Queensland Walks Week 2020 report

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Queensland Walks Month 2021?

Thank you to our Friends of Queensland Walks who participated in Queensland Walks’ Week 2020.

Here are some wonderful walker stories about participating in the week-long celebration:

Walker stories

“This was my first year of participating in walk week and I really enjoyed it. Highlights for me included the fantastic participation we had across our office in Mackay. We limited team numbers to 5 per team (some only had 4) but still ended up with 7 teams. We have about 60 or so staff all up on a good day (including some who are still working from home) so it was great buy in. I think people were really keen to connect again in some way after lock down and encouraging each other to go on lunch time walks and even weekend treks was a fun way to do it – not to mention some good natured competiveness between the business units.

I think my other highlight was realising how much really cool stuff happens around the streets – that you often don’t see. Some of my favourites were checking out particular gardens that had flowers in bloom and getting the ‘hello – how are you’ from complete strangers who after a couple of days think of you as a regular in their neighbourhood. It was really good fun. At the end we celebrated with an office morning tea and the decision was made to carry on for Stepsember – not quite as many takers this time round – but those that are in – are super keen 🙂 “ Jack, Mackay

“It was great to participate in the recent “Walk Week 2020” which I accessed via the Snap Send Solve app. Recording my walking activities around the Noosa region for the week made me realise and reflect on the great efforts our Noosa council has made to make this area walk-friendly.

Not only does the Noosa area have many paths that allow walkers to walk away from road traffic, but also walkways between houses to move from one area to another, and best of all underpasses under busy roads such as Eenie Creek Rd.

Good on ya Noosa Council. It was super to realise that walking to the shops, the dentist, the beach, all sorts of places that instead of using the car, I walked, and by walking I found you remain in touch with your local community, the people in it, the developments around it, rather than simply fast forward by car to the destination, walking gives you a chance to enjoy the journey.

I’d also like to thank NICA (Noosa Integrated Catchment Association) for their great “Wildflower Walks” NICA . This allowed me to get out into the untouched landscape around town and appreciate just the huge amount of wildflowers bursting into life. Pink, yellow, white all manner of colours. Heck they even have a great page that helps you identify the plants as you walk through the bush. –Plants.” Greg, Noosa

“A few years ago I was overweight and had a lot of pain in my feet meaning I couldn’t walk any real distance at all, I was made redundant from my job which somehow triggered something leading me to switch focus from my stressful job to caring more about me. I shed 20+ kilos and found a new person. I started walking slowly with a 15 minute walk around the block, hills and all, then I started morning walks on the treadmill which I still do. My daughter had her first baby and during her maternity leave we added afternoon walks around her neighbourhood with baby and dog in tow for exercise and just to get out of the house. I stumbled across Queensland Walk’s week from the Happier Healthier newsletter I get and decided we would sign up for fun.

Well this little week changed our perspective quite a bit, we found ourselves looking more closely at the scenery around us, and on the extremely windy Wednesday we changed our route and headed up a different road through to the local Annabelle Park in Bellbird Park, Ipswich. We gave my adorable little grandson Xander (who featured in the “flood marker” photo that won) his first swing and play in the park and has now become a regular part of our walks. We continued through the park to Moodai Reserve which is a series of trails through bush land. It is so refreshing to know that we have lovely urban bushland in our communities to enjoy.

We love our walks and on days where you are feeling a little blah and with lock downs and restrictions blah days seem to occur more often, walking seems to lift your spirits as well as giving you some physical exercise, good for the heart and good for the soul! I also want to mention what a great tool Snap, Send and Solve is, we have an issue on our walk where four wheel drivers have traipsed mud on the footpath and the divots it’s created have meant you cannot push the pram through that section, we have to lift it up and over to get past and the street is far too busy to go around it, we wondered how to get it cleaned up and now that we have found this great app through walk week we know what to do! A big shout out to Queensland Walk’s and Snap, Send and Solve and all the others involved in Walk Week, it is a great concept and I look forward to participating again next year.” Jill, Brisbane