My A.A.W.T. Dream..... (Current Status of Planning and Preparation.)

After 2007 being one of the worst years for me after being picked up by Police/Ambulance Chopper off the side of Mt Little Bogong very sick and dehydrated in February, then slowly getting better only to head out on a snow hike a few months later to find that I had a foot injury which stopped me doing any hikes until Nov 2007, I have again started to think about what hikes I want to do before I'm too old and not fit enough. Note I'm only 38 at the moment but don't want to keep thinking about this then maybe in the future find out that I can't get fit enough to do the trip so while 2007 has become a resting year and my weight has gone up its nothing that some exercise won't fix I'm starting to plan a very large hike for late 2008.

Many times over the last 10 years or so I have thought about how good would it be to do the full AAWT track from Walhalla to Canberra or down the south route and while I have done sections of it the dream in the back of my mind has been coming forward over the last few months and now has become a goal.

So as my foot gets better and I can start to head out again, I'm starting to plan the full hike with food drops etc.

Over the next few months I plan to get very fit again, doing heaps of rides and hikes getting fitter than I was in 2005/06 when I did over 1,000km of overnight hikes in a year and a half. Currently I'm hoping to lose 15+kg's to bring me down to around 80kg or even lower which is about my weight when I was around 25

While I'm starting to plan the hike now in Nov 2007 this is so I make sure I have all the barrels I will need and water drops too - Before the hike I need to purchase a new Tent as my current one is coming to the end of its life and the AAWT hike would kill it! There are some other specific pieces of equipment required for this long hike which I will list here later. I also have to plan the costs and budget so while around 12months may seem to be a long planning timeframe it will go quickly. Then toward the end of Winter next year I will put together all the food, equipment etc and depending on how the season weather has been or looks like I plan to head out for a nice driving trip placing the caches out along the track, then get taken down to Walhalla to start the possible largest hike for my life.......maybe.....(There are longer tracks.....)

I plan to provide all of my planning information for this very large hike so other people who think about doing this type of large hike can see what I had to do before, during the hike and even after the hike. This part of my bushwalking site will get quiet big with new pages, information and photos. Already I have pages for extended hikes with information about food drops and new navigation pages have also been put onto this site.

Photo - Making sure I have all the maps I need for the AAWT Hike.....

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