Walk safely
Preparing for
your walk.
Photo: EPA.
Parts of the Great Walk are remote and isolated. Be well prepared and responsible for your own safety, even on short walks.
Read more about planning your walk.
General safety guidelines
- Mobile phone coverage is limited — help can be many hours away.
- Wear sturdy, enclosed boots or shoes.
- Take warm clothes and raincoats — weather changes.
- Avoid walking in extreme heat or high fire danger.
- Carry drinking water, food and a first-aid kit. Treat all water taken from creeks, lakes and tanks before drinking.
- Wear a hat, sunscreen and insect repellent.
- Stay on marked tracks. Taking shortcuts can cause erosion and you may get lost.
- Use a map or track guide, and take a compass for longer walks. Know your location at all times.
- Tell a responsible person where you are going and when you expect to return.
- Ensure an experienced adult accompanies children.
- Obey all safety and warning signs. Accidents have happened, even to experienced bushwalkers.
In an emergency
-
Know your location at all times.
Mobile phone
coverage on the
Great Walk
is unreliable.
Photo: EPA. - Carry a mobile phone and call 000 in an emergency. If you have difficulty getting reception, try dialling 112.
- If there is no mobile phone reception, send the two fittest members of your group to get help, leaving someone behind to care for the injured walker.
Fire safety
- Check this website and www.qld.gov.au/camping for updates on fire danger and planned burning before you go.
- Be prepared for fire dangers. Bushfires pose a threat to walkers and can occur without warning.
- In case of a bushfire, follow the track to the nearest road, firebreak or waterway for refuge. Large logs, a ditch or burnt ground can also provide protection. Avoid areas of heavy fuel (such as deep leaf litter). Stay low to the ground where the air is coolest and contains the least smoke.
- Observe all signs. In extreme conditions, the walking track may be closed for your personal safety.
- If you see a fire, please alert a ranger or the police as soon as possible.
Wildlife safety
- Do not leave food for native birds and animals.
- Goannas, possums, kookaburras and butcherbirds have caused serious injuries because people have fed them or encouraged their attention.
- Native birds and animals need their natural diet to survive. Eating processed foods can cause them to become sick or die.
- Be dingo-safe. Plan to reach your campsite well before dark and keep your food in the storage boxes provided at walkers' camps. Never walk alone.
Last updated: 18 October 2006
