Camino type walks in Australia

[crollsurf]

Are there any multi-day walks in Australia, where you can find a meal, shower and bed at the end of each day?

+1 is retiring next year and wants to walk the Camino. But she is worried about her ankles standing up to multiple days of walking. She is also "demanding" I create a walk, similar to the Camino for a shakedown.

I'm thinking an easy 10-15klm/day x 3+. Anyone got any ideas?

[vagrom]

The Heysen Trail, between Crystal Brook and Inman Valley, has those sort of things, places to stay overnight and also get a meal or shop. Read the recent account in Bushwalk online magazine of August '23 ( pp 7-8 ) on a Tasmanian's happy trek along the 1,200km Trail.

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[north-north-west]

Lavender Federation Trail? 325 km from Murray Bridge to Clare. There's also the Camino Salvado from Subiaco to New Norcia in WA; around 180km from memory.

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

If willing to pay there's the guided hut options for things like 3 capes, overland, routeburn/Milford etc accross the ditch that do showers, meals, beds etc. Otherwise you could do a bit if a choose your own adventure and link up a bunch of towns in the Blue Mountains, or even a lodge-to-lodge walk through the snowies (eg guthega > charlottes > thredbo > crackenback > jindy using the new guthega-charlottes and thredbo Valley tracks... all of the above have summer lodging/dining etc?)

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[Eremophila]

I did some of the Lavender Federation Trail last year, from Clare to Eudunda. There was accommodation if you wanted it at some but not all towns. I only had one night’s bush camping, with a few nights camping at recreation grounds etc. and access to shower and toilet.
It was pretty tedious, you need an appreciation of the South Australian landscape. Plenty of road walking but traffic was rare.

Distances on the Heysen between towns/trailheads are a bit random.

Great Southern Rail Trail might fit the bill. I did this with an older friend a couple of years ago and while it’s not awfully exciting, it’s pleasant and we were able to stay in motels/pubs each night. It has been extended now and you could do 7 days with the kind of distances you’re looking for.
Edit: you can catch the V-Line bus back to your starting point.

I was also looking into the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail a couple of years back, from memory the distances and facilities were good for a “soft” walk.

Last edited by Eremophila on Sat 13 Apr, 2024 6:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[ribuck]

Blue Mountains: Wentworth Falls - Leura - Katoomba - Medlow Bath - Blackheath - Mt Victoria. The accommodation will cost more than on the Camino though.

[Bron]

Yurygair Coast Walk fits the bill, with or without the Solitary Islands Coastal Walk tacked on the end.
4 days for each walk and and up to 8 days total. It is possible to stay in a town every night.
When i did Yurygair I parked in Grafton and caught a bus to/from each end, When I did SICW i left the car in Coffs and caught a train back at the end from Urunga.
Realistically its possible to walk alot of the coast whilst staying in roofed accommodation on the way. However the 2 walks mentioned are signposted and there are companies that will arrange car shuffles and accommodation for you.

[skibug]

A lot of, if not all, of the Great North Walk (Sydney to Newcastle) can be done with a mix of commercial accommodation and public/private transport with a bit of effort and planning.

https://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/inn-to-inn/

Skibug

[farefam]

The Cape to Cape Walk in WA fits the bill if you arrange pickups and drop offs.

[Lindsay]

There is an Australian Camino you can walk :

https://www.afotc.org/pilgrim-resources ... to-penola/

[walk2wineries]

Lavender Federation Trail? 325 km from Murray Bridge to Clare. There's also the Camino Salvado from Subiaco to New Norcia in WA; around 180km from memory.

https://www.caminosalvado.com/ - my understanding is that anyone is welcome to join the yearly pilgrimage style but its a bit difficult to organise by oneself? Certainly not a bnb

[walk2wineries]

I did some of the Lavender Federation Trail last year, from Clare to Eudunda. There was accommodation if you wanted it at some but not all towns. I only had one night’s bush camping, with a few nights camping at recreation grounds etc. and access to shower and toilet.
It was pretty tedious, you need an appreciation of the South Australian landscape. Plenty of road walking but traffic was rare.

Distances on the Heysen between towns/trailheads are a bit random.

Great Southern Rail Trail might fit the bill. I did this with an older friend a couple of years ago and while it’s not awfully exciting, it’s pleasant and we were able to stay in motels/pubs each night. It has been extended now and you could do 7 days with the kind of distances you’re looking for.
Edit: you can catch the V-Line bus back to your starting point.

I was also looking into the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail a couple of years back, from memory the distances and facilities were good for a “soft” walk.

Good idea. Also the Mountain to Murray or whatever its called now, takes in Bright/Myrtleford etc

[walk2wineries]

The Cape to Cape in WA or sections of the Bibulmun; both have active Friends who publish information about acccomodation, transfers etc, and both have commercial groups doing bits of it.
Look in the back pages of Great Walks (most big newsagents) - lots of adverts for providers of 'pack free' or supported walks - Park Treks, Inspiration Outdoors whcih is excellent for WA
The Great ocean walk has lots of providers, its an easy walk, and not at all difficult to start and end each day at accomodation or at least with shuttle.
Agree bits of the Great North - after all, you needn't do all of it. How about say, the start to the Hawkesbury?
What about the long coast walk in Sydney, starting Barrenjoey or North Beaches and ending Cronulla. Similarly Adelaide has a contiguous coastal trail now from at least Aldinga to North Haven. While we are in SA, agree bits of Lavender, the Reisling trail or better the new https://cvwwt.com.au/ clare Valley wine and wilderness trails which are DEFINITELY planned to go from accomodation or winery to the next! The Adelaide 100 is similarly designed to be inn to inn. Yurebilla (3 days around Adelaide) can be, might need a bit of help from public transport.

The KI wildnerness trail has a well organised shuttle at the Western KI caravan park; thee's cabin accomodation and they do daily pickups. There is a group also running the "southern ocean" I think its called on the other side of the passage- basically the first few days of the Heysen, along the bottom of the Fleurieu. Also, there is a shuttle service in the souther Fleurieu.

Yes, I'm a fan of the supported walk!

[JamesMc]

Sorry, but I've just seen this thread.

Victoria's Goldfields Track from Ballarat to Bendigo probably fits the bill. 210 km ('though you might want to skip the first 10 km or so, goes from town to town, access by train at each end.

I've not done it, but it's on my to-do list.

There's a paper guidebook that you can buy from goldfieldstrack.com.au