outdoor AUSTRALIA

The land Down Under seems ready-made for soul-stirring adventures. Its 16,000 miles of coastline are one long playground, with vertiginous cliffs riddled with hiking trails and reefs ripe for diving. There's ancient flora and unique wildlife hiding in the rainforests, and cities that offer every activity under the sun. So pick up your hiking boots, paddle or flippers and get outdoors

- JUSTIN MENEGUZZI

eyewitness

WALKING INTO VICTORIA'S SHIPWRECK PAST

A multi-day trek along the Great Ocean Walk uncovers intriguing tales from Victoria's maritime history and ends at one of its most iconic natural features

After inspecting the steep staircase, which tumbles down the golden cliff in fits and starts then disappears out of view, our small band of hikers is faced with a dilemma. Do we dare go down or do we commit to the narrow forest trail we’re already on?

Since striking out from Blanket Bay, a trailhead campground outside the town of Apollo Bay on Victoria’s southwest coast, our journey along the Great Ocean Walk has been uncomplicated. We’ve walked beneath crooked eucalypt forests where we’ve searched for koalas dozing in the canopy, listened to the flurry of crimson rosellas flitting between the trees and found shy wallabies munching on mushrooms. Now the winding trail has led to a dramatic fork above Wreck Beach. Below us, a century’s worth of tides have buried and exposed two shipwrecks, offering a tantalising glimpse into Victoria’s maritime past. But seeing the wrecks comes with a gamble.

The Twelve Apostles rock formations on the Great Ocean Walk;

“It’s 366 wooden steps down to Wreck Beach. We could get down there and find the tide has come too far in, which means a hard climb back to where we started with nothing to show for it,” says Joe Lionnet, while rubbing his salt-and-pepper beard. Despite our guide’s words of caution, the wry smile on his face and the glint in his bespectacled eyes hints that he hopes we’ll choose the steps.

Our group splits and just a handful of us descend, plunging down with no idea what lies ahead. But our gamble pays off and we’re soon standing on a wide sandy beach as the wind whistles along the imperious cliffs looming overhead.