GNW Self-Supported FKT Trip Report
By Rachel Van Middeldyk
On the 1st of October 2026 at 7:01am I set out from the start of the Great North Walk, the Obelisk at Macquarie Place Park, hoping to make it all the way to Queens Wharf Newcastle and set a female self-supported FKT.
I guess this idea was initially sparked way back when I first started trail running in 2015 around the Dural/Hornsby section of the Great North Walk, I’d see signs showing the distance to Newcastle/Sydney, I was amazed that it went so far and curious to see what the whole trail would be like.
I few years later I learnt about FKT’s and after successfully completing a thru hike of the Great North Walk with my husband over Easter in 2023 in 5 1/2 days, I really started seriously thinking about how I might go about a solo adventure. It was something that seemed exciting but terrifying at the same time. Eventually it became an itch I just needed to scratch, I was scared of it, but I really just wanted try it and see what was possible.
I wasn’t sure what a realistic goal time might be, but I had calculated our total moving time from 2023 which was 79 hours, which we did comfortably and also self-supported. It planted a seed that with longer days and better planning, maybe 3 to 4 days would be possible.
I had taken time off running this year to allow a knee injury to heal and for once following professional advice, I hit the gym, lifting heavy, and walked/hiked a lot instead.
My knee settled, I added some weighted stair machine sessions and I realised that although still not running, I was hiking faster and feeling stronger on the trails than ever.
The hardest part of preparing was the mental aspect, I was scared of so many things; camping out alone, getting caught in storms, and just generally feeling vulnerable as a solo female. I also had big imposter syndrome type feelings, occasionally I’d mention to someone that I wanted to do it, and I’d feel instant regret, I think from the fear of failure. So there was a lot to work on and I spent a couple of months listening to podcasts from other’s who’ve done these things, as well as some great episodes from the Imperfects Podcast on mental health. In the week before they released an episode about imposter syndrome, what amazing timing! I worked through how I would manage risks and stay safe whilst reframing my thoughts into a different mindset to build some courage.
I chose the self-supported style because there wasn’t a self-supported time yet recorded for a female. Whilst I’m not fast, I am really good at planning and managing myself alone on the trail. The self-supported style allowed me to have as much support as I can manage or find along the way, but not from anything or person just for me. I love that there are rules, the restriction means you really have to work within it and adds to the challenge. I wanted to pack as light as possible (not pack my fears!) and to try to use what is already available. I planned to visit stores/cafes along the trail at Lane Cove, Thornleigh, Hornsby, Brooklyn, Somersby and Yarramalong, plus a couple of bush caches and then use the Australia Post red street boxes at Brooklyn and Yarramalong to post home dirty clothes and stuff I no longer needed.
In the week before I packed and prepared my packages and caches. I hiked in a bush cache for day one, booked a room at Brooklyn Motel for the first night, arranged for a very late check in and dropped off a resupply bag and change of clothes (shout out to Brooklyn Motel owner Tom who may have l thought I was a bit crazy but didn’t question it). I dropped off a 30L Salomon pack with my tent, and sleeping mat at Angel Sussuri Yarramalong (another shout out to Lizzie in the Angel Sussuri cafe who didn’t bat an eyelid and even asked if I wanted anything stored in the fridge) I then hiked in a bush cache for a final gear swap and resupply to get finished. I had a couple of additional water drops at trail heads, using 600ml water bottles that I could easily crush down and carry out, always following leave no trace principles.
I took a water filter and Aquatabs so I could drink from the creeks and tanks in the more remote areas. Water can be tricky on some sections. I decided I would take the Little Wobby variation of the route because the ferry ride is cheaper than a water taxi to Patonga and the mens self-supported FKT also went this route.
The final part of my planning I decided I would be brave and share my adventure, I created a chat where I could send family and friends updates from the trail. This did add to my fears a little at first, but I also realised this would help with my safety should something go wrong. I found a great online tracking website Corsa LiveTracking, set up a free account and linked my Garmin Inreach. A shout out to Luke for creating this awesome resource, this provided live tracking of my progress on the route.
Day One: Sydney to Brooklyn
I’d been insanely nervous and overwhelmed in the days leading up, but managed to get up and dressed, farewelled my boys with a ‘see you in Newcastle’ and headed into the city with Reece who would drop me off at the Obelisk. I was relieved that I was actually feeling pretty calm. I started at 7:01am and walked down to Circular Quay to catch the 7:15am ferry across to Woolwich, it was a beautiful sunny morning on Sydney Harbour.
Hopping off the ferry at Woolich and walking up through the streets I reminded myself it was going to be a really long day and just be patient and move efficiently. I’d packed so much food, in hindsight too much, but I did manage to eat a lot which likely set me up well for the following days. I remember thinking it felt pretty warm already, much warmer than I’d expected for that time of morning. The first 30km I went by fairly quickly, passing by the bougie homes of Hunters Hill, lots of lovely water views and through Lane Cove National Park where I bought a Powerade at the cafe.
The trail eventually pops out at Thornleigh oval where I filled my water at the park tap and headed through the streets to Thornleigh Station. I mixed up a Tailwind Recovery shake in the empty Powerade bottle and bought a coke at the station cafe. The next 50km or so of trail all the way to Brooklyn I’m very familiar with, so it gave my brain a rest from concentrating so much.
It was pretty warm, but I was feeling ok, I had some mild nausea but it’s not abnormal and I’d packed a lot of powdered Lipton Iced and Powerade so even if I ate less I was still getting in some calories. For lunch I had some dehydrated Deb potato that went down amazingly, I just bit the corner of the bag and piped it straight into my mouth, best lunch on the go ever. This would later emerge to be one of the the hero foods of the trip. I stopped into the cafe at Mt Wilga for another coke and some a couple of cold bottles of water.
I caught up to another female hiker and we chatted for a bit, she was heading to Crosslands for the night, I farewelled her and pushed on. I’d hiked in a cache prior to the Hornsby section which was great timing for extra water, I’d managed to not carry more than 1.5L the whole day but stayed hydrated. It started cooling off, I really enjoyed the next few kms and I arrived into Crosslands Reserve just before 6:30pm. I sat at a picnic table, re taped my feet, changed socks and ate my cold soaked dehydrated radix meal (it was pretty awful) and got my headlamp out ready for the night. I knew the next section of trails well but also knew it was going to be hard work before I got to rest at Brooklyn that night.
I listened to music for the next few hours to help keep myself focused, stopping at Berowra Waters to use the toilet and fill up my water. As I was walking along the roadway, I suddenly just rolled my right ankle. I’d been careful all day, luckily it was fine but came as a good warning to be extra careful or this adventure would be over. I knew any little injury would blow up into something worse over this distance.
I steadily climbed up to Berowra, there was a couple of large groups of people at Ridgetop campground and a girl screamed as I went by, I felt bad for startling her. If only she knew I was just as scared!
All I can remember from this section is all the cobwebs with little spiders, they were everywhere and I got covered in them.
I made it to Cowan station at 10pm just as a train came through, I filled my water again and felt a bit triumphant as this was the last stretch now to Brooklyn. I was moving along fine but starting to feel very tired.
At long last I made it to the final stretch of fire trail that heads into Brooklyn, I sent the last update at 11:44pm, I think it was closer to 1:30am when I final made it to the motel. I showered, emptied my pack, plugged in my headlamp, phone, Inreach and watch to charge. I tried my best to set up everything for the next day but I was so tired I couldn’t think. I expected this and had printed a checklist to follow, I knew I’d be wrecked, but I had trouble even following the basic prompts. I finally lay down, looking at the chaos of crap all over the room and decided it was a tomorrow problem.
Day Two: Brooklyn to Cedar Brush Walkers Rest Campsite
My alarm went off at 5:45am, the usual time I get up each day. I hadn’t slept great, waking up a number of times. The first ferry was leaving at 6:40am so I had to hustle. I sat up and felt so sick. I made an instant coffee and forced down my radix ultra breakfast. The nausea was so bad. I was worried about my feet when I had looked at them the night before, but this morning they looked ok. A couple of small blisters were starting on my heels and outer big toes so I just taped everything up well.
I got dressed and started getting my pack organised. I ended up having to lay back in bed for 10min though, I just felt so off. I set a timer in case I fell asleep. Back up again I gathered everything, shoving food bags into pockets of my pack and headed out the door. There was so much food, way too much and deciding what to take was overwhelming. Tom the motel owner met me at the door, we had a quick chat and I said I had to run and he wished me well. I had wanted to get a real coffee, but considering my sensitive stomach I decided to head straight to the wharf instead. There were so many flies and it felt really warm already at 6:30am.
Once on the ferry I felt a sense of relief. My plan was to be on this first ferry so that by the time the first 24 hours ticked over, I was already across the water and climbing out of Little Wobby. The track weaves in front, behind, and right through the houses of Little Wobby, it feels strange but that is the actual public thoroughfare. The trail up is barely a trail, not marked or very distinct, just a scramble up the escarpment beneath the powerlines. I felt really proud at the top. I’d been nervous and I don’t know why, plus the views from the top were beautiful.
I came to a little creek crossing and filled my water. This first section is 6km of quite technical single track,and is slow going. I’m happy when I come to a junction and turn onto the rocky ponds fire trail. It was feeling really warm now, but I know there is water approximately every 5km with the Mt Wondabyne campsite not far ahead. An echidna crossed the trail in front of me and I stopped to film him, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing the wildlife in the bush. The native flowers were also incredible along this section, loads of flannel flowers and native Boronia that smelt amazing.
I realised my stomach had started feeling better and started eating whatever I pulled out of my pack. I had some dried banana chips, fruit straps, and a muesli bar. I was drinking Powerade and plain water at this stage.
After passing by Mt Wondabyne the next point of interest is Kariong Brook Falls, and another opportunity to cool off and refill water. Its a really pretty little waterfall and a great spot for a swim. I quickly refilled my water and wet my hair and hat before the steep climb. There are some pretty nice views as the trail heads towards piles creek
I made it to the Piles Creek swing bridge just before 12:30pm, happy because the next part of the trail along Mooney Mooney creek is much easier walking and also shaded. I refilled my water at Piles Creek, but knew I also had a water cache coming up soon at the trailhead near the bridge so didn’t need to carry much.
I was feeling really good, there was a little brush turkey running ahead of me on the trail, it was as though he thought I was following him, looking over his shoulder every so often before sprinting ahead. It was funny, I filmed him for a little while to entertain myself. Just before 2pm I went across the wide Mooney Mooney creek, it was just a few puddles and I was so happy to be keeping my feet dry. I was not far too far from Somersby now and looking forward to that milestone.
I ate Deb potato for lunch again, some M&M’s and a paleo bars from Aldi that went down really well too. I was loving the trails, feeling very grateful to be able to do what I was doing and reminding myself that this was in fact supposed to be hard, so just chill out and enjoy the experience. I thought a lot about some of the women who had inspired me in recent months leading up, the interviews I’d listened to with the amazing endurance athletes Tara Dower, Rachel Entrekin, Lucy Gossage and Sophie Grant. Legendary women unafraid to share their struggles and but challenging themselves regardless. I’d followed Sophie Grant’s Via Alpina FKT updates everyday on instagram, I was in total awe of her goal of 30 days, all I had to manage was 3 days and no real mountains in sight! This would be fine haha. I also repeated to myself a quote by Rachel Entrekin from her Cocodona 250 outright win “why not me?” Because I still, even midway through day 2 wondered at times what the hell I was doing. But it’s true, why NOT me? It helped me immensely to push forward.
At Somersby Store I bought some cold water, a Coke and a potato scallop. I didn’t think I’d want the scallop, my stomach had been touch and go all day, but it actually sat well.
I was pumped now to get to Yarramalong, this is where I had dropped off my night gear and I was a bit anxious that something would go wrong and I’d be stuck in the night without it. I called Angel Sussuri and confirmed I was on my way, hearing that my pack would be waiting for me on the cafe verandah was a relief and I relaxed. The next section seemed to take forever. It passes through Palm Grove though which I love, I passed by Stringybark campsite but there was no one there. I tried to eat my dehydrated dinner but gagged and couldn’t stomach it, I swore to never eat one of these ever again.
I made it into Yarramalong, as arranged my pack was sitting by the cafe door at Angel Sussuri and I was so happy I hugged it. I had a change of clothes, food, first aid supplies and a fresh battery pack. I had made another checklist for myself here, I followed it better this time, but again I seemed to have stuff all over the place, again too much food. I jammed what I didn’t need into the post packs to send home, and got moving down the road.
It was 11pm by now and I was on the final stretch to where I’d camp for the night. There is 11km of road out of Yarramalong, not always with enough shoulder so I decided not to listen to music, I had attached a red flashing light to the back of my pack for extra safety. It started raining but it wasn’t cold or windy so I pulled out the emergency poncho I’d packed and it fit right over me and my pack. The road felt really long, at one point there was a loud rustling next to me and a wombat burst out in front of me and ran across the road, followed by another one close behind.
I got to the the trail head and the sign said 2km to the Walker’s Rest area where I’d planned to camp. I was so happy because for some reason I’d thought it was 4km. I knew it was up a steep climb but I just couldn’t wait to lie down. The first part of the trail was fine, but then I came to a little gully, it was low and wet with boulders, I couldn’t see where the trail continued. I searched and searched and couldn’t find it. I checked my map, the navigation on my watch, I couldn’t work out where to go. I climbed up through some rocks only for it to go nowhere, tried again and again, I don’t know how long I was down there, but it was awhile. I was really upset, I felt light headed and sat down, it was so wet and there were leeches everywhere. It was about 2am, I was so tired and this was by the the lowest point I would experience for this whole trip. I pulled out some banana lollies and ate them all. The sugar must have been what I needed and reminded myself this is not the first time I’ve lost a trail, just go and find it. Strangely this time I looked at my watch, went about 10m, looked up and there it was. I could have screamed if I wasn’t so tired. I powered up the climb and came out onto a dirt road and there was the rest area. I was overjoyed.
I didn’t notice that there was another tent there already, a man’s voice called out ‘hello’. I apologised for shining my light around, said I’d lost the trail and I that I’d be quiet. He asked if I was camping there and I said yes. He sounded a bit scared himself so I wasn’t worried about him.
The next issue was that I was so tired I struggled with my tent. Still raining, I put my gear under the little shelter by the tank, and had many attempts to get my tent up. I had practiced this a lot, getting my complete set up time down to less than 5 min, but I had never done it in the dark and rain in the middle of the night!
Eventually I got the tent partially up where at least it wasn’t collapsing, grabbed all my gear and just lay inside. I was in my sleeping bag liner and wrapped a foil blanket around me. I changed into a merino t-shirt and used my other shirt to hold my pillow on my mat. I looked at the clock, it was 3:15am. Not the plan, but I plugged everything in to the battery pack to charge and tried to sleep.
Day Three: Walkers Rest Campsite to Newcastle
A little while later I woke thinking someone was shining a torch into my tent, but quickly realised it was daylight, 5:15am. I felt like absolute hell, I decided to just stay there a little bit longer. I felt something wet dripping on my lower back and thought it was rain coming in, only to realise it was a full leech that had been on all night, dropped off and I now had blood on my t-shirt. The walls of my tent weren’t pegged out, were very wet and it was still raining, so I was kind of curled up trying not to touch them.
I sent an update out that I’d lost the trail the night before but that I was ok. I thought just in case it showed on the tracker, I didn’t want to worry anyone.
When I’d been doing my mental preparations I’d decided that I would just let myself feel all the emotions, whether they be good or not. That I’d accept whatever happened and not beat myself up over mistakes or dwell on dark moments. I really love the Buddhist story of the 2 arrows, the first one that hits you is inevitable pain, but don’t let your reaction to it be like suffering the hit of a second arrow.
Whilst lying in my tent I start taking off the tape on my feet, cleaning them up, covering the blisters with bandaids and then tape over the top. They were very sore now. I got dressed and decided I’d just get up to go to the toilet. The man camping was also awake, he apologised if he had woken me up, I apologised for bumbling my way into camp at 3am. We chatted whilst I packed up my gear. I think this helped distract me from the situation and it seems like a miracle but by 7am I was ready to go.
Walking was painful this morning, but in the morning light the bush looked so beautiful. I ate a mini snickers, scotch finger biscuits and chocolate milk for breakfast. I remember thinking how could I possibly be anything but happy to be in this beautiful place.
I put some music on and had some Panadol and a caffeine tablet. Soon the pain subsided and I got a bit of a better pace going. I had no plan to stop again with roughly 100km to go and now my mind was firmly set on getting to Newcastle.
I focused on getting to waypoints rather than looking at the time or kms. The great north walk signs are notorious for being inaccurate with their distance markers and are best ignored or they’ll drive you crazy. My next focus was Watagan Creek Road, another trailhead where I had driven in a water cache prior.
The next few hours I think I found a whole other gear, realistically it was most likely the fact that I’s been saving the caffeine tablets for this day and combined with sugar were making me feel great. I loved crossing through the paddocks and farmland. The rain had stopped and I was starting to see the end was in sight.
I was excited to get to Flat Rock Lookout because it’s not far then down to Congewai, where I’d have an easy dirt road road for a few kms before hitting the final stretch of 70km towards Newcastle. I’d also have my final resupply cache to access and could get some fresh socks and fix up my feet again that were alarmingly painful. I was honestly scared to even look at them. My gait had shifted a bit to manage them, I couldn’t push off the ball of my feet anymore without pain. Apart from my feet, my body was fine. I was impressed at how strong I still felt hiking the hills, this is always my strength but I’d not expected to still climb strong after 200km.
I climbed up out of Congewai Saturday afternoon, passing the beautiful Barraba Campsite with its huge grass trees, I wish I took a photo! I topped up my water and set my sights on getting to Watagan HQ campground.
I was careful to keep to one side of the trail because this is a popular camping area and being the long weekend there were quite a few 4WD on the roads. I had switched back to my bright red vest for this last section for that reason, I had anticipated the most dangerous parts would be where I could be hit by a car at night and wanted to be visible.
The food I’d packed for this last stretch was all fun, LCM bars, skittles and Allens lollies, M&M’s, Pringles, soy crisps and of course my beloved deb potato bags.
I listened to music whenever I felt it was safe to, and I turned it up loud. I was having pretty regular caffeine tablets and 4 hourly Panadol now too. Together this was all working to keep me alert. I did hit a bit of a mental spiral around 210km, I noticed I was just overthinking things a bit, feeling a bit stressed. I didn’t msg many updates for a while because it was a bit of a struggle. I did turn my phone on and read some of the messages from family and friends and it helped so much.
Passing Watagan HQ was really motivating because I knew then I was going to make it to Newcastle in this last push. There’s only a small amount of challenging trail left, even if part of it is the notorious jungle section which I was going to have to navigate in the dark. I was a bit worried given my experience from the night before, but I made sure to eat extra and have some caffeine as I went into it to make sure I stayed alert. The jungle is 6km of tricky ups and downs through a little rainforest like section. When I’d last been through there in 2023 there were so many leeches it was insane.
It was every bit as challenging as I expected, It was mostly very well marked though with reflective markers so navigation in the dark was fine. I was so happy to emerge out from it at Heaton Lookout. I sent an update, and headed down the steep descent of Heaton Gap.
I did cry a little bit when I saw the Brunkerville servo, knowing that’s the end of all the hard stuff and I was officially on the home stretch of 40km. I did a time check, the first in many hours. I was very sleep deprived and that math wasn’t coming easy. I was trying to work out if I could make it under 3 days. I didn’t know, but I pushed on hard now. I would alternate caffeine tablets and sugar for the next 40km. I was trying to charge my watch and Inreach, plugging the cords into the holes had become so difficult. It was things like this that made me realise how tired I really was. The worst was connecting my wired earphones into my phone, if I didn’t hold them right in front of my face I couldn’t do it.
There is a road section heading into Teralba which I was really worried about. I didn’t like the idea of being on the shoulder of the road in the dark, I walked as fast as I could and it seemed to drag on forever! I didn’t want my earphones in so I could hear the cars coming, but I was also desperate to get the music going again.
Arriving into Teralba I messaged an update and text Reece to say I was only 25km from Newcastle. This was the most incredible feeling, I put on some music and walked as fast as I could through the station and along the footpath.
The trail goes around Lake Macquarie past Speers Point and Warner’s Bay. For the first time I felt cold and put on my arm sleeves, jacket and buff. As soon as I left the lake I warmed up again and took them all off again. Daylight savings kicked in and suddenly my watch and phone updated and it was a bit confusing at first.
I kept trying to do the calculations of how much time I had left to 7am but it was impossible! I decided just to push as much as I could, I wanted to lie down so the sooner I got it done the better.
I messaged Reece again coming into Charlestown, the final 10 from there. The trail heads into Glenrock Conservation area before it pops out onto the beach. Somehow I took a little wrong turn on the Yuelarbah Walking track, I think a lookout confused me and I had to backtrack. I realised by now that if I wanted to be under 3 days I better hurry up and started doing a little ‘run’ which was really just a shuffle of 10 steps at a time. I came out onto the beach just as the sun rose, what dream timing! It was quite misty and foggy at first but the sun soon broke though to a stunning morning.
The last few kms of beach were so beautiful, the tide was low enough that the rocky section was easy to cross and there were many people out already walking and fishing.
I turned my phone off flight mode and instantly a text popped up from Reece. I was so close now but it’s a steep hill up bather’s way into Newcastle and then navigating properly through the streets of Newcastle isn’t that easy!
I tried to run a little bit as I headed down to the wharf, I was so emotional and honestly so relived I had actually made it. To see the faces of my boys waiting for me was so special. The funniest thing was looking around for the Great North Walk sign that marks the end, only to realise it was all under construction so no sign and that was that.
My total time was 2 days 23 hours and 53 minutes, I am beyond happy with my effort and can’t believe I actually did that all by myself. I am really proud that I didn’t let fear prevent me from trying, and that I actually followed through with something that I have thought about and talked about wanting to do for so long.