COMING eye to eye with a copperhead snake while scaling a rockface to stay on a walking track was one of the many incredible challenges faced by a local trekker in the wilderness. Physical stamina, resilience, determination and perseverance would be some of the attributes to describe Beechworth’s Stephen Morris. The Pennyweight winemaker embarked on a personal challenge – an incentive to overcome a health challenge too – in six stages over three years to hike the Australian Walking Track – one of the nation’s most challenging trails in remote and rugged country. Not for the faint-hearted, the 660km walk required strategic planning, mapping, top navigation skills, and preparation including food supplies began at the historic township of Walhala in Gippsland's alpine wilderness. Stephen emerged at the final finish at the Namadgi Visitor Centre in Tharwa village in the Australian Capital Territory’s Paddy’s River district. The trail took in crossing the highest peaks of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT including Mount Kosciusko, and Bemberi Peak in the Brindabella Ranges. In a recent debriefing Stephen’s team of supporters, including Beechworth stalwarts Gail Smith and Bruce Forrest, celebrated his remarkable adventure. The cohort were needed for organising trek drop offs and pick-ups at various locations as well as food drops and keeping track of Stephen by satellite GPS. Completing the trek over 60 days from the beginning of 2022 to the end of last year with seven separate stretches, Stephen had scheduled his walk with extensive planning between vintages as well as radiotherapy treatment for cancer in 2023. Trekking, which was dependent on the weather, also threw up some of the most challenging obstacles to navigate. Besides coming face to face with the snake while climbing, hanging on to a chain crossing a river in freezing water was another. “I was saying my prayers about crossing the Big River between Mount Bogong High Plains and Falls Creek and after heaving rain,” Stephen said. “It was exciting but I'm sure I wouldn't have waded across had I not met two young people who gave advice on how to get across. “There were many sections along the track where trees had fallen too, needing to go bush to get around some of them while carrying a huge pack and find your way back. One of the most difficult tracks in Australia and challenging sections on the walk was found in the depths of the Victorian High Country known as the Viking, which takes around four days to complete 40km. In mountainous terrain and isolated country there are no ladders or proper tracks to hike to the Viking summit which offers spectacular scenery. “There is a small cave known as the Chimney with a dangling rope to use to get up and you have no choice but to climb up it,” Stephen says. “The idea is your backpack is tied onto the rope, you climb up and then pull your pack up. “I found it wasn't too bad with cracks in the rock to put your feet in on the way up and then worked out how to lift my eighteen-kilo pack as I had time on my side to think about it.” Stephen said he often edged his way down embankments to a creek for water and then back up again. “Finding a flat site to camp not too far from water should be easy but often it’s not,” he said. "Sometime huts can be used as shelter but at other times you’re in the middle of nowhere with nothing.” Stephen had invested in a good hiking pack including tent, sleeping bag and boots to ensure some degree of comfort with a careful daily allocation of meals and snacks. “There’re also many things going on out there in the wilderness and it’s extraordinary how information gets passed along by people when you see them.” In separate stints of around seven days or more, Stephen walked from Victoria’s Mount Victor to Mount Hotham, from Mount Hotham to the Omeo Highway, then trekked from there to Thredbo with a failed attempt from Thredbo to Valentine’s Creek due to flooding. Later he started again at Thredbo hiking to Kiandra and from there to Tharwa. “I never focused on the finish and kept pulling myself back to the moment of walking for the enjoyment and the experience,” Stephen said. “Writing in the hikers’ visitor book, I said it was such a privilege to be out there. “It was wonderful to be in that amazing environment with its breathtaking scenery and being so close to nature.” With great medical results received the year after he started, Stephen’s oncologist had said “keep walking.”
