This Guy is Summiting the Highest Point in All 16 of Australia’s States & Territories

Australia is the flattest continent on Earth but it’s not short of a mountain adventure! Join Will for a geography refresher and the summiting of his first six peaks.

The Lay of the Land

It might surprise some people to find out that Australia is made up of six states and ten territories. You didn’t know? Neither did I! I thought that Australia was just one extremely big island (the mainland) and one much smaller island (Tasmania).

I was reminded of my Australian geography when I read about four blokes that went on a mission to climb a 2745m active volcano on Heard Island. I think Heard Island is inappropriately named because no one has actually heard of it (sorry, not sorry!). It’s a sub-Antarctic island more than 4000km off the coast of Perth and is a territory of Australia. Bizarre.

Keeping track of all the territories I’ve just learned about

There’s also the Jervis Bay Territory on the NSW South Coast which came into being when the ACT decided it needed access to the sea. Fair enough, beaches are nice places.

Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, and Ashmore Reef are closer to other countries than they are to Australia, but people living in these places pay for things in Australian dollars, probably eat Vegemite, and say ‘G’day’. Nuts.

Further out to sea, beyond the Great Barrier Reef in north Queensland, there are a bunch of small islands and reefs that cumulatively make up the Australian Territory of the Coral Sea Islands. No one lives out there except for a handful of meteorologists.

I imagine they probably live next door to Tom Hanks and a volleyball named Wilson.

Australia is an enormous country and Antarctica is an enormous non-country. It’s a giant landmass at the bottom of the earth, covered in ice, and home to an unfortunately dwindling number of seals and birds.

Despite being a non-country, Australia’s claim to over 40% of the continent is recognised by the UN and it’s, you guessed it, an external territory of Australia.

Read more: A Guide to Visiting Australia & New Zealand’s Sub-Antarctic Islands

Of course, the places we all know and love deserve a mention too. Victoria, NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, Tasmania, ACT, and Western Australia round out the list of 16 states and territories.

Australia’s alpine region never fails to impress

This is a very simplistic view of Australian state and territory borders but what do all of these places above have in common?

They all have a highest point where the view is probably pretty good. I’ve stood on a few of them so far and it’s fair to say that the variety of landscapes is breathtaking.

While some of these places seem uninhabited and/or uninhabitable, it’s important to acknowledge that the current states and territories of Australia are preceded by thousands of years of First Nations cultural connection with the land.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands that I visit and I pay my respect to their elders; past, present, and emerging.

The Mission (So Far)

Since I was a little tacker, I’ve been fascinated with famous explorers like Sir Edmund Hilary and Roald Amundsen. The sheer determination required to go to places that no one has been before is inspiring. Throw an enormous mental and physical challenge on top, and you’ve got the recipe for an absolute badass.

I’ve always wanted to be a badass like my polar-exploring and mountain-climbing heroes. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for a phone call from Elon Musk letting me know that I’ll be the first person to step on Mars, the 21st century’s final frontier.

After I’d read about those blokes on (un)Heard Island, I read about Mount McClintock, the highest point in the Australian Antarctic Territory.

No one has ever summited it – probably for good reason – but that didn’t stop me from thinking I could follow in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton if I climbed it. And so the challenge was set: stand at the highest point of all 16 states and territories of Australia.

New South Wales

I immediately grabbed my hiking pack, called a mate, and chose the most inconvenient way to ascend the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, NSW’s highest point – cross-country skis.

Only three weeks earlier I’d tried my hand at the fine art of chook footing and I quickly realised that it’s very different to downhill skiing.

We started from the Ski Tube building at the Perisher Ski Resort and followed the snow-covered road to Charlottes Pass. This road is well maintained in winter and provides a nice surface to get into the exaggerated rhythm of moving about on cross-country skis.

Perisher at the crack of dawn

Beyond Charlottes Pass is a smaller road used by national parks staff. In winter it provides really good skiers with convenient access to the backcountry.

Mind you, those really good skiers don’t typically choose cross-country skis as their steed of choice.

Many spills and many kilometres later, we made it to Australia’s highest public toilet at Rawson Pass.

We could hardly see the toilet though because we were amid a complete whiteout. My mate offered some sound advice in the limited visibility: ‘If we head strictly uphill, we’ll get to the top of Australia.’ I agreed, so we pressed on.

Following our uphill-only strategy, we made it to the summit of Kosci and I had a beaming smile on my face. It was blowing a gale, over 125km/h, and I really felt like I was standing at the South Pole. Skis are made to go downhill right? Wrong.

Well, not cross-country skis. It was an absolute battle to get back to Perisher but we were chuffed with our 36km journey that took nearly nine hours.

Zero contrast between snow and sky at Alice Rawson Pass

Jervis Bay Territory

A fortnight after Mount Kosciuszko, I was rolling down the M1 on my way to the highest point number two: Bherwerre Trig Point in Jervis Bay. The Jervis Bay Territory is the smallest of any of Australia’s internal or external territories by area, which made it comparatively easy to tick off the list. That, and the highest point is only 170m above the sea.

Only 3.5km walk from the nearest road, the top of the hill is marked with a white stone monument and a lot of buzzing from the multitude of defence communication antennas.

While not the most thrilling of bushwalks, falling asleep in a swag to the sound of the ocean made it all worthwhile.

Now that screams ‘Australiana’

Victoria

Clearly I hadn’t learned from the tribulations of Mount Kosciuszko because I decided that the best way to get up Mount Bogong in Victoria was with my trusty cross-country skis.

This time there was about 9km of bushland to navigate with skis strapped to my pack. This was increasingly frustrating because the skis were very good at lodging themselves in tree branches, abruptly stopping me in my tracks.

All was forgiven when I got to the snowline and witnessed one of my favourite things: being above the clouds on the side of a mountain.

It feels like passing through into another world, going from the damp and dark to the white and bright in a matter of steps. The clouds were lifting so I needed to get a move on.

Ahh bit of a mist-opportunity

I only managed to snap a couple of photos of the rhime-covered cairn that marks the top before I was in another whiteout, facing a long descent with cross-country skis on my feet. It’s fair to say that I was thoroughly buggered when I got back to the car four hours later.

Tasmania

Tasmania is by far my favourite place in Australia to be out in the bush. And there are infinite places to walk! Thanks to its prehistoric-looking landscapes and temperamental weather, it’s a humbling environment – even for the most experienced bushwalker.

The weather certainly kept to its temperamental nature with Mount Ossa becoming the third mountain summit I experienced in a whiteout. Of course, this was followed by beautiful sunshine the next day on my walk back to the car. Classic Tasmania.

The Central Plateau of Tasmania is something straight out of Jurassic Park

Queensland

Mt Bartle Frere in Tropical North Queensland has got to be the nation’s capital of leeches – I’ve never seen more in my life! I’ve spent a fair bit of time living and working in the tropical regions of Australia but I’ve never become used to the stifling heat and humidity.

Read more: Leeches: How To Remove, Avoid, and Appreciate Them

From a sea of white to a sea of green in a matter of weeks

Only a few weeks earlier I’d been trudging through snow and ice in Tasmania and now I was walking through mud in torrential rain. The track up Mt Bartle Frere is extremely steep – with a 25% gradient in some places – and my calves were certainly letting me know.

There are some rather large boulders to scramble across at the top, making it a bit tricky to figure out the highest point.

Conveniently, there’s a sign to let you know that you’ve made it to the top of Queensland so you can consider it conquered! I started this one a little late in the day and ended up back at the car after sunset, sopping wet, and covered in mud and leeches.

The convenient sign on top of QLD

Australian Capital Territory

Out of the six highest points that I’ve tackled so far, the track up Mount Bimberi in the ACT is hands down my favourite.

Perhaps it was the superb weather, the beautiful sub-alpine bushland, or the snack break at Oldfields Hut. It’s highly likely that the lack of leeches, snow, ice, rain, mud, and cross-country skis had something to do with it too.

The track to the top of Mount Bimberi is solid, but nothing too challenging, and offers pleasant views of the alpine region.

Iconic alpine bushland in the ACT

What’s next?

I have only three highest points on the Australian mainland left to summit: Western Australia, Northern Territory, and South Australia.

After that, it’s all offshore and everything gets exponentially harder. Highest points become more difficult to access and the fear of the unknown looms large, especially in the colder parts of the world.

I haven’t set myself a timeframe to complete this by and there’s no telling whether or not I’ll get an opportunity to get to Heard Island or Antarctica.

A wise man once told me that possessions can be taken away but memories and experiences cannot. The reward for doing all of this is the act of doing.

Being outside and being challenged by nature creates resilience and fosters appreciation for the wonderful planet that we all live on. And that’s all that I need.

Foggy forest on Mount Bogong

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