My first hiking expedition was at Panton Hill, 40 km NE of Melbourne, in 1943.
My Grandmother had rented a farmhouse there, where my mother, father, and I stayed
for a few days.
One morning Nana and I walked down to the dam at the bottom of the property - saw yabbies
there!
I can recall waking up in the mornings to the warbling of the many magpies which lived nearby.
That was my introduction to hiking! .
In 1958, I went on some of the Mystery Hikes organized by the Victorian
Railways - these were to such places as Queenscliff, Healesville, and Warburton.
I joined the Melbourne Bushwalking Club,
in 1963, and did several organiized walks in the hills area near Melbourne with that group.
I left the Melbourne Bushwalkers in 1966, preferring other interests - I was uncomfortable
wirth the regimentation of long "Conga Lines" of hikers, and most of the destinations did not appeal to me.
In October 1979 I completed a three month part-time evening/weekend training course in
Bushwalking Leadership Skills, with the Council of Adult Education (see the pictures below!).
My interest in organized group hiking in the years 1977 to 1990 was minimal.
Around 1995 I joined the Great Dividing Trail Association,
which is based at Daylesford. With mate Mick we did most of the GDTA walks over a period of several years.
We then did the newly opened Bereepmo Trail and many trips to the Victorian Alpine region,
as well aa further afield to the Grampians, Wilson's Promontory, Wilpena Pound (SA), New Zealand and Apollo Bay.
Since then, I have done over 1200 independent short walks around Melbourne's hill country
and coasts, all of which are well documented in words, pictures, and videos, on my Personal Websites.
I am the author of the very popular "Internet Guide to Short
Walks in Victoria".
I am a member of the Federation of Victorian Bushwalkers
In 2008, I set up an on-liine discussion group known as
"The Victorian Hiker", but this was closed down in November 2011 due to lack of support,
So my thanks to Nana for getting me involved in that very first bushwalk all those
years ago!
