity of this country.
  • miss the magnificent vistas looking across the ABC Range to the rugged profile of Wilpena Pound and the Heysen Range, are one of the great iconic features of the Heysen Trail and we recommend this be retained.
  • Importantly it misses the Golden Spike at Trezona – Enorama Creek – Australia’s most significant geological feature, a world renown feature. Walkers on the Heysen Trail currently walk past the defining point, the ‘Golden Spike’. Other features such as the glacier rock are also passed on the Trail.
  • The current alignment takes the hikers through historic landscapes and includes two hiker huts. These old shepherd huts have been converted to hiker shelter and accommodation. They retain the original architecture and rustic character of the original construction. These would be by-passed with the proposed re-route. Hiker accommodation is currently available at these two huts.
  • The proposed re-alignment would require significant investment on trail construction and hiker accommodation. We consider this an unnecessary expense.

Working with the Government

The Friends are happy to provide ongoing assistance with the management of the trail within the park, working with Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resource (DEWNR) to enhance and improve trail and walker experiences.

We are finalising our fuller submission to respond to the draft plan. Review the plan yourself and share your views and any concerns at environment.sa.gov.au/haveyoursay

Responses close July 31, 2015.

Read our Full Response

End-to-End 5 group to finish Heysen Trail in August

Posted on

End-to-End 5 group to finish Heysen Trail in August

The End-to-End 5 group is about to embark on its final walks during the last week of August. Walking from the Leigh Creek Road near Old Wonoka to the Parachilna Trailhead will see many members of the Friends achieve their ambition to complete the Heysen trail on Saturday 29 August. The End-to-End 5 group began walking in 2010 and has had to contend with the after effects of bushfires on two occasions in the State’s mid north and the cancellation of walks last year as a result of unexpectedly high temperatures early in October. Being just ‘a stone throw’ away from finishing the Trail has seen the group’s numbers increase this year and a heightening of excitement as August nears.

Registration will open to all-comers next Monday 6 July for anyone who would like to join the End-to-End 5 group in the Flinders Ranges as it takes its final walks and celebrates with dinner on Saturday evening at the Woolshed Restaurant (Rawnsley Park).

The event cost is $340 for the week’s hiking, with an additional $48 for dinner on the Saturday evening. If you wish to participate in the whole week, you can register online or via our office. To participate in just the weekend, or just the dinner, please contact the office to register.

View Walk Event page

5 Ordinary People finish 1,200km hike of Heysen Trail 2pm Saturday 20th June 2015

Posted on

5 Ordinary People hiking the Heysen Trail

5 Ordinary People finish of their extraordinary 1,200km through hike of The Heysen Trail at Cape Jervis this at 2pm Saturday 20th June 2015. They will be welcomed by a large band of supporters at the Heysen Trail Trailhead in Cape Jervis. Heysen Trail End-to-End certificates and badges will be presented by the President of the Heysen Trail, Robert Alcock.

About the family’s 65-day trek

A family of five, including Eli, 12, Emily, 10, and Noah, 9, skipped term 2 of school in favour of hiking the Heysen Trail.

There’s so much more to life than just maths and English that kids miss out on, if parents don’t invest time in them.

Along with their parents Luke and Erina, they will be a world away from the classroom routine when they undertake a mission to cover 1,151km on foot over 56 days. Their trek began at the northern trailhead at Parachilna Gorge, trekking south through the Flinders Ranges and Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis.

It’s all part of Erina’s plan to give her children an educational experience of a different kind.

“We want to teach our children the life lessons that, when you’re caught up in the nine to five regime, you just don’t have the time to do,” she says. “There’s so much more to life than just maths and English that kids miss out on, if parents don’t invest time in them.”

Read more

 

Welcoming our 1,000th Member

Posted on

Welcoming our 1,000th member, Rachel Faulkner, Friends of the Heysen TrailThe End-to-End 5 group caught up with the Friends’ 1,000th member, Rachel Faulkner, in Port Augusta earlier this month. Rachel lives in Whyalla and is a Trail Runner with her partner. Rachel explained that they joined the Friends as they enjoyed running the Heysen Trail. As the 1,000th member Rachel was presented Life Membership and a embroidered fleecy top by Julian Monfries, Secretary (and past President) of the Friends, representing the President.