Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,

I'm of on my first OT trek in a couple of weeks and hope to do the WA's sometime next year when the weather is good with a part or up to four.

Knowing that weather is highly variable, when is an optimum time to go? Is late April early May still a reasonable time.

Any links or suggestions would be appreciated.

I'll be gettignthe John Chapman book shortly.

Thanks.

enduro wrote:when is an optimum time to go?

When the weather forecast looks good.. seriously!
Statistically Feb is the driest month.
April and May - around easter, I always go on an extended walk round then and often the weather is quite good, its probably the better side of summer.
Spring is often quite wet and windy.

April and May you often get some really nice walking days where its not too hot or too cold, the only thing is the daylight hours are getting shorter.

Azza wrote:April and May you often get some really nice walking days where its not too hot or too cold, the only thing is the daylight hours are getting shorter.

Odd, I'm usually down there April/May and the weather tends to be a little on the ordinary side more often than not. Although that's probably just my bad luck. I'm probably a jinx.
So keep indoors February-March next year.

I tend to note that summer finishes and winter starts on 1st April. Often you see the 3 peaks runners in snow on Mt Wellington around Easter Monday.
You can get some ferocious winds at that time of year, and again around September. These winds are associated with the equinox.
(I say "ferocious" because if they are strong elsewhere in the state, they're likely to be much stronger on exposed SW peaks).

An explanation here -
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-anta ... times-purr

It reaches peak intensity and moves closer to the coast in autumn and spring, intensifying the pressure gradient and strengthening the westerly winds to its north. Hence strong winds are associated with the equinoxes (misleadingly called equinoctial gales – great variations in wind speed can happen at any location within these seasons as well as from year to year).

It's a really interesting article if the weather interests you.
Anyway, if you've got a strong westerly stream already, and you get an embedded front, it can be savage.

More on the equinox winds in this DPIW article -

Seasonal cycle of wind
The seasonal cycle of pressure over the Southern Ocean results in increases and decreases in the pressure gradient and the strength and latitudinal extent of the westerly winds that affect Tasmania. The westerlies are strongest in spring and autumn. In summer, the sub-tropical ridge reaches its maximum southern extent and the westerlies are not so dominant, although cold fronts regularly cross Tasmania between individual high pressure cells. These fronts are preceded by warm north to northwesterly winds and followed by cooler southwest or southerly winds. In winter, there is a noticeable ‘split’ in the westerly current over the Tasman Sea and New Zealand and the mean speed of the westerly winds in this region falls to a minimum.

For a WA walk your preparation would likely only differ in that some bad weather would be probable in Feb / Mar, but April / May would be likely.

If you are about to do the Overland Track for the first time, you would want to do it very comfortably before contemplating WA. It's a completely different ball of wax and nothing on the OT would come close.

You mentioned "very dodgy knees"...
WA's is very taxing on the knees.
Please read this post. This topic is worth looking through.
I wouldn't want you to take on something you weren't ready for, so I thought I should bring these to your attention.

Don't forget THIS topic...

Disclaimer - I've only been a bit past Lake Cygnus, but have researched the WA's a lot, it is on the want list.

May is when we usually get our first big dump of snow for the year, bad weather including snow is quite possible, even likely at any time of year but the severity and length of the bad weather gets worse closer to winter. You can get some beautiful days in April and May but not usually all together! I had 6 days of wind, cold and rain on a walk in March last year. I usually consider Easter to be the last chance of good weather, and that's often not wonderful either. Feb is definitely the most settled weather. (Which is why at one point school holidays started just before Christmas and went as long into February as possible).

Thank Tasadam, they are excellent links and good information. It's really important for walkers to assess their fitness/health level before taking on such a walk.

I'm about to get the Chapman books which will help with my decision making regarding the level of difficulty.

Apart from the upcoming OT, I do have 20+ years of hiking experience and have completed some of the more difficult alpine walks in Western Australia. But it is comparitively FLAT here, and WARM too;

enduro wrote:...alpine walks in Western Australia...

I'm sorry, but there's just no such thing. Mountains, yes. Alpine, no.

Go for it. If I can do it, anyone can. (OK< I haven't done it yet, but by the time you start out I will have)(I hope *fingers crossed*)


ps: Gee, it's hard typing with your fingers crossed . . .