The Trailwalker Magazine

The Friends publish a membership magazine called the Trailwalker. It has broad appeal for members and hikers with articles covering happenings on the Heysen Trail, the activities of the Friends, and trip reports from members who have hiked elsewhere. The Trailwalker is published in April, August & December.

Latest Trailwalker

April 2025

Issue 171

Highlights include:

  • The AustralianTriple Crown
  • Evolution of the Heysen Trail 2004 - 2024
  • 2025 End-To-End Bookings Now Open

Trailwalker Archive

December 2024

Issue 170

Highlights include:

  • 2024 End-To-End Reports
  • Truth Telling Along the Heysen Trail
  • Northern Trailhead Rejuvenation Opening

August 2024

Issue 169

Highlights include:

  • The Great South West Walk
  • The Perfect Hiking Companion
  • Northern Trailhead Rejuvenation

April 2024

Issue 168

Highlights include:

  • Big, Bold Trailhead Gets The Green Light
  • Bushfire Recovery Experience
  • Heysen Friends Walks Program 2024
  • Long Distance Hiking - Prepare yourself mentally and physically

December 2023

Issue 167

Highlights include:

  • End-To-End Year In Summary
  • Friends Summer Walk Programme 2023/24
  • Heysen Trail ReRoutes: From Idea To Inception Is A Long Road

August 2023

Issue 166

Highlights include:

  • Bob was Right!
  • Heysen and the Trail
  • Not just Noodles & Porridge
  • When End-to-Ends come Face-to-Face

April 2023

Issue 165

Highlights include:

  • 30th Anniversary of the Heysen Trail Opening
  • Tackling the Wild South Coast Way
  • Walking Poles 101: Technique
  • Walked the Yorke

December 2022

Issue 164

Highlights include:

  • Lavender Highlights
  • End-To-End Year In Summary
  • When The Only Way In Is To Walk
  • Southbound Stomp Or Northward Wander

August 2022

Issue 163

Highlights include:

  • Why Rush A Good Thing?
  • Renovation Of Rossiters Hut
  • Think Pink!
  • Christmas Creek, Lamington NP

April 2022

Issue 162

Highlights include:

  • Walking Trail or Muse?
  • Thru Hiking on the Heysen Trail
  • More than a Stroll on the Beach
  • Taste of the Aussie Camino

December 2021

Issue 161

Highlights include:

  • An Interloper's Perspective
  • E2E10 Get There........Eventually
  • Impressions From First Time E2E Walkers
  • Wild South Coast Way On The Heysen Trail

August 2021

Issue 160

Highlights include:

  • '2020 In Review'
  • 'The Saga of Greening Hiskey's Hut'
  • In the Footsteps of Warren Bonython'
  • 'A New Chapter for TrailWalker'

Autumn 2021

Issue 159

Highlights include:

  • South Coast Walk 2020
  • Reality of solo hiking a ,long distance trail
  • Hiltaba Reserve: Warren Bonython Walk
  • Walk the Yorke in the year of COVID

Summer 2020/21

Issue 158

November 2020

Highlights include:

  • Celebrating 35 years of the Friends
  • 2020/21 Walk Programmes
  • Trail Development Update
  • Future Trail Projects in Parks & Forests
  • Our latest Honorary Members

Spring 2020

Issue 157

August 2020

Highlights include:

  • A pandemic pivot - through hiking the Heysen
  • Beyond the Heysen with Camel Treks
  • Walking on Eyre
  • Exploring the Yurrebilla

Winter 2020

Issue 156

May 2020

Highlights include:

  • Covid-19 update
  • Friends respond to the pandemic
  • Friends 2019 in review
  • Mental & physical health effects of walking
  • What hiking taught me about isolation
  • Terry Lavender Churchill Fellowship

Autumn 2020

Issue 155

February 2020

Highlights include:

  • Fire hits the Heysen
  • The original End-to-End
  • Water treatment on the trail
  • Eliza's 4,270km walk for diabetes

Summer 2019/20

Issue 154

December 2019

Highlights include:

  • Twilight Walk Programme
  • End-to-End Season Reports
  • Meet the New Ambassador
  • WA's Cape to Cape Track

Spring 2019

Issue 153

August 2019

Highlights include:

  • Wading Through Canyons: National Parks of Southwest USA
  • We Can’t Stop Here! The Heysen Trail Beyond Parachilna
  • The Camino Inglés
  • Cleaning Gore-Tex Jackets
  • Botanic Thoughts on Mt Remarkable

Winter 2019

Issue 152

June 2019

Highlights include:

  • Reconciliation on the Heysen
  • How to take better photos on the trail
  • The John Muir Trail: North America’s most famous hiking trail
  • The Great South West Walk
  • 2019 Walks Programme
  • Native Plants on the Heysen

Autumn 2019

Issue 151

March 2019

Highlights include:

  • Tothill Range: Jewel of the Mid-North
  • Boot Blues! Choosing the best walking boots

Summer 2019

Issue 150

December 2018

Highlights include:

  • Heysen Highlights - the perfect Companion Guide and Christmas gift
  • End-to-End Highlights
  • Twilight Walk Programme
  • The Salkantay Trek
  • Walking the Channel Islands

Spring 2018

Issue 149

September 2018

Highlights include:

  • Orchids - Hidden Gems of the Trail
  • The Great North Walk
  • Navigating Steep Terrain
  • History of the Heysen

Winter 2018

Issue 148

June 2018

Highlights include:

  • Reconciliation on the Kokoda Trail
  • Hiking with children
  • Within Moroccan walls

Autumn 2018

Issue 147

March 2018

Highlights include:

  • 2018 AGM
  • A Stroll in the Red Centre
  • Trail Tips
  • South of the Heysen
  • How to Use Walking Poles

Summer 2018

Issue 146

December 2017

Highlights include:

  • A KI Extension Part 2
  • Entrancing Jatbula
  • Twin Peaks of Ladakh
  • 55 day trek for charity
  • Trekking in Transylvania

Spring 2017

Issue 145

September 2017

Highlights include:

  • Cape Jervis to Wilpena
  • Record Heysen Run
  • Murray Meander
  • A KI Extension

Winter 2017

Issue 144

June 2017

Highlights include:

  • AGM Reports
  • Mid-North Branch
  • Two "through-hikes"
  • End-to-End Maintenance

Autumn 2017

Issue 143

February 2017

Highlights include:

  • 10 Peaks Challenge
  • KI Wilderness Trail
  • Tramping the Leatham (NZ)

Summer 2017

Issue 142

December 2016

Highlights include:

  • Tie-Dye for CanTeen
  • A Night Climb in Bali
  • End-to-End 6 finishes
  • Adelaide100 walk takes shape

Spring 2016

Issue 141

September 2016

Highlights include:

  • Mera & Island Peaks
  • Vladislav’s Heysen Hike
  • Mt Aspiring National Park (NZ)

Winter 2016

Issue 140

June 2016

Highlights include:

  • AGM Reports
  • FoHT Ambassador
  • NZ’s Milford Track
  • Anzac in the Grampians

Summer 2016

Issue 138

December 2015

Summer 2016 Trailwalker coverHighlights include:

  • 5 Ordinary People
  • End-to-End Silly Sixers
  • A day walk in Switzerland
  • Friends Office moves to new location

Spring 2015

Issue 137

September 2015

Trailwalker magazine, Spring 2015 coverHighlights include:

  • Larapinta with Luke
  • A Taste of New Guinea
  • Japan’s Nakasendo Way
  • Return to Tiger Leaping Gorge

Winter 2015

Issue 136

June 2015

Highlights include:

  • Introducing His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO, Governor of South Australia, Patron of Friends of the Heysen Trail
  • AGM Reports
  • End-to-End Magic
  • Journey to the Red Hills
  • Mountaineering in Ecuador

Autumn 2015

Issue 135

March 2015

Highlights include:

  • Tour Mont Blanc
  • Overland Track
  • Let’s Do Lunch
  • AGM Notices
  • The First End-to-End walk of the Heysen Trail

Summer 2015

Issue 135

December 2014

Highlights include:

  • End-to-End Group Reports
  • 2015 Walks Programs
  • Kangaroo Island
  • Unicorn Brewery

Spring 2014

Issue 133

August 2014

Highlights include:

  • Luke’s Kokoda Experience
  • Alan and Neil’s NZ Tramp
  • Worumba Weekend
  • Willow Brewery

Winter 2014

Issue 132

June 2014

Highlights include:

  • Alligator Gorge
  • The Lares Trek
  • Cafe Latte Heart Starter
  • AGM Reports

Autumn 2014

Issue 131

March 2014

Highlights include:

  • Bushfire reports
  • The Morialta Barns
  • Climbing Nyiragongo
  • End to Ends

Summer 2014

Issue 130

December 2013

Highlights include:

  • Corsica - GR10
  • Horseshoe Range
  • Warren Bonython Memorial Walk wrap-up
  • Tracks of Time
  • Origin of the Heysen Trail
  • Richard Savage completes a hat trick

Spring 2013

Issue 129

September 2013

Spring 2013 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • A Day on the Heysen Trail, the Warren Bonython Memorial Walk
  • Chicks on the Beach
  • Nepal - A Trekker’s Paradise
  • In and Around Wilpena, part 2

Winter 2013

Issue 128

June 2013

Winter 2013 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Cotswolds
  • Kahurangi NP
  • In and around Wilpena
  • Awatere Tussock Track

Autumn 2013

Issue 127

March 2013

Autumn 2013 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • China
  • New Zealand
  • Snowy Mountains
  • AGM Notice

Summer 2013

Issue 126

December 2012

Summer 2013 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Larapinta - Training and Execution
  • Coast to Coast for Rett Syndrome
  • Mt Rainier’s Wonderland Trail
  • Simpson Desert
  • Camino Inca
  • Tanks a lot

Spring 2012

Issue 125

September 2012

Spring 2012 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Patawarta - Thrills, chills & spills
  • Di's Mera Peak Challenge
  • Snowies in Summer
  • Climbing Kinabalu

Winter 2012

Issue 124

June 2012

Winter 2012 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Tributes to C Warren Bonython AO
  • Everest Base Camp
  • Europe in September: A Walkers Visit

Autumn 2012

Issue 123

March 2012

Autumn 2012 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Where Our Members Been Hiking Over Summer
  • Somewhere Over the Rainbow - classic NZ tramp
  • Falls Creek with ARPA
  • AGM Notice & Agenda

Summer 2012

Issue 122

December 2011

Summer 2012 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Bibbulmun - The Northern Half
  • A Short Cut to Machu Picchu
  • The Fearless Five Women on the Heysen Trail
  • DIY Stove Windshield
  • Nominations for Honorary Membership

Spring 2011

Issue 121

September 2011

Spring 2011 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • I love the Heysen Trail so much I got the tattoo
  • Kilimanjaro magic
  • Using a GPS on a hike
  • Ethan walks the Heysen Trail in 28 days
  • 54 walkers from the End to End 3 group finish the Trail
  • George Driscoll Sea to Summit run

Winter 2011

Issue 120

June 2011

Winter 2011 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Easter at Warraweena
  • Arkaroola to Mt Hopeless: When it Rains - Travel North
  • Another Summer in Aotearoa: Tramping in the Nelson & Marlborough Regions of NZ
  • End to End 3 and Lake Eyre: Triumph Against the Odds

Autumn 2011

Issue 119

March 2011

Autumn 2011 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Friends AGM 25th March 2011
  • Walking the Lavender Federation Trail
  • Friends 25th Anniversary-opening of 2011 Walking Season
  • Walking in North Island New Zealand
  • Walking the Overland Track in Tasmania

Summer 2011

Issue 118

December 2010

Summer 2011 Trailwalker MagazineHighlights include:

  • Delight in the Dolomites
  • Our Trip to The Grampians
  • The Bungle Bungle
  • Heysen Trail - End to End

Feature Trailwalker Articles

Every little bit counts – WEA Ramblers walking group celebrates 90th birthday

Every little bit counts – WEA Ramblers walking group celebrates 90th birthdayThe WEA Ramblers celebrated it’s 90th birthday earlier this year, remembering the occasion in 1925 when WEA students – then attached to the S.A. University – united to form a club to organise hikes, to enjoy the environment and to participate in conservation issues. The Club is now smaller in number but continues to organise fortnightly daywalks and the occasional long weekend ‘camp’ further afield. Individual members have always participated in trail issues, including the making of the Heysen Trail and continue this particular involvement by maintaining responsibility for Section 8 of the trail between Piccadilly and Norton Summit.

End-to-End Minus 1

The Meritorious, Notorious and Hilarious Adventures of Morris Minus (Part 5) – Morris Learns About Catch-ups, Casualties and Companions

End-to-End Minus 1To start our final year on the trail we had an easy one-day walk – a catch-up for the postponed last walk in 2014. Our numbers had reduced due to a couple of our walkers suffering injuries in the ‘off’ season. So it was down to The Woods of Mount Crawford with a random assortment of teddy bears and a screaming baboon called Super Morris Major!!!

Willow Brewery, Pichi Richi

History along our Trails

Willow Brewery, Pichi RichiOld majestic buildings, scratching in the earth from an old mine or a broken down farm house. All were once the dreams of our forefathers, a story to be told of hope and hardship and now, just shattered aspirations.

The Morialta Barns

The Morialta BarnsThe Heysen Trail is a trail of discovery, yielding many secrets as you traverse its course. I remember walking past the Morialta Barns in 2007 for the very first time. I was intrigued to learn more about their origins after reading the interpretive signs at the site.

Changes on the Heysen Trail

Changes on the Heysen TrailWalkers on the Heysen Trail are not aware of the changes and improvements that take place over time. Richard Savage has travelled from his Tennessee home in USA to walk the Heysen three times. Here he describes some changes noticed on his recent end to end, completed on 23 September 2013.

Chicks on the Beach

Chicks on the BeachThe Hooded Plover is a small bird found on Australia’s southern ocean beaches, including the Fleurieu Peninsula. Walking along the beautiful beaches of the Heysen Trail: Waitpinga, Parsons, Sheepies (Shannon’s Gully), Coolawang, Tunkalilla and Lands End, you have probably walked right past these well-camouflaged birds.

The Fearless Five

Women on The Heysen Trail

The Fearless FiveThe initial spark of enthusiasm to do this walk came from a small group of friends who were walkers and were looking for a challenge. The idea was mooted, maps purchased and trips to the Friends of the Heysen Office organised.

When it Ends

End-to-End 3 completes the Heysen Trail

When it EndsEnd-to-End 3 crossed the final stile at Parachilna on Saturday the 13th, for the largest finishing celebration in the Friend’s history. Eighty three walkers climbed the wooden steps. Fifty four were completing the trail and of that group forty three had started the journey together at Cape Jervis, six years earlier.

When it Rains — Travel North

Arkaroola to Mt Hopeless

When it Rains — Travel NorthRain can put a dampener on many walks but not those in the far north “beyond the Heysen”. A small cadre of Friends have been attempting to emulate the feat of our patron Warren Bonython, and follow the spine of the Flinders Ranges to Mt Hopeless. This has been planned in weekly stages, over the last three years and at first we didn’t realise the blessing bestowed by torrential rains.

An Obsession and Never Ending Story

Heysen Trail Maintenance

An Obsession and Never Ending StoryI joined the Friends of the Heysen 20 years ago, and from the start was interested in trail maintenance. I could not at that time take on a maintenance section due to business commitments, so volunteered to work on an ad hoc basis, notably when there was a full time FoHT Manager, who would telephone for volunteers.

Diamonds of the Heysen Trail

Diamonds of the Heysen TrailMy friend, Sallie and I, regular long distance trail walkers, set out at the beginning of July to make an assault on the first 250 km of the Heysen Trail. The intent was to do the first 5 days and the last day on full packs with the rest done on day packs staying at local facilities and having our big packs moved in between.

Doug Leane

Doug LeaneDouglas Gepp Leane, Honorary Member of the Friends of the Heysen Trail, and long time maintenance Section Leader, passed away on 16th December, 2008 at the age of 82.

Nine Artists, Eight Days in the Landscape on the Heysen Trail

Nine Artists, Eight Days in the Landscape on the Heysen TrailIn May 2008 artists Euan Macleod, Leo Robba, Chris O’Doherty aka Reg Mombassa, Lucy Culliton, Elisabeth Cummings, Neil Frazer, David Keeling, Adrienne Richards and David Usher, embarked on an adventure to capture their impressions of the spectacular landscape of the famous “Heysen Trail”, a 1200 kilometre walking trail, in South Australia. The Heysen is one of the great long distance walks in the world. It extends from Cape Jervis on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide to Parachilna Gorge in the northern Flinders Ranges.

Feeling Great – the Story of End-to-End 2

Feeling Great – the Story of End-to-End 2The ‘Heysen Trail’ has become our obsession and biggest personal challenge to complete in August 2008. When we first started walking on some End-to-End 1 days and catch ups we thought, okay just for the fun of it, we will do the odd day. We were told that we should just do the easy bits but this made us determined to tackle the whole 1200km!

She’s Missing! A Story of Survival

Lost on St Mary Peak, Flinders Ranges

She’s Missing! A Story of SurvivalAt the beginning of 1996, I decided to take time off from work as a senior manager in the Netherlands’ health system; a sort of sabbatical to reflect on my job and private life. I wanted to recover physically and emotionally from some stressful years that lay behind me.

Coastal Walking from North Haven to Goolwa

Coastal Walking from North Haven to GoolwaFinally we have completed it with our final day’s walk into the car park at Cape Jervis. It was a journey that started years ago, but became a project when, one hot Australian Day, Marie and I were walking along Semaphore beach to the breakwater at North Haven and it occurred to me that, with a little extra effort, we could walk along the coast to the Murray Mouth.

A Patron’s Walking Life

The Friends’ Patron C Warren Bonython AO

A Patron’s Walking LifeWe sometimes contemplate doing something out of the ordinary to celebrate a landmark birthday. For C Warren Bonython AO, to celebrate his 75th, it was to head off to Africa and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He got within 1700 feet of the summit of this 18,500 feet giant before altitude sickness set in.

A Look Back in time

The trail created by the interim Council of the Friends of the Heysen Trail

A Look Back in timeIn the following two articles we have combined some background history with that seen through the eyes of Fred Brooks and Frank Hall, two members of the Interim Council of the Friends of the Heysen Trail.

Umberatana Station

The quest for Mt Thomas

Umberatana StationWilliam Henry had come to Australia from Cornwall in 1848, working at Burra and the Victorian goldfields and then in 1857, with his brother James, became the first lease holder of Umberatana Station - 188 square miles of semi-arid land in the North Flinders Ranges, west of Arkaroola.

Bushwalker Leaves Trail of Memories

Obituary, Terry Lavender

Bushwalker Leaves Trail of MemoriesTerry Lavender South Australia’s “Mr Bushwalking” will be remembered for his dedication to recreation in SA. He was the architect of one of the world’s great walking trails — the long-distance Heysen Trail, which snakes its way for 1500 km across the state from Cape Jervis, at the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula, to rugged Parachilna Gorge, in the Central Flinders Ranges.

Mt Lofty: A View Down Through the Early Years

Mt Lofty: A View Down Through the Early YearsMt. Lofty, that high “bump” on the skyline of the ranges overlooking the city, has been held near and dear by local residents from the very first days of the fledgling colony. Elsewhere in Australia only Canberra and Hobart share with us the privilege of having a mountain destination at their very doorstep, a fact now being appreciated by increasing numbers of Adelaide residents, and for many of us a short, fifteen-minute drive can find us soon tackling the lower slopes of the mountain.

Walk from Parachilna Gorge to Mt Hopeless

Walk from Parachilna Gorge to Mt HopelessIn May 2000 a small group of experienced walkers from the Friends who had completed walking the Heysen Trail, and had thus walked from Crystal Brook to Parachilna Gorge, set out to set out to complete the emulation of Warren’s walk, by walking on to Mt Hopeless.

Discovering Elapidae

Discovering ElapidaeI remember viewing the reptile exhibit of the Detroit Zoo shortly before coming to Australia. Essential ‘snake facts’ reminded me that the greatest population and variety of poisonous snakes on earth could be found in Australia. OK...let’s rethink this plan. Sure, we have bears and mountain lions around the place, but I’ve managed to live a relatively active outdoor life for 35 years without so much as a claw mark.

Completed Labours are Pleasant

Completed Labours are PleasantA few weeks ago I made the mistake of informing Arthur Smith that on the 4th August last my wife and I completed our walk of the entire mapped section of the Heysen Trail from Cape Jervis to Parachilna Gorge. As a form of penance for this indiscretion of disclosure I agreed to write a short note on the subject for inclusion in The Trailwalker. When will I ever learn to keep my trap shut?

Fifty Years Before The Heysen Trail

Fifty Years Before The Heysen TrailFifty years ago this May, three of us walked along the south coast of Fleurieu Peninsula between the old Talisker mine and Victor Harbour. I recently came across my diary for this journey, and reproduce an edited version here so that those who know the Heysen Trail in this area can make a few comparisons. It may also stimulate nostalgia among those old enough to remember.

History of the Heysen Trail

History of the Heysen TrailIt is now 18 years since the Heysen Trail was conceived; the first 9, under the State Planning Authority, were a period of enthusiastic planning changing to frustration; the second 9, under the Department of Recreation & Sport, have been a period of steady building of the trail and further promotion of the idea behind it.