Authors - John Chapman, Monica Chapman, John Siseman
Publisher - John Chapman Updates-Ed5 | Contents
Page
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This is the guide for the Australian Alps Walking Track which
runs from Walhalla near Melbourne to Canberra. It includes full
track notes to the 660km route. An essential companion
for anyone intending to walk the track. For extra information for basic
planning and suggested itineraries read this
page
on this site.
It contains 240
pages, 175 colour photos, 51 - 1:50,000 topographic maps, ISBN 978 1
920995 21 8, 5th edition recommended retail is $44.95
If you are seeking a shorter leadup walk, then consider McMillans Walking Track.
It is 210km long and takes up to 14 days walking and
traverses the southern side of
the alps. It has a lot of similarities with steep climbs and ascents,
forested sections, river crossings and even a long off-track section.
Of course there are also some differences with gold mining relics and
one day with 24 river crossings! It is easier to organise as there is
access by two wheel drive about
every 2 or 3 days and, with a four-wheel drive, access to the track
every
night except one. It crosses the Australian Alps Walking Track at Mt
Shillinglaw.
Purchasing
The
5th edition is the same size as the previous
edition. While the track has remained in the same location, there are
many small changes like water tanks, minor road and track
re-alignments and an alternative route for when the Murrumbidgee River
is too dangerous to cross safely. Also due to a new walking track
being created, the official route of the track through part of the
Kosciuszko National Park has been moved to a much better alignment. Its
still not as interesting as the untracked route across the Rolling
Grounds but if you have to leave the tops is a far more pleasant walk
than the previous alignment which was nearly all road bashing.
For details about payment options, posting, packaging and ordering
multiple copies, refer to the paragraph at the top of our general Publication page.
The 4th edition sold out in late 2020. Due
to the Covid lockdowns, we were unable to rewalk the
track as originally planned in the spring of 2020, we had to do
it in sections between
lockdowns and did not complete checking until late May 2021.
As
part of the track was closed, we were unable to rewalk the Johnnies Top
section -
due to the recent fire its possible some of the vehicle tracks around
Johnnies Top have changed. The rangers tell us the water tank was not
damaged and apart from heavy fire damage to the forest not much else
changed. If we
waited until that section opened so we could walk it before working on
the
new edition, the guide would have been delayed until the middle of 2022
or later.
We decided most walkers want it earlier than that so we decided to
print it this summer without a recent check of Johnnies Top. We did do
a
drive around on the roads that were open, visited Buenba
Creek, Mt
Hope Road etc and did some short walk-ins to see how extensive
the fire
was (basically
the fires were intense, easy walking this year but in 5 years time, it
could be very thick scrub!).
Previous editions
The first three editions were written and published by John Siseman
(under his Pindari Publications name). He asked us to join with him to
produce the 4th edition. That edition was a major rewrite and major
redesign - it was printed in colour throughout and had 51 new colour
topographic maps for
the
entire track which reduced the need for some maps where the
track crosses map corners. To save production time, the new
fifth
edition (2021) layout was based on the previous 4th edition layout and
we used about 2/3 of the photos from the previous edition. This saved
several weeks of work enabling us to get it into print earlier than
otherwise as we know there are many wanting to use the 5th edition. We
did update and edit all of the text.
Regarding maps, we suggest still taking the major maps (the 1:100,000
series or Rooftop Maps are a good choice) as
they are more useful in emergencies when you have to leave the track to
exit the area. While the Rooftop maps are essentially designed
for
four-wheel drive, if you have to leave you should follow the
roads
out hence why they are excellent maps for emergency exits as those maps
show
which roads lead to towns.
Elevation profiles are improved with more
detail and
the 175 colour photographs are placed with the text they illustrate.
Where needed, notes are provided for the reverse direction from
Canberra to Walhalla and there are 46 specific notes for Southbound
walkers - as we have walked the reverse direction we
were able to assess where extra information was needed. We considered
providing full reverse notes such as done in our Larapinta Trail book - after
working out
the book would be close to 400 pages and weigh nearly twice as much, we
realised it was not practical, most would not want to carry a book of
that weight.
