In 1820 Irish thief, Alexander Pearce, was sent to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) to serve a seven year sentence for stealing shoes and if the story ended here, it wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy, but rather than just one of many similar stories. Where is becomes interesting is in 1822 when Pearce and seven other convicts escaped from their penal colony in western Tasmania and made their way eastwards across some of the most rugged and inhospitable terrain in Tasmania in a break for freedom. Starvation pressed the party into a series of grim decisions including cannibalism with Pearce being the sole survivor of the group.
In 2008, 6 hikers recreated this walk, covering 170km in 23 days on an amazing journey. This trip from Coal Head in Macquarie Harbour to Ouse, closely retraced the 1822 footsteps of Alexander Pearce across what is now the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. In today’s episode we catch up with one of those hikers, Paul Le Fevre, to find out about this unique journey and why he and his friends chose to undertake this trip. This really is a choose your own adventure.
To get the best out of this trip go to our show notes for episode 190 to see images, map, and elevation chart to show you just how difficult and how amazing this trip was.
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Australia's alpine national parks consist of a series of eight National parks that run from the outskirts of Canberra in the north through NSW, and down into Victoria not far from the outskirts of Melbourne in the south. Most of these parks are physically connected and form a continuous pathway that the Australian Alps Walking Track runs through highlighting the best of what these parks have on offer. If you have spent much time wandering this alpine region then you will have come across one or more of the approximately 200 huts that dot the landscape and while the Australian Alps is home to this high concentration of huts other Australian states and territories also boast a range of these relicts from the past. In addition to the older huts there are now a range of newer, often ultra modern versions, cropping up in some of our best known outdoor recreation areas.
In this podcast episode we look at the reason these huts came into existence, the function that they now serve, and importantly the etiquette involved in putting them to use. www.australianhker.com.au
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