By John and Lyn Daly

The original planning for this book was completed towards the end of 2002.

But just as we were about to start walking (and in many cases, re-walking) all the tracks and trails in the park, the 2002-2003 bushfires struck. They devastated much of Kosciuszko, so we were forced to abandon any attempt to revisit the area.

We eventually returned and traversed the full length of Kosciuszko while completing the 670km Australian Alps Walking Track.

Despite severe damage caused by the bushfires, the region is slowly regenerating. We headed back to Kosciuszko last year and spent another four months walking all the proposed routes between January and April, to document walks for this book. Once again, we experienced snow in February!

We have included a complete range of short, medium and long day-walks, as well as overnight walks and multi-day hikes covering all regions of the park, from the Pilot Wilderness Area in the south, and north past the Jagungal and Bogong wilderness areas in the north.

We have included walks that will appeal to a wide range of people with differing interests and fitness levels.

Track notes for the complete Australian Alps Walking Track are included in this book. We have re-walked all sections of the AAWT that were affected by the 2002 and 2006 fires, regrowth and track building, and the notes have recently been checked on the ground by several AAWT end-to-enders. Local park rangers have also checked the notes to ensure they were as current as possible before we went to print.