What is this site about?

We’re a couple of amateurs really. Amateur hikers, amateur digital designer and amateur developer. The main motivation is to get better at these things as we enjoy all of them.

The creation and maintenance of the website will combine and strengthen our skills in hiking, web development, photography, with some data science thrown in. We wanted to be able to store and share the photos from our hikes, as well as the useful information and details which will facilitate future planning and recollection.

One of us (the designer) is pretty useless at remembering the details so after awhile all the hikes sort of blend into one another. Sorry if that offends the serious hikers out there. Fortunately, the other one (the developer) is better with the details. She’s also the one that picks the trail, gets the GPS detail on her phone, takes the photos, organises the drinks etc. The designer is there for support really. You know, in case she falls or needs the zip on the backpack done up. Invaluable really.

Site terminology explained

Its not too complex or innovative, but it may be helpful to explain the terms used on the site. You may be happy to know we haven't deviated at all from the common definition of a trail. Nope, a trail is still a trail. Meaning, a trail is simply an established route that we decided to follow with the guidance of a map or GPS. It is a hike that can be accomplished in a day, ie. it may take a few hours or ten.

We use the term "track" to imply a set of trails that can be walked in conjunction to comprise a multi day hike whether that be in consecutive days or over a period of time.

A "trip" is where we undertake to walk a whole track over multiple days/weeks, or where we had to travel and stay at least overnight to complete one or more hikes. Given this necessitates significant planning and preparation, we wanted to provide details of how we managed the adventure, in the hope it may be useful or at least interesting to others.

For instance we have done some trails on the track known as the Whadjuk Trail Network and we plan to do the remainder soon. One day, we will write a blog post where we detail and link together all the Whadjuk trails we walked. A few months ago we were thrilled to walk the Cape to Cape track and will present our experience as a trip shortly.

Future hikes

We live in Perth, Western Australia, and our hikes tend to be in our metropolitan area. In the future, we do intend to take our perambulations further afield, for instance down south in Western Australia and also over east to Tasmania, Queensland etc. In September 2020, we were thrilled to start this exciting venturing, by walking the Cape to Cape Track. Once we've got the site up and running we will provide details of this absolutely brilliant trip.

One day we even dream about the possibility of walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Currently, the likelihood of this happening is pretty small. Mainly because I can’t imagine walking with a huge weight on my back. Currently, I walk with a small backpack with the bare essentials. It's a bit of an ongoing joke as the other one (the developer) is slowly but earnestly trying to convert me into a serious hiker, each visit to Katmandu or Mountain Designs produces some item that finds its way into my bag just on the off chance I might need it one day.

Admittedly the flynet that can sit over the hat was a good idea a few months ago (hotter weather/flies), then came some emergency safety blankets, just in case I find myself lost down a ravine (thankfully they haven’t been used - yet!), then there was a metal buckle number that apparently is used to hang things off me while I’m walking. I couldn’t remember the name of the thing, and kept calling it a cabernacle as in “Don’t worry people, I’ve got just the thing to help out in this disaster - a cabernacle”. Just to be thorough I’ve checked and it is actually called a “karabiner”. There, you may have learnt something, or maybe you’re shaking your head.