Bushwalk Australia

While researching the AAWT it quickly became obvious that there are too many maps. To attempt to get some perspective I made an A2 (594 X 420 mm) map of the last four 1:100s - Yarrangobilly, Tantangara, Kosciuszko, and Berridale. There's a small amount of Michelago for 10 kilometres from Tharwa and from Ramsheads to Dead Horse Gap. I then added the 1:25s and the AAWT. It's rough but serves the purpose.

Between Tharwa and DHG you need about 15 maps at 1:25, and arguably four or five 1:100s for escape routes. That's a lot of paper to carry and money to spend.

The 15 AAWT 1:25s are not useful in that some have only a small amount of walking. For example, Peppercorn has a side trip to Blue Waterholes. Ravine has only a few hours of walking. Denision does not have much AAWT.

The old CMA 1:50s were lovely, and I still have them. There are maps that cover logical areas, such as the Overland Track, parts of the Victorian alps, and parts of KNP. Using a standard 1:50 coverage for the AAWT it's possible to get to DHG as follows, more or less:
1 Tharwa to Harrys Gap, landscape format.
2 Tom O'Rourkes Peak to Happy Jacks Road, portrait format.
3 Just north of HJ Rd to Kosciuszko, Townsend inside the west border, portrait format.
4 Kosciuszko to somewhere near Pilot - I'm off the edge of my sketch.
Some would have overlap.

That is, all the 1:25 and 1:100 maps could be replaced by just four 1:50 maps. While designed around the AAWT there would be people who walk in these areas who may find such maps useful

Would there be advantage in such maps?

For the southern section of NSW you can use the Vic 1:50k sheets Willis, Tom Groggin, Geehi and Toolong. They cover all of NSW from Toolong Range South to the border. They are missing a bit of detail but seem to be adequate for the purpose. From memory Willis and Tom Groggin cover part of the Victorian section of the AAWT so are normally required anyway.

Thanks, I'll see what the Victorian maps are like. They're more readily available in Melbourne than the NSW maps.

Despite the 1:50 website
http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/forestry-and ... -map-index
showing that there are no maps in the southern KNP region, I found one in Paddy Pallin Melbourne. When these maps are printed it will give good coverage to the Jagungal region. I still reckon a series of specials would be good for the AAWT. Is there a market for them? Don't know. At PP ask for Alice.

In terms of keeping costs down, there are free downloadable 1:100K topo maps for eastern Victoria available at http://www.gma.vic.gov.au/hunting/deer/where-to-hunt/deer-hunting-locations/deer-hunting-in-eastern-victoria.

They are colour-coded for deer hunting, and with 100m contour intervals, not ideal for navigation. But for escape route purposes, pretty good.

And did I mention free?

Most - possibly all - of the Victorian section would be covered by Rooftop maps. These sometimes have variable scales, but also a lot of detail missing from the standard topos, including notes on track conditions and exit/access routes. If they did the same thing for the KNP - and I heard some years ago that they were planning to do so - it would be far better for a through walker.
Personally, given that I almost always did detours and loops and sidetrips, the usual topos were fine. Except the 1:25s with 20m contours