Bushwalking is different for everyone. The term 'bushwalking' is used in Australia to mean walking, pushing, hiking, tramping or adventuring out in nature in the Australian bush. It can be done for pleasure, challenge, experience, and for education.
Bushwalking trips can have entirely different purposes: some are about going for a short stroll into a natural area with family and friends stopping for multiple coffee breaks, others are about travelling as far and fast as possible. Bushwalking encompasses everything from bird watching to looking at sunsets, to finding a nice swimming hole to go for a swim. Bushwalking is for everyone!
The two types of information that help bushwalkers decide on suitable bushwalking tracks include: 1. Track note information (what the track involves) and 2. Bushcraft information (general skills and information that help you enjoy bushwalking).
Track notes traditionally include:
- Navigation: directions like where to start and end, where to turn left and right, where there are river crossings or bridges
- Points of interest: where the look outs are etc.
Naturally Accessible Track notes also include:
- Barriers: Details of challenges you might have to deal with — things like gates, fences, steps, rough bits of ground, steep areas.
- Facilities: Resources that might help along the way — e.g. seats (important for someone with arthritis or heart-lung condition who needs to rest often).
For day walking, make sure to carry: food and water (2L a day plus extra), gloves, a repair kit, toileting equipment as needed, sun protection, head torch, rain jacket, dry bag, thermal top and beanie for cold weather, first aid kit with personal medication, a personal locator beacon or mobile phone, and a map & compass.
- Freewheel™: Most cost effective adaptive equipment. It attaches onto the footplate of a wheelchair and lifts your front casters off the ground so you can cruise across stones, leaves and sticks and increases your rolling resistance which saves your shoulders.
- Batec™: An electrically or hand pedal powered device which attaches to a regular wheelchair. You don't need to use as much pushing strength. People using the Batec can carry heavy supplies and attach backpacks.
- Trailrider™: An all-terrain wheelchair. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services provides TrailRiders for visitors to hire for free at Kamay Botany Bay National Park, Dorrigo National Park and Kosciuszko National Park. Book one here.
- All-Terrain powered wheelchair: Can be used on the beach, snow and off-road trails. Can navigate many steep and rough routes — especially good for people who don't have much upper body strength.
Bushwalking tracks can be really long with steep sections, so sometimes it can be really helpful to have a bit of additional assistance.
A gentle push can be a great way to provide assistance, although over long distances this can be uncomfortable for the person pushing.
An alternative option is 'Huskying' — an adaptive technique where you attach a rope to the frame of your wheelchair, and you get a buddy or two who don't use a wheelchair to pull you along from in front. You still have control of your chair and can still contribute in terms of direction and extra power, but you're not busting your gut to do every inch of the trail. That helpful extra bit of oomph going uphills suddenly means you can enjoy so much more of what's going on around you.
After rain, it's best to avoid tracks for a few days that are known to get boggy (the Narrabeen Lagoon trail is a good example). Having said that, if you come across an unexpectedly boggy section, a great technique that you can use is 'huskying'.
Reducing tyre pressure on softer tracks can make pushing easier as the load is spread wider meaning the tyres do not dig in as far. However lower tyre pressure increases drag on firm surfaces.
Gates are often installed at trailheads to keep out cars and motorbikes. Locked gates can be a significant barrier for a wheelchair user, but it's worth considering some alternative options:
Some locked gates have gaps large enough for people to "duck-under" while still blocking vehicle and motorbike access. It's good to know the dimensions of the duck-under option ahead of time to make sure your chair will fit.
Otherwise, you can try to:
- Go around the gate
- Go under the gate
- Look for alternatives far to the right or far to the left
- If it's a wire barrier, lift up and duck under
- Hop out of your chair and bum shuffle under (if you're comfortable getting in and out of your chair)
A common repair is for a punctured tyre. Getting a puncture when you're out and about is annoying — that's why it's important to pack a puncture repair kit.
Things that should be in your puncture repair kit: pump (or CO2 canisters), 2 inner tubes, allen keys, puncture patches & repair glue, tyre levers, wrench. Worst case scenario, you can probably find a mountain bike rider and borrow their repair kit.
There's no point bringing the repair kit if you don't know how to use it, so practise at home beforehand! Also check over your chair before you go — make sure bolts are tight, tyres have good tread and pressure.
Three tracks to get started on:
- Fairfax Track (North Head): 30 mins, 760m circuit. Easy.
- Narrabeen Lagoon (Northern Beaches): 2.5–3.5 hours, 8.6km circuit. Pretty easy but long.
- Lady Carrington Drive (Royal National Park): 3.5–5 hrs, 9.7km one way. Hard, rough trail, steep sections. Good for once you have done a few longer walks and for practising huskying.
For more tracks, check out our walks page.
National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) is a non-profit conservation advocacy group and NSW's largest bushwalking club. Their mission is to protect and preserve natural places through advocating for better protection of natural areas as well as helping more people get out and experience these special places.
In 2016, NPA secured funding from the Family and Community Services to embark on the Naturally Accessible project — these grants have made the project possible.
Wildwalks is NSW's most comprehensive online documentation of on-track walks. Owned by Matt McClelland, Wildwalks has a collection of around 1000 walks around NSW. With funding from NPWS, Wildwalks has documented over 50 walks using the Naturally Accessible framework.
National parks in NSW are managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) who has also partnered in this work.
Sargood on Collaroy, a luxury accessible accommodation for people with spinal cord injury, hosts 'Bush Push' activities. These are guided tours through the trails around their resort, including Narrabeen Lakes, West Head Lookout, Warriewood Wetlands, Deep Creek Reserve, and Middle Head Army Barracks. You get access to their Batecs, X8 Wheelchairs and Freewheels if you join them on Bush Push.
The National Parks Association of NSW is aiming to make some of their bushwalking program open to people with a diverse range of abilities. Visit NPA Bushwalking for more info.