SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT RUNNING IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET FIT. WE SPOKE TO TWO GEMLIFE RESIDENTS WHO ARE TAKING LONG WALKS IN THEIR STRIDE.
According to Kay Hayter of GemLife Bribie Island, walking with a friend is a great way to conquer the kilometres.
“In the end we don’t worry about the distance we walk, we just count time – which is usually an hour to an hour-and-a-half,” she said. “And when you’re walking with a group and having a chat, the time disappears!”
Kay walks about seven kilometres per session, which she does three days a week with the GemLife Bribie Island walking group and then two days a week with other walkers who prefer to take a more sedate pace.
“Walking groups are a great way to make new friends too,” she said. “We were only at GemLife two weeks when I joined the walking ladies and now, three years later, we’re all very good friends!”
Kay loves the health benefits of walking and is looking forward to returning to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to do more rainforest walks.
“I much prefer walking outdoors than going to the gym because you’re outside and getting the benefits of the sunshine, rather than being stuck indoors,” she said. “At the moment we’re walking the fire trails through the bushland close to the resort. It’s a lovely walk and we end up seeing quite a few kangaroos along the way.”
According to a Harvard study, regular walkers experience all the health benefits of regular runners – reduced risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes – without the downside of injuries and damage to joints.
Stanford University researchers also discovered that people who walked in nature for 90 minutes showed decreased activity in a region of the brain associated with depression, compared with urban walkers.
Keen walkers Leonie and Ross Grant are delighted to call GemLife Palmwoods home because it’s put them central to several lovely walks from the resort.
“One of my favourites is Palmwoods to Woombye, which has a concrete path all the way into the main street of Woombye, where we then enjoy a coffee at Frankie’s,” she said. “This walk is 7.2kms one way, and if done early in the morning, most of the walk is in the shade which is a plus on a hot summer day.
“The path goes through a treed area and there are lovely distant views of the Blackall Range. Once in Woombye you can either walk back – which we have done a couple of times – or you can catch the train back to Palmwoods.”
The lovely hinterland location has meant plenty of tracks and trails to explore, including the Glass House Mountains, the Ewen Maddock Dam and the rail trail in Dularcha National Park which passes through a heritage listed railway tunnel.
Whether it is a bushwalk in the rain forest from Baroom Pocket Dam to Kondalilla Falls, or an amble along the coast in the Noosa National Park, Leonie and Ross enjoy the variety and it keeps their fitness up for international treks that have included Portugal and New Zealand.
“We usually holiday in the UK every second year and are hoping to get back there later this year,” said Leonie.
“The Automobile Association (AA) produces a series of walking guides called 50 Walks in Wiltshire, or ‘Hampshire’ or ‘Kent’ etc and we undertake several of those types of walks on each visit.
“Of course, the countryside is very different to Queensland, and it is just wonderful walking the public footpaths, bridleways and byways through cultivated farmland, dense forests with patches of bluebells and daffodils, passing by chalk streams and climbing stiles over fences.”