The Federation Track is a 3000km, grade 5 long distance trail that runs from New South Wales to South Australia and should take around 1 Year to complete.
The Bicentennial National Trail (BNT), originally known as the National Horse Trail, is one of the longest multi-use, non-motorised, self-reliant trails in the world, stretching 5,330 kilometres from Cooktown, Queensland, through New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory to Healesville, 60 km north-east of Melbourne, Victoria. This trail runs the length of the rugged Great Dividing Range through national parks, private property and alongside wilderness areas. The BNT follows old coach roads, stock routes, brumby tracks, rivers and fire trails. It was originally intended for horses, but is these days promoted also for cycling and walking, though it is not yet entirely suited to these two activities.
History
The trail was initiated and planned by the Australian Trail Horse Riders Association. They spent many years planning and negotiating a route. Horses are banned from all Wilderness Areas and many national park areas so they had to avoid these. For a long time, creation of the trail looked doubtful. When it was accepted as a bicentennial project in 1985, finance and official approval followed and by 1988 the trail was a reality. The trail has a large following amongst the horse riding community and has been very beneficial to them.
Access
A huge number of access points exist. Indeed, much of the trail follows public roads. Access by public transport exists where the trail crosses major highways - generally these are spaced at about one month walking intervals. Walkers usually chose to pre-place food at one to two week intervals and private transport must be used to do this.
Maps and Track Notes
The Trail links eighteen of Australia's national parks and more than 50 state forests, providing access to some of the wildest, most remote country in the world. The Trail is suitable for self-reliant horse riders, walkers and mountain bike riders. Parts of the Trail, such as some of the Jenolan Caves to Kosciuszko section, are suitable for horse-drawn vehicles. The Trail is not open to motorised vehicles or trail bikes, and pets are not permitted. The Trail is divided into 12 sections of 400 to 500 kilometres, each with a corresponding guide book.
A series of 12 guidebooks have been published for the trail. These use sketch maps to show the trails location - these maps are good for planning. It is also advised to obtain detailed contour maps as the sketch maps are inadequate for navigation. The guides contain very brief notes and are of limited help with planning a walk as most of the general advice is about horses - selecting them, feeding them, holding them etc.
Permits
Not needed. Local restrictions on camping and camp fires apply in some areas and in some seasons.
This hike is missing a route map and GPX file. If you have one for this hike, please upload your .gpx or .kml file here.
The track starts at Healesville on the outskirts of Melbourne in Victoria. It follows the mountain ranges along the eastern side of Australia through New South Wales to end at Cooktown in northern Queensland. The total length is 5330 km and would take most of 1 year to walk.
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It’s a good idea to let someone know where you’re going. Fill in a trip intention form to send important details about your trip to your emergency contact. If you are lost or require help and have phone reception, call 000 and ask for police. The international standard emergency number is 112, if you dial this number in Australia you will be treated exactly the same as a 000 call. If you believe your life is at risk, activate your personal locator beacon (PLB), then make your position visible to rescue teams and keep warm and dry.
If you have any great photos from this hike and are happy to share them, please upload your .jpg files here.
Please note: Uploading photos does not transfer ownership of copyright away from you. If requested, you will be credited for any photos you provide and can ask they be deleted at any time.
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0 Reviews on “Bicentennial National Trail (5330km)”
Geoff Murray ????
Is this the next big challenge???? Gran xxx
Laura Vining Kirsty Sims