Great North Walk

Infobox Hiking trail
Name=Great North Walk
Photo=GNWalk33km.jpg
Caption=The Great North Walk at Pennant Hills
Location=New South Wales, Australia
Length=Convert|250|km|mi|0
Start/End Points=Macquarie Place, Sydney / Bicentennial Park, Newcastle
Use=Hiking
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Difficulty=Medium
Season=All
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The Great North Walk is a walking track which runs from Sydney to Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. The main track, Unit kilometre|250|0 in length, runs between the Obelisk in Macquarie Place in Sydney to Queens Wharf Tower in Bicentennial Park in Newcastle and is well sign-posted. There are many "side tracks" which conveniently link the track to populated areas along the length of the walk. The walk includes a huge variety of wildlife and scenery.

A Unit kilometre|25|0 section at the northern, Newcastle end, is also known as the Yuelarbah Track. This section runs from the Teralba railway station through to the Queens Wharf on Newcastle Harbour. At Kahibah Station, the Great North Walk uses a short section of The Fernleigh Track and passes along the northern side of Glenrock Lagoon to get to the coast.

History

The Great North Walk was initiated by Gary McDougall and Leigh Shearer-Heriot. They both planned and marked the original route from Sydney to Newcastle, with access to many linking tracks. Today's Great North Walk is quite true to the original trail.

The original name for the Great North Walk was the 'Sydney to Hunter Project'. The name 'the Great North Walk' was derived from the first road from the Hunter Valley to Sydney, called the 'Great North Road'.

Walking

The total walk from Sydney to Newcastle takes around 14 days to complete, with popular camp sites at designated spots along the way. Many of these sites are on ridge tops with no available water supply. Where natural standing water is available, it is not necessarily safe to drink and should be treated before use.

It is not necessary to do the walk in one go, individual sections can be completed easily as the track is often close to the railway line, so the train provides a convenient transport mechanism. Some early sections in Sydney are through local suburbs on sealed roads. The best time to take this walk is late autumn, winter and spring. Summer is extremely hot and should be avoided, particularly if bushfire risk is high.

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References

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External links

* [http://www.lands.nsw.gov.au/crown_land/walking_tracks/great_north_walk NSW Department of Lands] - The Great North Walk Discovery Kit
* [http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109042591888271449717.00044d7def0fef8a513ea&t=h&z=9 Map of The Great North Walk]