“Walking Speaks to the Soul”: Dudley Finds Beauty in the Heysen Trail and Beyond

According to Resthaven Mitcham resident Mr Dudley Cockington, you have to climb the tallest mountains to get the best views. And Dudley would know, having walked thousands of kilometres across Australia and the world.

An avid walker, Dudley’s rucksack would often be on his back, filled with sandwiches for lunch, a thermos of tea, plenty of water, plus a spare pair of socks.

‘It’s also important to have a map and a compass,’ Dudley says. ‘You can’t rely on mobile phone coverage. And, to make things easier, everything you need to carry should be as light as possible – after all, you’ll have it on your back for up to eight hours a day.’

 
Dudley looking towards Burra on the Heysen Trail

It was when Dudley was in his 50s and living near Burra that the walking bug took hold. The 1200km Heysen trail in South Australia, which runs from Cape Jervis in the south to Parachilna Gorge in the north, had recently been finished, and Dudley decided that he would like to walk it. A friend connected him to the Australian Retired Persons Association (ARPA) bushwalking group. At the time several older women had just started walking the trail and they were delighted to add Dudley to their team. After all, he was a practical country man, who could drive on any roads and could solve the difficulties of being in the outback. 

 
Dudley with some of his ARPA team

Over the next few years, the group took on the trek, walking sections of the trail in around 5-6-day stints, covering around 20km each day.

‘At that point you’re usually looking for a hot shower and a comfortable bed,’ Dudley says. ‘Some days are a lot harder than others, and the weather – wind especially – can make a big difference.’

But, it turned out that 1200 kms wasn’t enough for Dudley. When he reached Parachilna, he decided to keep going, rounding up a small group of sturdy friends to walk the next 1200kms, wholly unmarked, to reach Haddon Corner in South Australia’s north-east corner – a total of 2400kms from Cape Jervis.

‘There is such variety in the landscape,’ Dudley says. ‘There are magnificent vast, open arid plains, and woody vistas. The trail always seems to go up the steepest hills. Parts of it are a very hard walk, but the views are always amazing once you get up there. The top of a mountain is always a good place to recuperate before going again.’

An international walker

With the Heysen Trail completed (and some!), Dudley turned his attention to other walks. When reading the newspaper one day, Dudley saw that a church group in the UK was looking for Australian walkers to join them in completing The Pilgrim’s Way. The walk follows the historic route between the cathedral cities of Winchester and Canterbury and is a route that pilgrims have followed since the 12th century in order to pay respects to Saint and martyr Thomas Becket.

‘I contacted the group and they were very happy to have me,’ Dudley says.

The walk took around three weeks to complete.

‘It was beautiful and very enjoyable. The terrain was a lot easier than the Heysen trail,’ Dudley says. ‘Along the way we slept in church halls, as the pilgrims once did.’

Dudley also took on other ‘pilgrimages’, including the Camino de Santiago in Spain and in his 70s, the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. In New Zealand he completed the Milford and Routeburn Tracks.

More locally, he has walked the Overland Track in the Cradle Mountains, Tasmania, the Simpson Desert trek, the Great South West Walk, the Larapinta Trail in Alice Springs, as well as the Great North Walk from Sydney to Newcastle. He has also completed Walk the Yorke on Yorke Peninsula, as well as walking the perimeter of Kangaroo Island.

‘Walking speaks to the soul,’ Dudley says. ‘When you’re on a walk you can’t be unhappy. You feel connected to the country you are in – you feel like you’re a part of it.’

A walking family

Dudley’s achievements have inspired others in his family, and his sister Bronwyn, as well as his twin nieces Lorna and Miriam, have also completed the Heysen Trail, as well as other overseas walks.

‘We are a walking family,’ Dudley says. ‘It probably started with my dad. He would often stop the car and go for a walk, which was considered unusual behaviour at the time.’

Dudley grew up with his family on a small farm at Hackham. They had a few sheep, and when Dudley left school he trained to become a wool classer – working on many remote properties in the state.

When Dudley married Jan in the early 1960s, he no longer wanted to be away from home for long periods.  It was then that they decided to purchase a wool buying business in Burra. It was during this time that their daughter Amanda was born in 1964 and two years later a son Miles in 1966. After about a decade or more of wool buying, Dudley and Jan purchased a sheep property called “Redcliffe Station”, about 60kms from Burra. Being so remote, sometimes the only visitor the family saw was the mailman who delivered their groceries and mail once a week.

Walking: a way of life

On his 80^th birthday in 2018, Dudley completed his last big walk – from Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty Summit. He did so with his son Miles, and his grandsons Nicholas, Henry and Jack.

 
Dudley at the top of Mt Lofty after his last hike from Waterfall Gully

‘I thought I probably should stop at 80,’ Dudley says with a laugh.

Dudley still makes walking a part of his day. He enjoys stepping out along the corridors of Resthaven Mitcham to the furthest points and back to his room. He does this several times a day and greets his friends along the way.

‘We’ve certainly done more walks than most people,’ Dudley says.

‘There’s a lot of problem solving needed when you take on a big walk, and you can find out so much more about the place you are walking through. There is always the excitement of what you might come across around the next bend.’

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