Month-long hiking challenge to build anticipation for first-ever Esperance Hiking Festival

The pristine trails tracing the Esperance landscape will be on show at the region’s first-ever hiking festival, with a month-long challenge to build anticipation for the event. The Esperance Hiking Festival will take place later this month, with a series of guided and non-guided hike options designed to show off the region’s trails to the world. Building anticipation for the event, organisers have challenged the community and visitors to collectively hike the distance around Australia during the month of September. Participants are invited to join the Esperance Hiking Festival 2024 group on the exercise social media page Strava where they will have the chance to win weekly prizes as part of the challenge. Australia’s Golden Outback Esperance tourism manager Annabelle Hender said she had confidence in the community to complete the challenge. “I’m thrilled to introduce the Month of Hiking Challenge, which encourages locals and visitors to explore the stunning trails around Esperance while adding a touch of friendly competition in the lead-up to the hiking festival. “Some might view a lap of Australia as ambitious, but to that, I say: ‘Have you met the Esperance community?’” Included in the weekend’s activities is a “unity” hike along a 6.5km section of the Great Ocean Trail from Pink Lake to Twilight Beach. The idea of holding a unity hike was inspired by Athleen Thomas’ unity artwork which is on display at the Mudjar Aboriginal Corporation and which depicts symbols representing different cultures sitting together. The event will coincide with the Esperance Wildflower Festival to show off the region to hikers when the spring flora is looking its best. The festival will start on September 19 with a hiking-themed quiz night at Lucky Bay Brewing before more activities take place from September 20 to 22.