Friends and family cheered as the five members of the Strzelecki Bushwalking Club completed their 660 kilometre journey from Canberra to Walhalla on Friday.
Champagne was sprayed as the bushwalkers took their final steps of the Australian Alps Walking Track and were welcomed at the Walhalla General Store.
Bushwalker Ed Buller even got a surprise visit from his son, who has been overseas for almost three -and-a-half years.
“If there was one thing to bring Ed, I thought it was a bottle of beer,” son Adam Buller said.
The Gippsland and Melbourne based walkers – ranging in age from 44 to 65 years – all said they had lost weight since beginning their 54-day journey in the small town of Tharwa, just outside of Canberra on 25 November.
“It’s great to finish, but it’s been an awesome trip. It was a challenge, but we wanted to make it a holiday at the same time,” bushwalker Alan Eagle said.
Mr Eagle said the weather had been a challenge with snowstorms, the track ahead of them closed by bushfires and 40 degree heat.
“It was a great group to walk with. We’ve all walked together in the past and we made a decision to only walk with people we knew,” Mr Eagle said.
“We’re still all great mates after 54 days on the track.”
The friends shared Christmas, new year’s and some of the most rugged and remote alpine country in Australia, through Kosciuszko National Park, Namadgi National Park and Baw Baw National Park.
Bushwalker Rob Bentvelzen said when compiling the walking program, they discovered the ‘ups and downs’ of the path in metres was equivalent to climbing Mount Everest three times from sea level.
“It’s a very rugged track. As well as a distance walk; the ‘ups and downs’ are a test on your body,” Mr Bentvelzen said.
Bushwalking leader Cathy Almond said the walkers proved you could be fit at any age.
“We’d do the distance again, but I don’t know if we would do the same track again,” Ms Almond said.
“One of the things we’re most looking forward to is not having porridge for breakfast tomorrow.”
Other members of the bushwalking club also chose to participate in sections of the expedition and supported the bushwalkers by dropping off dehydrated food, water and other supplies once a week.
