Australian Hiker

It's the 7th of July, 2026, and in a few weeks’ time I’ll be commencing my southbound journey on South Australia’s Heysen Trail. This trail is Australia’s’ longest dedicated hiking trail spanning approximately 1200km from Parachilna in the north, to Cape Jarvis on the coastline in the south. It has everything I love about hiking from arid landscapes to a coastal connection and everything in between. In this podcast episode we talk with Neil Hendry to get an introduction to the trail and the role that the ‘Friends of the trail' plays.

This is the first of 11 planned episodes with will include a number of episodes recorded on trail to relay what I am thinking and how I am feeling in 'real time' to hopefully help you out if you decide to walk this trail

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The Coast Track is located in Royal National Park on the southern side of Sydney. This is a walk I have been trying to do for a number of years but for various reasons I could never quite make it! Recently Gill and I picked the perfect weather window and had a spectacular day doing this 27km walk in a single day. So much so, this walk will be added to our top 10 walk list in the next time we update.

In this podcast episode we bring you a series of podcast recording undertaken on the day and in the final section talk more generally about the track, making recommendations on how to get the best of out this walk.

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The Portuguese Camino spans 625km from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago in Spain but rather than doing the full walk many people opt for the shorter 260km Portuguese Coastal Way running between Porto and Santiago and which takes most people 12 to 14 days.

In this podcast episode we catch up with Canberra Based Hiker Mary Wiley-Smith who late last year undertook her own adventure on the Portuguese Coastal Way along with her friend Kylie.

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In 2018 I undertook my first really long distance walk spending 35 days walking the 1000 km Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia. In preparation for this walk I spent the 18 months prior setting myself a number of physical challenges to see what I was physically capable of. The aim of these challenges wasn’t about breaking or setting records it was about working out how much annual leave I needed to take from my job and based on that, what I needed to achieve each day.

This podcast episode discusses why you should know your walking speed and in addition, looks at the health implications of walking speed as we age.

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Over the past seven years, after some failed hikes, some ever worsening issues with my right leg, and much not so subtle badgering from my wife Gill, I finally decided to see a specialist only to discover that I needed my right hip replaced.

Now the reason for me releasing this podcast is that as an information driven individual I need all the facts that I can find and after searching the internet for ‘hiking with a hip replacement’ I found minimal hits and those that I did find has less information than I was after. In this podcast episode I take you through the process leading up to my operation and finishing 12 months later with the hope that it will help those of you in a similar situation.

www.australianhiker.com.au

 

Australian Hiker can also be found on our various social media platforms

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Australian Hiker Youtube