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The Amateur Tramp – A Walk of Ten Thousand Miles Around Australia
- 7demons 6y agoGood for him. Lucky guy by not dying to nature.
- progre 6y agoA little more meat in the wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_de_Brune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_de_Brune
- satori99 6y agoFrom the headline, I was certain this article was going to be about Jon Muir. TIL about Aidan de Brune. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_Across_Australia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_Across_Australia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Muir https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Muir
- leereeves 6y agoTIL about Jon Muir. Thank you. Until I looked it up, I thought you meant John Muir, a famous American naturalist who founded the Sierra Club. It's crazy that there are two famous explorers with such similar names.
- FreshFries 6y agoTitle needs something like "between 1921 and 1924".
- piokoch 6y agoReminds me history of Kazik Nowak [0], who traveled alone on a bike through Africa. The expedition took him 5 years (between 1931-1936). He wrote a great book about his trip, prizing amazing African nature and giving a hard time colonial powers for making this continent such a miserable living place for its natives. Book does not have English translation unfortunately. Nowak died soon after coming back (trip was really exhausting, he got Malaria) and for many years his achievement was forgotten. In 1962 his daughter managed to publish a book her father trip, but it didn't attract much attention (communists didn't like to promote anything positive about pre-communism times achievements). Finally it was reedited in 2000 and become very popular in Poland. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazimierz_Nowak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazimierz_Nowak
- keiferski 6y agoHere's a map of his journey, which is buried on that page: https://kazimierznowak.pl/img/mapapodrozy.jpg https://kazimierznowak.pl/img/mapapodrozy.jpg
- galfarragem 6y agoTangent: take a look on "Another day of life" from Ryszard Kapuscinski. Most unbiased look at Angola decolonization (and decolonization in general) I know. edit: Ryszard Kapuscinski[0] style, a mix of journalism with literature, definitely worths a read. I believe his legacy is underrated even in his own country. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Kapu%C5%9Bci%C5%84ski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryszard_Kapu%C5%9Bci%C5%84ski
- tosser0001 6y agoIt also reminds me of Tschiffely who spent 3 years riding on horseback from Buenos Aires to New York City in the mid-1920s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aim%C3%A9_F%C3%A9lix_Tschiffely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aim%C3%A9_F%C3%A9lix_Tschiffel...
- pxtail 6y ago> Book does not have English translation unfortunately. It looks like there actually is English translation: https://sorus.pl/produkt/across-the-dark-continent-bicycle-diaries-from-africa-1931-1936/ https://sorus.pl/produkt/across-the-dark-continent-bicycle-d...
- chris_wot 6y agoIt's amazing, but he went around the coast. I really doubt he could have done it by going through the Red Centre.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agocrossing the Nullarbor is not a mean feat either
- gonzo41 6y agoI was thinking that, that ~2000km between port Augusta and the Kalgoorlie is pretty dry.
- xcavier 6y agoI honestly doubt this - especially if the photo is indicative of his ‘rig’
- andyjohnson0 6y agoWhy? Judging from the photo his pack looks fairly light and minimalist. His clothing seems robust. Effective-looking head cover. Boots are probably heavy but nailed. Typical and practical working clothes of the time it seems to me.
- PurpleFoxy 6y agoI wonder how many supply stops he had to make and how this was funded. I doubt a pair of boots would last a fraction of this walk.
- chrisseaton 6y agoWhat special 'rig' do you think you need to walk?
- xwdv 6y agoFood? Water? Unless he was close to civilization at all times and just stopped into taverns to eat.
- chrisseaton 6y agoThe book says there were stations every few days all the way around.
- enriquto 6y agoMaybe I studied too much topology in my youth, but the title of this article strikes me as nonsensical... How do you walk around an island? You can swim around an island, or walk around a lake. But you cannot really walk around an island (or, if you can, it seems very easy to do: just go to the island and turn around yourself).
- _wldu 6y agoTo "walk around" means to roam or wander. Most people understand this use of the phrase. But in this case, the man seems to have actually walked the perimeter of the island.
- morsch 6y agoTo "walk around" means to roam or wander. Most people understand this use of the phrase. Except they clearly didn't mean that the guy roamed Australia, because that's not particularly noteworthy. He "packed his backpack and walked around the entire continent of Australia by the coastline". The grandparent is pedantically correct that well actually you cannot walk around island. Must be fun at parties...
- DoreenMichele 6y agoFrom the Wikipedia article someone else posted: In September 1921 he began a walk around the perimeter of Australia, from Sydney to Sydney, anticlockwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_de_Brune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_de_Brune
- chrisseaton 6y agoWhat are you on about? He walked around the island - walked the length of the perimeter. Just like swimming around it but on the land. What's confusing about that?
- enriquto 6y agoIt doesn't mean anything unless you specify the maximum allowed distance to the coast (or the average distance to the coast along your ride, or the median distance to the coast). Notice that you probably want to define the distance of each point of the coast to some point in your traject, and not the other way round (which would make your endeavor trivial). Really, it seems a very complicated concept to define precisely, and it would entail a lot of seemingly arbitrary parameters.
- psychstudio 6y agoTitle should read "Bloke walked around Australia - alone and with no assistance"
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agothe first Bogan to ever walk around all Australia just so he could shout "get f******ed" to as many inhabitants as possible. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan
- basementcat 6y agoMade me think of Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agoCrossing the Nullarbor on foot must have been insane. I did the same route but with camping gear and a car in the 90ies, and had the time of my life. The scale of the distances between points on the map are not comprehensible (to a kid from Europe at least). I wanted to do a day trip to Monkey Mia right after getting off the plane and started planning out my journey from Perth. I didn't believe (understand) that there is often nothing between 2 points on the map. A map entry would often just be a literal petrol station (that is also a pub and a shop and a farm) and nothing else. I had to learn the hard way that when they say "there's f*k all there mate" that they really mean it. I guess the reason for him cutting short the Kimberley's and Northern tip of Queensland, was that it must have been inaccessible or too dangerous back then. Anyway it seems like travelers have already been advised 100 years ago to stay clear of these places. There is an Ed Stafford "Marooned" episode where he tries to survive in the Kimberley's. (much endorse). edit: If you have visited Australia (or plan to go) don't miss out on Bill Bryson's "Down Under" (must read if you like travel literature that is also hilarious) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(book)
- KineticLensman 6y ago> I didn't believe (understand) that there is often nothing between 2 points on the map. I drove around Namibia once. Just the same. One set of directions was little more than "drive 120km North of [small town whose name I can't remember] and you'll see a signpost to our Lodge on your left". There was literally nothing else between the two points. One day a car overtook us (in the middle of nowhere) and then stopped and waved us down. They were lost and wanted directions. They were headed in the right direction (east to west) but the road they should have been on was a parallel one about 50km to the north. They'd turned too early. It turned out that there is a tourist loop that kinda tracks the perimeter of the country. On one particularly busy day we counted more than 30 vehicles. In the whole day. If you drove clockwise around the loop, most days at around midday you'd encounter the traffic coming anticlockwise. They'd left their accommodation in the morning and were driving to their next place.
- Clewza313 6y agoBased on the map, it looks like he walked along Highway 1, which also avoids the Kimberleys and the Top End. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_1_(Australia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_1_(Australia)
- wisdomdata 6y agonot similar, but relevant: https://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2014/03/05/3957316.htm https://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2014/03/05/3957316.htm
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago> It's not often if you're driving around country Australia you see swagmen these days. Imagine spending more than half of your life walking. Grant Cadoret decided one day to pack up his life into a backpack and start walking. I do similar stuff on and off, though not at that scale (trips lasting up to a year when I was young but now they're more like 2-4 months max with a year or more break in between). what I know from personal experience is that it's incredibly difficult to stop. the routine somehow becomes all consuming and takes over your life. a farmer once told me after losing his cow that timing for finding it is critical because leaving them isolated from the herd they will get used to it and then have problems fitting in from that point onward. they lose their ability to be part of the group and do no longer need the herd. perhaps there is a similar thing with humans. If you successfully cover 1000 miles across a terrain alone, and found a way to not "just survive" but "thrive" it can be hard to stop (especially if there are no kids or family to return to). Why not make it 2000 miles? Why stop at all and instead break a rekord? Getting off my butt and go traveling is IMO a lot harder than stopping yourself. The isolation changes you so much you will come home crazy (you will need some way to reintegrate yourself into civilization. but there is also a beauty in not being understood since nobody can take it and the memory and experience is your treasure. there is no point of sharing it too much. even if you tried explaining it people wouldn't get it. they might get what you have seen but not how it changed you. so just enjoy it as something that belongs only to you and that only you can enjoy). damn, now I wrote myself into a state of mind where I want to pack my rucksack and leave at once. perhaps a pandemic is a good chance to disappear for a couple of months. Europe is still too cold for now but perhaps in a month is a good time ...
- akudha 6y agoMaybe this is why people who have lived alone for a some time simply get used to it and find it difficult to live with other people later (if they get into a relationship etc). Not the same, but similar
- bjarneh 6y ago> ..averaging about 30 miles, or 50km per day Wow, this is impressive; more than a marathon a day on terrain like that for 2.5 years.
- mgerullis 6y agoHe did not skip leg day once in that time.
- Jayjes 6y agoDoing that was out of this world. It has encouraged me alot.
- 74d-fe6-2c6 6y agoThis reminds me of how equipment required for such an endeavour have been way heavier a hundred years ago. I'm not particuarly experienced with outdoor activities but if I engage in one I have to notice how overloaded and heavy everything is. But most of the stuff is reasonably modern using various lightweight metals or plastics. Realistically people have been stronger back than anyway.
- Gustomaximus 6y agoI assume they did with less. No change of clothes. Cook meat on sticks rather than a pan. A blanket and no tent type deal. No medical kit, torch or GPS etc.
- silly-silly 6y agoI'm not convinced that you'd need a blanket in those areas ;) 40C (104F)+ regularly in summer.
- Gustomaximus 6y agoSome warmer places drop amazingly at night, more arid regions have reputation for this. Less in tropical. Also even if 18 overnight doesn't seem cold when you're used to 40 by day, anything under 20 seems cold. Im Brisbane and one time my partner was skyping with her Nordic family. I was getting the fireplace going and they asked the temperature, I cant remember exactly but it was about 20 and any the look on their faces was priceless.
- laurent92 6y agoHow do you change shoes after 6 months, when in the middle of the outback?
- lostlogin 6y agoShackleton ‘South’ is an amazing book on how one can survive on little, with almost no gear and for a long time. It’s truely awesome how they survived and it’s a great book. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_(book) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_(book)
- DoreenMichele 6y agoSee also: Robyn Davidson (born 6 September 1950) is an Australian writer best known for her 1980 book Tracks, about her 2,700 km (1,700 miles) trek across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about her travels has spanned 40 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson
- js2 6y agoThat wikipedia page doesn't seem to reference that her book was the basis of a beautiful picture book by National Geographic, From Alice to Ocean, perhaps notable here because the book included a CD-ROM, making it an early attempt at multimedia presentation. https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Ocean-Alone-Across-Outback/dp/0201632160 https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Ocean-Alone-Across-Outback/dp/0... http://macintoshgarden.org/games/alice-ocean http://macintoshgarden.org/games/alice-ocean Some reviews of the CD-ROM from a 1994 college class: http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/s94/students/papers.html http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/s94/students/papers.html (Scroll down to Multimedia Reviews and there four student reviews of the CD.)
- akudha 6y agoI recommend her book, it was quite enjoyable. There is also a movie, though not as good as the book. The saddest part of the book is when her dog dies, eating poisoned meat. Quite a story
- killingtime74 6y agoI walk around Australia alone and unassisted everyday......
- rwmj 6y agoSlightly more achievable walk around an island which I intend to do one day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikoku_Pilgrimage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikoku_Pilgrimage It's a mere 1200 km and takes a month or two, rather than two+ years.
- AbrahamParangi 6y agoThere’s this funny thing where all these 19th century explorers claim the first ever crossings on foot of this or that area of Australia, a continent that has been inhabited for 70,000 years at least.
- radicalriddler 6y agoIt's interesting how many Brisbane suburbs are misspelled in the PDF, not sure if it's done similarly else where. Kearon -> Kedron Chernside -> Chermside Ball Hills -> Bald Hills
- hnick 6y agoIt looks like he ducked inland quite far on the southeast. Really wanted to avoid Canberra I guess :) More seriously does anyone know why? Just personal preference? My understanding is that it's mostly national parks down there in VIC but I'm not sure how it would be to walk since I've never even driven there. It makes sense to avoid the Snowy Mountains but I think that could have been achieved by swinging around closer to the coast?