What Is Self Guided Walking?

Self guided walking is all about finding your own way on the walk - on a holiday where everything is arranged for you. This allows you to take a break at a moment's notice without having to do all the usual holiday planning (accommodation, transfers, shuttle transport, not to mention researching the walk) first - we do it all for you!

On an Australian Walking Tours self guided walking holiday, we take care of the logistics of the holiday (accommodation, shuttle transfers, even food on most walks) and provide you with the tools you need (maps, track notes) to undertake the walking without a guide.

We research and test all our walks to ensure they are interesting, suitable and achieveable for most walkers in most weather conditions.

What is Included?

TRACK NOTES

We write and provide you with our own exclusive walkers Track Notes. These are not available for separate sale and are only provided to walkers who book with us. Our aim with these notes is to provide you with suggested itineraries, walking distances, and explanations of track sections to assist you in your planning. Note: these notes are to be used in conjunction with the map which we also supply. We also hope you will find these notes entertaining and enlightening reading, providing you with some useful history and background information to your chosen walk. 

MAP

A map – it’s pretty hard to plan a walk without a good map! So of course we supply you with our chosen map which we think best covers your walk – to be used in conjunction with our Track Notes.

FOOD

Plentiful tasty nutritious food is essential for successful walking. Some of our packages include food, some do not. Where packages do not include food, please understand this has been done to keep your costs down. For example, on the Great Ocean Walk, supplying all meals limits the accommodation available to the more expensive providers, significantly increasing the costs to you and reducing choice. Most of our self guided walkers provide their own transport and this gives them the flexibility to vary their catering: so many choose to eat in some nights, and eat out others. We make it easy by providing examples of where to shop and where to eat out. For walkers without transport, we advise you on how to utilise public transport and we can also supply a driver (not included) to take you into town for supplies or to eat out!

TRANSPORT

On Victoria’s Great Ocean Walk we always include a shuttle driver. The Great Ocean Road itself is always busy and always dangerous to drive (even for locals) let alone if you are tired after a day’s walking and unfamiliar with the road and side roads. Our driver will meet with you and each day you will negotiate pick up times and locations, based on your chosen day’s walk.

PLANNED WALKING ITINERARIES

We provide suggested itineraries which we suggest you use as a guide in planning your walk. For the Great Ocean Walk we have supplied what we think is a very useful table – it breaks the whole walk down into sections suitable for pick up or drop off complete with distances (in fact it’s so useful we use it for our own planning). When used in conjunction with the suggested itineraries, you can easily calculate your day’s walking distances. Some walkers then choose to add extra sections to their day’s walk – this is fine after all it is your walk – all we ask is you keep your driver informed of your plans and provide an estimate of when you expect to arrive at your chosen destination each day.

EMERGENCY HELP

24 Hour Emergency Help Line included on all AWT self guided walks. If something goes wrong on your walk, it’s good to know we are there to help. During your walk please feel free to contact us at any time in an emergency. After hours you will need to call our mobile number which we will supply when you book. Please read the notes carefully regarding telephone coverage. In some areas (including the Great Ocean Walk) phone coverage is poor to non-existent – we advise carrying a satellite phone and/or SPOT satellite messenger device to aid your safety. We are able to supply these upon request.

CLOTHING & EQUIPMENT ADVICE

Different locations and times of year require different equipment. We are happy to advise you on you will need.