Four walk the Larapinta Trail The Reverend Kirsty Ross, Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School, VIC. The Reverend Wendy Morecroft, St John’s Grammar School, SA. The Reverend Dr Katherine Rainger, Radford College, ACT. The Reverend Gillian Moses, St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, QLD
Four ASA chaplains. 65 km of hard trail. Countless rocky outcrops. One great cause. In the last week of June 2021, four intrepid ASA Chaplains met for the first time in the foyer of an Alice Springs hotel to embark on the ABM Larapinta Challenge. The challenge consists of five days of hiking and camping on one of the great walks of Australia, the Larapinta Trail. Together, The Reverend Gillian Moses (St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School), The Reverend Wendy Morecroft (St John’s Grammar School), The Reverend Dr Katherine Rainger (Radford College) and The Reverend Kirsty Ross (Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School) laced up their boots and shouldered their packs to help raise money for the Anglican Board of Mission (ABM). With fellow hikers from all over Australia they raised more than $124,000.
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more spontaneous, inspired by someone else posting on social media that they were going. Gillian was motivated by her daughter (also a priest) signing up, and by spending ‘slow time’ seeing the desert at walking pace, while Kirsty signed up in 2020, when Melbourne was in the midst of what turned out to be a 111-day lockdown and walking in the wide spaces of the Northern Territory was very appealing.
The experience was a significant one for all four Chaplains. Below, they reflect on the different elements of the experience.
The greatest challenge Most walkers were not seasoned trekkers, and the training required for the trek was a challenge in itself. Apart from the training, the chaplains were also trying to raise money for ABM, who provided lots of assistance. The four schools proved to be great fundraising partners who really stepped up for the cause through casual clothes days, student led events, and donations.
Why the Larapinta Trail? The Larapinta Trail had been a bucket list item for Wendy for the last ten years, and she was keen to do a guided walk with an Indigenous focus. Katherine’s decision was
On the walk itself, early starts each day before dawn meant that tiredness quickly became a factor, and a number of walkers were battling injuries by the end of the walk, from blisters and bruised feet to torn ligaments. ASA NEWS
