Since the commencement of the Anglesea Perimeter Walk (APW) project, Angair has had three presidents, Bill McKellar, Christine Morrissey and Helen Tutt.
The Great Otway National Park had been declared for only three years. It has taken seven years to undertake the planning and funding, and to obtain the permissions needed to enable signs to be placed on the APW. The project is now complete. The majority of the 22 km of tracks go through the Great Otway National Park and the Anglesea Heath and are easy to find and follow.
Moves to develop the APW began seriously when money donated at the funeral of Don Hutton was placed in a designated Angair fund for this specific purpose. Don was an accomplished bush walker and environmental activist. The symbol for the walk is a stylized star chart, because Don taught astronomy as well as physics at Monash University.
A small working party was formed in 2007, which included Geoff Giles, Eathorne Mitchell, Maurie Dean, Jill Giles, Bill McKellar and Dot Hutton. The main task was to identify a route, and to negotiate with Surf Coast Shire, Parks Victoria, the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee, Alcoa and the Department of Environment and Primary Industries. Arranging meetings with all the busy, relevant professionals involved, took some magic from our presidents.
The APW can be walked in short sections over a couple of hours, or in its entirety over seven or eight hours. A number of street crossings give easy car access. Sections of the track are a little rough. It is an all year walk, but it is most spectacular in late winter and early spring. From any point, it is possible to follow the distinctive signs. A map and description will be in the Information Centres soon, which will also be available for down-loading from the Angair website. Until then, you can obtain the document by email from Angair. The walk showcases not only the coast where it follows the route of the Surf Coast Walk, but also the rare and extremely diverse heathlands around Anglesea.