Australian Hiking Resources Worth Bookmarking

Running Trail Hiking Australia for over a decade has connected me with a lot of people who love the outdoors and care about doing it well. It’s also introduced me to some genuinely excellent resources that I find myself returning to regularly, recommending to readers, or drawing on when I’m planning my own walks.

This isn’t a ranked list and it’s not exhaustive. It’s a honest account of the Australian hiking resources I actually use. Some are blogs written by passionate individuals. Some are organisations with deep institutional knowledge. Some are government platforms that don’t get enough credit for how useful they are.

If you’re serious about hiking in Australia, these are worth having in your bookmarks.

Blogs and Independent Resources

The Bushwalking Blog has been around for a long time and covers Victorian trails with a level of detail and personal investment that you don’t find on aggregator sites. The writing is grounded in real experience and the trail knowledge is solid. If you walk in Victoria regularly, this is a useful companion site.

The Ultralight Hiker is run by Pete Harinda and is one of the most technically detailed resources on lightweight hiking gear available anywhere in Australia. If you’re interested in reducing pack weight without compromising safety or comfort, the depth of knowledge here is hard to match. Pete has tested more gear configurations than most people will encounter in a lifetime of hiking.

Lotsafreshair covers Australian trails, camping, and outdoor photography with genuine enthusiasm and strong imagery. It’s a good resource for discovering trails you might not have considered and for getting a feel for what a walk actually looks like on the ground.

Magazines and Publications

Wild Magazine has been the benchmark for Australian outdoor journalism for decades. The writing is consistently strong, the photography is exceptional, and the editorial standards are higher than almost anything else in the Australian outdoor space. If you’re not reading Wild, you’re missing some of the best long-form hiking content produced in this country. Their trip reports from remote and technical terrain are particularly good.

Australian Geographic covers the broader natural environment but regularly features walking and hiking content tied to conservation, exploration, and landscape. Worth following for context and inspiration beyond the trail itself.

Clubs and Organisations

Bushwalking Australia is the national peak body for bushwalking clubs across the country. If you’re looking to connect with a club in your state or territory, or you want to understand the broader organisational landscape of Australian bushwalking, this is the place to start. Clubs affiliated through Bushwalking Australia vary enormously in focus and style, from social day walk groups to serious alpine and remote touring clubs.

Bushwalking Victoria is one of the most active state bodies and maintains a solid directory of affiliated clubs alongside practical safety resources including the WALK SAFE initiative. If you’re based in Victoria or walk there regularly, their club directory is a genuinely useful tool for finding walking partners at the right level.

Every state and territory has an equivalent body. These organisations collectively hold an enormous amount of local knowledge and most of them are very willing to share it with new members.

Government and Park Resources

These don’t always get the credit they deserve, but the national and state park authorities publish some of the most accurate and up-to-date trail information available anywhere.

Parks Australia covers Commonwealth-managed parks including Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta, and the Australian Alps national parks. Track closures, permit requirements, and seasonal conditions are kept reasonably current and the safety information is worth reading before any major walk in a national park.

State equivalents — Parks Victoria, NSW National Parks, Parks and Wildlife WA, Queensland Parks, SA National Parks, and Tasmania Parks and Wildlife — are the authoritative sources for conditions, closures, and permit bookings in their respective states. I check these routinely before any significant walk, regardless of how well I know the area. Conditions change and the park websites are where those changes get recorded first.

Safety Resources

AMSA Beacon Registration is worth mentioning here because a surprising number of hikers still don’t know that PLB registration is free and takes five minutes. If you carry a PLB and haven’t registered it, do it today.

Bureau of Meteorology remains the most reliable weather resource for Australian hiking. The BOM app and website provide forecasts at a resolution and accuracy that commercial weather apps rarely match for remote and alpine terrain. For anything involving exposed ridgelines, alpine areas, or multi-day walks, BOM is the forecast I trust.

A Note on Trail Hiking Australia

I built Trail Hiking Australia because I wanted a single resource that combined trail listings with genuine safety guidance, gear advice, and practical preparation content — all written from the perspective of someone who actually walks these trails and has spent years in search and rescue. Over a decade later, the site has grown to more than 3,800 trail listings and a substantial library of safety, gear, and planning content built around the Hiking Safety Systems Framework.

I’m proud of what it’s become. But I’ve always believed that a well-informed hiker draws on multiple sources, builds relationships with other walkers, and stays connected to the broader community. The resources above are part of that ecosystem. They’ve all contributed something to how I think about hiking, and I’d recommend any of them without reservation.

If there’s a resource you rely on that I haven’t mentioned, let me know in the comments. There are more good people doing good work in the Australian outdoor space than any single list can capture.