In March 2024, the Willunga Basin Trail (WBT) camp was held for the first time. It was an All Grades camp, with 3 days of walking either side of a rest day. And what a great camp it was!

We started with an informative talk from Chris (WBT), followed by a welcome barbeque held under the camp shelter/meeting spot. Most of us stayed at the Pt Willunga Big 4 Holiday Park, with others staying nearby, or joining us as occasional day walkers. The weather was perfect, the walking and the scenery was wonderful, and Karen and her team of helpers had organised everything brilliantly. This was no mean feat, given the need to car shuffle, and to create individual daily walk programs for each of the groups (A, B, C, C- and D). Although the Willunga Basin Trail is a linear trail, divided into eleven sections totalling 130k, our walks were structured to give each group a walk of appropriate length and difficulty, and to maximise the highlights of the trail. This meant overlapping some sections, and skipping bits of others.

The trail involves significant road walking, which is off set by the variety and beauty of the scenery. We experienced sections of scrub, wetlands, vines, hills, plains, and seascapes, both close up, and from vantage points that gave amazing panoramic views. Occasionally there would be great celebration, as we came across one of our other groups going in a different direction, or because we walked at a different pace. Another occasional cause for celebration was reaching the end of a walk to find ourselves either at a coffee shop or the Victory Hotel.

We climbed over a large number of very substantial stiles, zig-zagged up one of the steeper sections, climbed down an even steeper section with the aid of a chain, crossed dry creeks, either on various bridge arrangements, or on rock pylons designed to cope with significant water depths. We crossed the mighty South Road via tunnel, climbed either up or down the stair way to heaven at Maslin’s, did a bit of rock hopping along the coastal sections, and walked through the nature reserve at Gemtree winery. Needless to say, we passed many wineries and steeled ourselves to keep right on past them. We also came across a very tempting sign offering beer and wine, but again kept to the not-so-straight and narrow.

Back at camp each night we indulged at happy hour (always a lot of fun), caught up with the daily experiences of each group and prepared for the next days adventures.

On Friday night, many of us went to the annual fair at Tatachilla College. This was quite a major event, with a range of delicious foods and local wines, live music, some side shows and a large and colourful crowd. Saturday we visited the Willunga market ,and some of us were almost tempted into a feather reading at the local artisan market.

Maureen organised for ten D walkers to catch the train and join for a day. Apparently a fire on the train line disrupted the return journey somewhat, adding further adventure to an already perfect day.
Some statistics (for those who are inclined) reveal that there were:
– 38 A  walks completed totalling 738.2 km
– 81 B  walks completed totalling 1461 km
– 98 C  walks completed totalling 1165.8 km
– 23 C- walks completed totalling 198.8 km (on 3 days the C- walkers joined the C group)
– 63 D  walks completed totalling  427 km

In all, a total of 303 walks were completed covering a distance of 3985 km.

43 walkers walked on day 1, 45 on day 2, 51 on day 3, 51 on day 4, 45 on day 5 and 43 on day 5.  A great turn out and a lot of kms walked, celebrated at the Victory Hotel on the final night.

A special thanks to Karen and her team for all of the effort it must have taken to organise and run such a successful and enjoyable camp.