Trekking not bushwalking

[GregG]

Folks, I've just been informed through the Community Newsletter put out by the local state MP to "think before you TREK". No no, this is nothing to do with the Starship Enterprise and, you guessed it, TREK is an acronym for Take, Register, Emergency and Keep. Well, its pretty simple to understand right? No need for explanation. Well, actually, no. It has all the earmarks of "Lets think of a catchy acronym and then get the work experience kid to figure out what it could signify". So, fortunately I am a bushwalker and so it seems I am not required to think, unlike all those pesky trekkers out there who had better put their thinking caps on and get thoughtful. Before they trek. Or walk.

So is anyone up for a debate about the finer nuances of walking/trekking/hiking/backpacking/rambling/tramping or astral travel? There's lots of scope here too to put forward your own preferred acronyms. Or just have a rant about whatever words annoy you the most.....

Yes, yes, thanks, no need to say it, I already know, I'm a man with too much time on his hands. And if TREK can save someone's neck out there in the donga then job well done.

[Moondog55]

Oh NO! NABA
ie: That is Not Another B*******y Acronym

I take it Keep is shorthand for Keep calm and keep walking in circles?
We already have a proper acronym in STOP what wanker thinks we need another one.

[ChrisJHC]

Can we also add into the discussion whether it’s Track or Trail?
Particularly if you put “Kokoda” in front?

I’ll get some popcorn ready

[Mark F]

Can we also add into the discussion whether it’s Track or Trail?
Particularly if you put “Kokoda” in front?

I’ll get some popcorn ready

"Track" is what you do when the party is out of sight. "Trail" is dawdling along behind the group while they are still in sight.

[Zapruda]

I hate that the use of the word bushwalking is dwindling. Everyone refers to it as hiking now. We go bushwalking in Australia not hiking! We should be proud of our unique word.

[north-north-west]

Can we also add into the discussion whether it’s Track or Trail?
Particularly if you put “Kokoda” in front?

In Victoria and Tasmania if it's designed specifically for walking, it's a track. The word has the same use in some other states, but not consistently and definitely not in the majority of cases. "Trail" is generally for a route - walking, cycling or whatever - put together from a variety of surfaces (walk track, MVO, public road, cross country, etc). This means that technically the AAWT should be called the Australian Alps Walking Trail, but the original name with "track" is maintained for historical reasons.
As far as I can find out, Kokoda was refered to, at the time, both as "trail" and "track", depending mostly on place of origin of said referer.

Basically, why don't people just adhere to local customs? Overland Track, Larapinta Trail, Kokoda whatever-the-term-is-in-PNG-for-a-steep-muddy-footpath.

We obviously need catchy interpretations for WALK and HIKE, l although I think this whole thing is a WOMBAT*.


(*waste of money, brains and time)

[north-north-west]

I hate that the use of the word bushwalking is dwindling. Everyone refers to it as hiking now. We go bushwalking in Australia not hiking! We should be proud of our unique word.

I concur with my fellow old fogey.

[ILUVSWTAS]

I hate that the use of the word bushwalking is dwindling. Everyone refers to it as hiking now. We go bushwalking in Australia not hiking! We should be proud of our unique word.

Here here.

[Warin]

Can we also add into the discussion whether it’s Track or Trail?
Particularly if you put “Kokoda” in front?

I'd be inclined to use what the locals use.

In PNG it is called the Kokoda Trail.

In Australia various paths have names with either Track or Trail, I see no problem with using the names already in use.

Anyone for some tinned dog with dead horse?

[GregG]

Here here.

Where? where?
And do I have to trek there? Hmmm, now where's my trusty acronym, I had it only a moment ago.

[Moondog55]

Who are you calling old? I'm still 17 inside

[Baka Dasai]

I hate that the use of the word bushwalking is dwindling. Everyone refers to it as hiking now. We go bushwalking in Australia not hiking! We should be proud of our unique word.

I find myself saying "hiking" more often than "bushwalking". The latter seems so...hokey. Usually I hang on to Australianisms rather than succumb to bland internationalisms, but not this time.

But whatever...language changes and life goes on. C'est la vie and vive la différence!

[Lamont]

I'm all for 'bushwalking' but it's a small part of a much bigger picture.
It all started when cobbers became mates. The lollies! That was the beginning of the end. Or the Fall of Singapore-take your pick.
Now I catch an elevator, to pull the trigger, on a sleeping pad, at the store, but can't forget the stakes to hold my shelter down.
Damn, forgot I need to pull the trigger on a new backpack. Now to get on trail, to burn some calories-where's my damn fanny pack, all my trail mix is in there! Is Q coming or going? I can never remember.
Why the hell are so many Australians 'pulling the effing trigger?!

[johnw]

I think as long as you enjoy it and practise appropriate care for the bush call it what you like.
Bushwalking is my own preference but having visited the US a number of times, if I say that over there I get odd, confused looks.
So when in Rome do as the Romans do, and I'll be hiking on a trail over there and bushwalking on a track (mostly) at home.
But I have definitely noticed a trend towards "hiking" here, and occasionally "trekking".
Probably the result of Internet/YouTube/Insta-whatever et al, and possibly also influenced by gear retailer advertising speak.
Especially relatively recent arrival Decathlon with its European origins.
When you visit these stores they always seem to be full of impressionable newbie "instafamous" under 30s in active wear.
The Think Before You Trek program is a good idea IMHO. But having worked in the public sector for a long tome before I retired,
I shudder at the thought of how many expensive meetings were likely held to come up with the terminology.

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Sigh... NABA. Oh well, SNAFU. BOHICA. Anyway I'm done, AMFYOYO...

[commando]

On the other hand there are a lot of authentic Aussie origin generated words now being used internationally as well
into the main vocabulary of a wide range of nationalities mainly slang type words but they are out there,
i was surprised to hear them and thought i was hearing things.

TLA 's (three letter acronyms) are a separate form of language often used as code by different organisations to afffirm superiority
or deeper understanding of a subject matter.

[stry]

This thread could set records

My contributions are:

When I was a shoolboy in the 50s surrounded by what were very fresh memories of WW2, I never heard the word "trail" used in conjunction with "Kokoda". It was always the Kokoda Track. I suggest that if "trail" is now being used in PNG it is simply a contemporary buckling to the wave.

My father was an active bushwalker and ski tourer up until WW2, and we were downhill skiers for many years following WW2, in company with his associates from earlier days.
I do not recall ever hearing any of them use "trail" except possibly in the follow along behind context.

My contemporaries use "trail" in only an animal context, as in "game trail". Actual footprints of animals are "tracks". Paths in the bush are "tracks" or "pads". If the signs of something or someone are being followed, it is being "tracked", hence "black tracker". Sketchy vehicle access is a track.

And yet we have the Heysen Trail which seems quite appropriate to me.

As for the acronym "TREK", I can't even work out what the words mean. If it's that obscure (to me anyway) that it needs thought to understand, it is of no value, despite what someone was paid to concoct it.

[Lamont]

On the other hand there are a lot of authentic Aussie origin generated words now being used internationally as well
into the main vocabulary of a wide range of nationalities mainly slang type words but they are out there,
i was surprised to hear them and thought i was hearing things.

All I ever heard was references and quotes to/from Mick Dundee, never heard and Oz word of dialect other than tourist hawkers in some Asian contries for business. Or a seppo telling me gidday. Which I appreciated but they wouldn't use normally but for welcoming me. What are these words?

[GregG]

On the other hand there are a lot of authentic Aussie origin generated words now being used internationally as well
into the main vocabulary of a wide range of nationalities mainly slang type words but they are out there

That's a bonza comment cobber!

[GregG]

The whole track/trail debate becomes highly incendiary as soon as the word Kokoda is added. It is my understanding that the origins of this go back to 1942 when Australian AIF and militia were fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track, with nary a septic to be seen. Douglas Macarthur, supreme egoist, required all press releases to be about US forces, no one else, so information coming from Australian sources was retranslated into Americanese by his media people and so the Kokoda Track became the Kokoda Trail. I have been to PNG several times and the use of the word "trail" is disliked there just as much as it is here.

[north-north-west]

The whole track/trail debate becomes highly incendiary as soon as the word Kokoda is added. It is my understanding that the origins of this go back to 1942 when Australian AIF and militia were fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track, with nary a septic to be seen. Douglas Macarthur, supreme egoist, required all press releases to be about US forces, no one else, so information coming from Australian sources was retranslated into Americanese by his media people and so the Kokoda Track became the Kokoda Trail. I have been to PNG several times and the use of the word "trail" is disliked there just as much as it is here.

Yep, I've read that elsewhere about Macarthur. Glory hound. And Blamey let him get away with it.

[gayet]

...... And Blamey let him get away with it.

I'll be kind and assume that Blamey knew which battles were worth fighting...

[GregG]

As for the acronym "TREK", I can't even work out what the words mean. If it's that obscure (to me anyway) that it needs thought to understand, it is of no value, despite what someone was paid to concoct it.

Fair comment Stry, that was exactly my point. Here it is in full
T - Take adequate supplies of food, water, navigational and first aid equipment
R - Register your planned route and tell friends and family when you expected to return
E - Emergency beacons are available free of charge from NSW Police and NPWS
K -Keep to your planned route and follow the map and walking trails

There's another acronym that would have helped the people who created the TREK mess and that is KISS. They got it partly right with KIS and left out the simple bit.

[Moondog55]

The whole track/trail debate becomes highly incendiary as soon as the word Kokoda is added. It is my understanding that the origins of this go back to 1942 when Australian AIF and militia were fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track, with nary a septic to be seen. Douglas Macarthur, supreme egoist, required all press releases to be about US forces, no one else, so information coming from Australian sources was retranslated into Americanese by his media people and so the Kokoda Track became the Kokoda Trail. I have been to PNG several times and the use of the word "trail" is disliked there just as much as it is here.

Yep, I've read that elsewhere about Macarthur. Glory hound. And Blamey let him get away with it.

Blamey was [apparently and according to most people at the time ] drunk most of the time and never had the respect of the troops he commanded.

[GregG]

There's another acronym that would have helped the people who created the TREK mess and that is KISS. They got it partly right with KIS and left out the simple bit.

I'm sure they were well intentioned though.

[Redtail]

The whole track/trail debate becomes highly incendiary as soon as the word Kokoda is added. It is my understanding that the origins of this go back to 1942 when Australian AIF and militia were fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track, with nary a septic to be seen. Douglas Macarthur, supreme egoist, required all press releases to be about US forces, no one else, so information coming from Australian sources was retranslated into Americanese by his media people and so the Kokoda Track became the Kokoda Trail. I have been to PNG several times and the use of the word "trail" is disliked there just as much as it is here.

FWIW, this from the Australian War Memorial ...
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/the-kokoda-track-or-trail

[GregG]

Thanks Redtail, I have corresponded with Carl James and regard him as an objective and talented military historian.

[Neo]

In Dubai markets:

Where are you from?

Australia.

Ah kangaroo!

[GregG]

Yeah. Football, meat pies, kangaroos and, um, ....... imported cars.

[GregG]

And thanks Neo, your comment brings to mind these lyrics

Travelling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie TRAIL, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me home and made me breakfast
And she said .... etc

No more to say: trails are for people with heads full of zombie. QED.