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About Me

I'm Craig Doubleday, a civil engineering student from Bendigo, Victoria.


On top of Mt Townsend, January 2005		 I was introduced to the outdoors by my parents, firstly by base camps, and later bushwalking with a pack on. In 1996/97, aged 13, I did my first extended bushwalk from Kiandra to Kosciusko with the Bendigo Outdoor Club. I drifted out of bushwalking during years 10, 11 & 12 at school, but rediscovered it soon after I got my drivers licence.

Extended walking is what I love doing most; there is nothing quite like loading a week or two's food into a pack and heading off to explore an area. My favourite place for extended walking is the Jagungal wilderness area of Kosciuszko National Park; nothing in Victoria compares to it. The other place I enjoy for shorter trips is the Bogong High Plains area.

Most of the walking I do is by myself; this flies in the face of all I was taught at Scouts and almost every bushwalking book ever written. So is solo walking dangerous? Sure, but it can be made safer with simple precautions. I don't head into remote areas by myself, and carry a mobile phone and EPIRB wherever I go. As a solo walker you have to be responsible for your actions, and have an excellent sense of direction and navigation skills. I don't recommend people who are just starting walking to go solo; join your local bushwalking club and gain some experience first.
I first thought about doing the AAWT in September 2004; I had some temporary work arranged for after exams but nothing else to do with the rest of the summer holidays. I read John Siseman's book and it seemed that doing the track would be a great use of that time. I always knew that my traverse would be slow and steady; I love being able to explore an area thoroughly, and have a large degree of flexibility when walking. So with my parents I arranged the weekends and locations of the food drops. (I use the term 'food drops' loosely; my parents met me for every one of them, as it gave me the ability to make adjustments to food, replace or discard gear, and most importantly, let my worried mother see that I was alive and well!) When I set off I didn't have any actual itinerary; I rarely planned more than 3 days ahead during the trip. This makes for a much less stressful experience and added flexibility when on the track. Other things that were done before the trip was the preparation of 10 weeks food and the purchase of a new pack and tent (my old pack was too small and carting a 3.1kg dome tent around by myself was starting to get annoying!).

I started the track in Walhalla on Saturday 19th December 2004 and finished at Tharwa on Tuesday 15th February 2005 (59 days total). I have to say, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I didn't find the track especially hard, though there were some more difficult sections (e.g. Thomson/Jordan/Black Rivers), but you need a certain mindset to stick to it for such a long length of time, especially when you are alone. To anyone considering doing the track, just do it!

Since doing the track I haven't had much time to do a lot of extended walking. I do the occasional trip in the vicinity of the Bogong High Plains and in the area from Mt McDonald through to The Viking, but most of my walking is done in Kosciuszko National Park. I still do as much walking as I can, and have branched out into mountain bike riding, XC skiing and snowshoeing.

© Craig Doubleday. Last updated 08/07/2006

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