Walking and Trekking
Hiking and Trekking in Australia: The Walks and the Logistics
Eleven multi-day walks worth building a trip around, what the track grades actually mean, when each region is walkable, and the trailhead transfer problem that a hire car makes worse rather than better.
The idea
The walking is the easy part
Australia's long-distance walks are not hard to find. What is hard is everything wrapped around them — the permit that opened for booking nine months ago, the trailhead ninety minutes from the nearest town, the car you left at the wrong end of a one-way track, and the fact that the finish line and the start line are often a full day's drive apart.
That last problem is the one almost nobody solves well. A one-way walk creates a transport puzzle that a hire car actively makes worse: whichever end you leave the vehicle at is the wrong end. Public transport to Australian trailheads is usually somewhere between sparse and non-existent. Groups end up running their own shuttle relay, burning a day of the trip and a driver who would rather be walking.
This guide covers the walks worth building a trip around, how the grading system actually works, when each region is walkable, and where the permits bite. It is written for people planning the walk themselves — and for groups who want the logistics handled so that everyone in the party gets to walk, including whoever would otherwise have drawn the short straw and driven.
The walks
Eleven walks worth planning a trip around
Ranging from a half-day gorge circuit to a fortnight on a desert ridgeline. Distances and durations are the commonly walked figures; always confirm against the managing park authority before you commit.
| Walk | Where | Length | Typical days | Booked? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overland Track | Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair NP, TAS | 65 km | 6 | Yes, in season |
| Larapinta Trail | West MacDonnell Ranges, NT | 223 km | 12–16 | Registration |
| Great Ocean Walk | Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles, VIC | 104 km | 7–8 | Sites booked |
| Thorsborne Trail | Hinchinbrook Island, QLD | 32 km | 4 | Strict quota |
| Scenic Rim Trail | Main Range, QLD | Varies | 3–6 | Operator-run |
| Carnarvon Gorge | Central Highlands, QLD | ~20 km main circuit | 1–3 | No |
| K'gari great walk | K'gari, QLD | ~90 km | 6–8 | Camping permits |
| Three Capes | Tasman Peninsula, TAS | ~48 km | 4 | Yes |
| Grampians Peaks Trail | Gariwerd, VIC | 160 km | 13 | Sites booked |
| Main Range walk | Kosciuszko NP, NSW | 22 km circuit | 1 | Park entry |
| Six Foot Track | Blue Mountains, NSW | 45 km | 3 | Camping fees |
The Overland Track, in detail
It is the walk most people mean when they say they want to do a long Australian trek, and it is the one with the tightest rules. Sixty-five kilometres through Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, usually walked over six days. Almost half the route sits above 1,000 metres on exposed plateau, which is why Tasmania Parks and Wildlife grades it a serious undertaking rather than a casual one.
From 1 October to 31 May the track is a booked, one-way walk — north to south, starting at Cradle Mountain. Independent walkers need an Overland Track Pass for a specific departure date. Bookings for the October 2026 to May 2027 season opened at 9am on Tuesday 7 July 2026, and popular dates go quickly. Outside that window the booking requirement lifts, walkers register instead, and you may walk in either direction.
The booking fee — listed at $312 per adult for the current season, and reviewed annually — covers park entry for the duration of the walk and the shuttle from Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre to the trailhead. Read the exclusions carefully, because they are the expensive part: it does not cover transport to Cradle Mountain, transport from Lake St Clair at the finish, or the Lake St Clair ferry.
The detail that catches people out: huts are first-come, first-served. A booking is a permit to walk, not a bed. You carry a tent regardless.
On arrival you present your booking, complete a walker briefing and collect your pass. Passes must be collected by 1:30pm on the day of departure — 12:30pm during April and May — or after 3pm the day before. Miss the cut-off and the day is gone.
The Larapinta Trail
Two hundred and twenty-three kilometres along the West MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs, split into twelve sections that can be walked individually or end to end. It is the inverse of the Overland in almost every respect: an arid-zone walk, best in the cooler months, where water is cached rather than carried and the section-by-section structure makes it unusually easy to walk a piece rather than the whole. Sections have their own characters — some are ridge-top and exposed, others follow creek beds between waterholes.
The Thorsborne Trail
Thirty-two kilometres down the eastern side of Hinchinbrook Island in North Queensland, and the hardest permit on this list to get. The quota is deliberately small to keep the island's wilderness character intact, which means planning well ahead and being flexible on dates. Access is by boat, so the walk is bracketed by transfers at both ends.
Carnarvon Gorge
The best introduction to multi-day Australian walking that does not require a permit lottery. A main gorge track with side gorges branching off it — the Amphitheatre, Ward's Canyon, the Art Gallery — which means you can walk hard or gently and still see the things worth seeing. The Art Gallery holds one of the most significant rock art sites in Australia. It sits a long way from anywhere, which is the main planning constraint.
Grading
What the grade numbers actually mean
Most Australian park authorities use the Australian Walking Track Grading System. It describes the track, not your fitness — a Grade 4 walk is Grade 4 whether you are a marathon runner or not.
| Grade | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hardened, flat, wheelchair accessible. No experience needed. |
| 2 | Formed track, gentle gradient, clearly signposted. Suitable for families. |
| 3 | Some steep sections and rough surface. Reasonable fitness assumed. |
| 4 | Distinct track but rough and steep, limited signage. Bushwalking experience recommended. |
| 5 | Rough, very steep, may be unmarked. Navigation skills and self-sufficiency required. |
Two things about this system are worth internalising. The first is that grade is about the track, not the day — a Grade 3 track walked for twenty-eight kilometres in summer heat is a far harder day than a Grade 4 track walked for six. Distance, elevation, pack weight and temperature all sit outside the grade.
The second is that remoteness is baked into the higher grades. The step from 3 to 4 is partly about surface and partly about how far you are from help. On a Grade 4 or 5 walk, a rolled ankle stops being an inconvenience and becomes a genuine problem, which is why party size and communications matter more than they do on a day walk.
Being honest about the group
Mixed-ability groups are the norm, not the exception, and the usual failure is planning for the strongest walker. A better approach is to plan for the slowest and build in the option to shorten. Walks with road access at intermediate points — the Larapinta's section structure, Carnarvon's side gorges — are much more forgiving of a group where fitness varies than a committed one-way traverse.
Timing
When each region is actually walkable
Australia does not have one walking season. It has several, and they barely overlap — which is useful, because it means there is always somewhere in the country worth walking.
Tasmania and the alps: October to May
The Overland Track's booking season maps almost exactly onto the walkable window, which is not a coincidence. Outside it, alpine Tasmania is genuinely serious — snow, short daylight and weather that turns fast. The Kosciuszko Main Range is similar: a straightforward summer day walk and a mountaineering exercise in winter.
Tropical Queensland and the Top End: the dry season
Roughly April to September. The wet season brings heat, humidity, flooded creek crossings and closed tracks, and in the far north the coastal stinger season adds its own constraints to anything involving water. The Thorsborne Trail and most far-north walking sits firmly in the dry.
The Red Centre: April to September
The Larapinta's window is set by heat. Summer daytime temperatures on exposed ridgelines are dangerous rather than uncomfortable, and several sections have no reliable shade. Cold nights are the trade-off — desert winter nights drop close to freezing, which surprises people who packed for a warm-weather trip.
The south-east: shoulder seasons
The Great Ocean Walk, the Grampians Peaks Trail and the Blue Mountains are walkable most of the year, with spring and autumn the sweet spot. Summer brings fire risk, which in Victoria and New South Wales means checking conditions daily rather than assuming a track stays open.
Fire danger closes tracks at short notice across southern Australia in summer. Build a contingency into any December-to-February plan rather than treating the itinerary as fixed.
Getting there
The trailhead transfer problem
This is the part of a walking trip that is genuinely difficult to solve privately, and it is the part Cooee Tours is built to handle.
The one-way problem
Most great walks finish a long way from where they start. Leave a car at either end and it is in the wrong place. A drop-off and a pick-up removes the problem entirely.
Trailheads are remote
Cradle Mountain, the Larapinta sections and Carnarvon Gorge are all a substantial drive from the nearest airport or town, often on roads where a coach is more comfortable than a convoy of cars.
Everyone gets to walk
Self-driving groups sacrifice a walker to the driver's seat, usually the same person every time. A transfer means the whole party walks.
Gear and food logistics
Multi-day walks need packs, food drops and a change of clothes waiting at the finish. A vehicle that meets you is worth more on day six than on day one.
Weather contingency
Tracks close. Having a driver who can reposition to a different pick-up point turns a cancelled walk into a changed plan rather than a lost trip.
Group charter for clubs
Bushwalking clubs, school groups and corporate teams travel in numbers that suit a coach. Waggie Group runs Brisbane Hire Bus and Cooee Coach Charters alongside Cooee Tours for exactly this.
Preparation
Packing, water and the things that go wrong
Water is the first constraint
On the Larapinta, water is the planning problem the entire itinerary is built around — tanks at section ends, caches where there are none, and no assumption that a marked waterhole holds water. In Tasmania the issue inverts: water is everywhere, and the constraint is staying dry and warm. Read the specific walk's water advice rather than transferring habits from one region to another.
Weather changes faster than the forecast
Exposed alpine plateau is the classic Australian walking hazard, and the Overland Track is the classic location for it. Conditions can move from pleasant to genuinely dangerous within an hour, which is why Tasmania Parks insists on the safety briefing and why the gear list is not a suggestion.
A realistic multi-day list
- Tent, regardless of whether huts exist on the route
- Sleeping bag rated for the season, not the average temperature
- Waterproof outer layer and warm mid-layer, even in summer
- Broken-in boots — the single most common cause of an abandoned walk
- Paper map and compass alongside whatever device you carry
- Personal locator beacon for anything Grade 4 or above
- Food for a day longer than you plan to walk
- First aid including blister management, which is what you will actually use
Boots are the most common trip-ender
More walks are abandoned to blisters than to anything dramatic. New boots bought for the trip and worn first on day one is the classic error. Walk them in over weeks, not days, and carry blister treatment you have actually used before rather than an unopened kit.
Food weight versus food you will eat
Dehydrated meals are light and most of them are unpleasant by day four. Carrying a little more weight in food you actually want to eat is usually the better trade, particularly on a six-day walk where morale does real work. Plan one genuinely good meal for the hardest day.
Tell someone
Trip intention forms exist at most trailheads and are checked. Leave a plan with someone not on the walk, and be specific about when to raise the alarm — "if you have not heard from me by Thursday evening" is useful, "sometime next week" is not.
How it is run
Guided, self-guided or supported
Three models, and the right one depends less on experience than on what you want to carry and how much planning you enjoy.
Fully guided
A guide walks with the group, carries the navigation and safety responsibility, and usually the group carries only day packs. It is the most expensive model and the right one for anyone walking Grade 4 terrain for the first time, or for groups where confidence varies widely.
Self-guided
You walk independently with a planned itinerary, booked accommodation or campsites, and transfers arranged at each end. The walking is entirely yours; the logistics are not. For experienced walkers this is usually the best value on the list.
Supported
The middle option and the one most people end up wanting. You walk the track unaccompanied, but a vehicle moves gear, food and a change of clothes between points, and meets you at the finish. It turns a full-pack expedition into a series of day walks without changing the route.
Cooee Tours works in the second and third models. We are not a guiding company and we do not pretend to be — guides on technical terrain are specialists and we will point you to them. What we run is the transport, the trailhead logistics and the coordination around the walk, either directly or with trusted local operators. On any walk where a licensed guide is required, that guide is theirs, and we will say so.
Walking on Country
Whose Country you are walking through
Every one of these tracks crosses land with a continuous history of custodianship far longer than the track itself. Walking well means knowing whose Country you are on and what the protocols are.
The Overland Track crosses the Country of the palawa/pakana people of lutruwita. The Larapinta follows the West MacDonnell Ranges — Tjoritja — through Arrernte Country, where many of the gaps and waterholes the trail links are registered sacred sites. Carnarvon Gorge sits on Bidjara and Karingbal Country, and the Art Gallery there is a living cultural site rather than a scenic attraction. Hinchinbrook Island is Bandjin and Girramay Country.
Practical protocol
- Rock art is not to be touched. Skin oils damage pigment permanently. Stay behind barriers and off the rock face, and photograph only where signage permits it.
- Some sites are restricted. Certain places are men's or women's sites, or are closed to visitors entirely. Where signage asks you not to enter or photograph, that request carries cultural weight and often legal weight too.
- Waterholes may be sacred. A swimmable-looking waterhole is not automatically open for swimming. Check the park authority's advice for the specific site.
- Use current names. Many places now carry dual or restored names — K'gari, Gariwerd, Tjoritja, lutruwita. Using them is straightforward and appropriate.
- Permits may be separate. Some walks cross Aboriginal freehold land requiring a permit distinct from any park booking. Arnhem Land is the best-known example; check before assuming a park pass covers you.
Walking with First Nations guides
A number of walks can be done with Aboriginal-owned or Aboriginal-guided operators, and it is a genuinely different experience — the country reads differently when someone explains what the plants were used for and why a particular ridge matters. Tourism Australia's Discover Aboriginal Experiences collective lists member operators, and WAITOC covers Western Australia. Where we coordinate a walk with a First Nations operator, that operator is named and the trip is theirs to lead.
Navigation
Getting lost is the common failure, not injury
Search and rescue callouts on Australian tracks skew heavily toward people who are uninjured and simply do not know where they are. Two habits prevent most of it.
Carry paper, and know how to use it
A phone is an excellent navigation tool right up until it is wet, cold or flat, and alpine cold flattens batteries fast. A topographic map and a compass weigh very little and fail in none of those ways. The map is only useful if you have looked at it before day one — learning to read contour lines at dusk in poor weather is not the moment.
Check in at decision points
Most navigation errors happen at junctions, and most are caught within minutes if someone actually stops and confirms. Agreeing that the group pauses at every marked junction costs almost nothing and catches the error while it is still a hundred metres rather than two hours.
Beacons
A personal locator beacon is the single most useful safety item on any Grade 4 or 5 walk, and many parks services hire them free or cheaply. Satellite messengers add two-way contact, which is more useful again for a group where someone may need to turn back early.
What to do if you are unsure
Stop. Do not push on hoping the track reappears — that is what turns a wrong turn into a search. Retrace to the last point you were certain of, and if the group is genuinely lost, staying put makes you far easier to find than continuing to move.
Why Cooee
Walking trips, handled from Brisbane
Transfers Are the Point
One-way trailhead drops and finish-line pick-ups are the thing a hire car cannot do. That is the service.
Everyone Walks
Nobody in your group has to volunteer as the driver and miss the track.
Coaches for Clubs
Bushwalking clubs and school groups travel in numbers. Brisbane Hire Bus and Cooee Coach Charters sit alongside us for larger parties.
Five Decades of Logistics
Family-owned since 1974, moving groups around Queensland and beyond. Walking trips are a logistics problem first.
Common questions
Hiking and trekking FAQ
Do I need a permit to walk the Overland Track?
Between 1 October and 31 May you need an Overland Track Pass booked for a specific departure date, and you must walk north to south from Cradle Mountain. Outside that window walkers register instead and may walk in either direction. Bookings for the October 2026 to May 2027 season opened on 7 July 2026 and popular dates sell quickly.
What does the Overland Track booking fee include?
The fee — listed at $312 per adult for the current season and reviewed annually — covers park entry for the duration of the walk and the shuttle bus from Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre to the trailhead. It does not cover transport to Cradle Mountain, transport from Lake St Clair, or the Lake St Clair ferry.
Do huts guarantee me a bed?
No. Huts on the Overland Track are first-come, first-served, so every walker must carry a tent regardless of hut availability. Treat the hut as a bonus, not the plan.
What does a Grade 4 walking track mean?
Under the Australian Walking Track Grading System, Grade 4 means a distinct but rough and steep track with limited signage, where bushwalking experience is recommended. The grade describes the track surface, markings and remoteness — not the distance or your fitness.
When is the best time to walk the Larapinta Trail?
April to September. Summer temperatures on the exposed ridgelines of the West MacDonnell Ranges are dangerous rather than merely uncomfortable, and several sections carry no reliable shade. Expect cold nights in the desert winter.
Does Cooee Tours guide the walks?
No. We arrange transport, trailhead transfers and the logistics around a walk, working self-guided and supported rather than fully guided. Where a licensed guide is required for technical terrain, that guide is a specialist operator and we will tell you whose it is.
Can you handle a bushwalking club or school group?
Yes. Larger walking parties are a natural fit for coach transport, and Brisbane Hire Bus and Cooee Coach Charters operate alongside Cooee Tours within the Waggie Group for exactly this kind of movement.
What is the hardest permit to get on this list?
The Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island. The quota is deliberately small to protect the island's wilderness character, so it needs long lead times and flexibility on dates.
Cooee Tours acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the many Countries these walking tracks cross — among them the palawa/pakana people of lutruwita, the Arrernte people of the West MacDonnell Ranges, the Bandjin and Girramay people of Hinchinbrook Island, and the Bidjara and Karingbal people of Carnarvon Gorge. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.