i WALKED ACROSS AUSTRALIA
i walked across australia
I walked across Australia - 5000km - the equivalent of New York to San Francisco, or from London to Moscow and back again.
It took 180 days - covering around a marathon distance a day, with one day off every five or six days, depending on the weather and where towns fell along the route.
How many people were with me? What sort of support did I have? None. I pushed all my belongings - tent, sleeping bag, food and water - in a three-wheeled pram, camping in the bush, staying at roadhouses and motels, and increasingly as I walked further, being invited into the homes of the many wonderful Australians I met along the way. For a month in the middle, a friend who had come out for a holiday joined me on the road for company. The rest of the time it was just me, with no support crew, and no back-up vehicle. And a very long road east.
I was no 'elite athlete'. I had qualifications as a personal trainer and I worked hard to prepare myself for life on the road, but I'm no 'natural'. I did what I did by dreaming a dream, making a plan, and then literally putting one foot in front of the other, seven million times, to make it come true.
After leaving Perth and crossing the Nullarbor, I travelled south from Port Augusta to Adelaide, along the coast through Mount Gambier to Melbourne, and up the Princes Highway through Eden to Sydney. The total distance of this route, taken from road maps and routemarkers, is 4895km; I clocked up around 170km of additional distance on side-roads and excursions, making the total journey a little over 5000km.
5000km across Australia from Perth to Sydney. I dreamed a dream and made it real. Seven million steps to success. I walked across Australia. Simple.
