What's New?

This page lists the most recent changes to the website. Items listed in blue link to the new or changed pages.

Free CD! The large number of photos on our website make some pages slow to download. We have, therefore put the website plus several additional photo galleries onto a CD, free for the asking.
Click here to send us an email to get one free. Please make sure you fill in your postal address. 680MB is far too large to email.

Update Date	New or changed item
11 November 2008	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 38 is now on the website It includes discounts not available elsewhere plus a special book offer. New trip report Karijini 2008. One of our clients, Paul McCann, wrote an article which appeared in the November 2008 issue of Into the Blue, the quarterly magazine of the Coast and Mountain Walkers of NSW. Paul and the club have kindly given us permission to reprint the report here. It's a 6MB illustrated PDF.
6 September 2008	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 37 is now on the website It includes discounts not available elsewhere, information about a new Kakadu website, possible changes to bushwalking in Kakadu and more. New featured trips Our Featured trips page has been updated with several new trips. Updated availability page We've made many changes to Tour Availability Page. This now lists lots of extra information about the 2009 trips which already have bookings. We will not be able to update this page again until November.
8 August 2008	New featured trips Our Featured trips page has been updated with two more new trips. Patagonia - Carretera Austral, Southern Chile: four weeks beginning in the ten days after boxing day. Kakadu Super Circle No. 1: 11-31 January 2009
23 July 2008	New photo gallery The Build Up is a very underrated time of year. We now have a small gallery of photos from our 2007 houseboat cruise on the Mary River on the website. This shows you just how laid back our Build Up trips can be.
4 July 2008	New featured trips Our Featured trips page has been updated with two more new trips. Does anyone read this page? If you quote this offer, we'll give you an extra 5% off any trip listed on the featured trip page which is booked before 20 July. New special offer Our Availability and Special Offer page has a new special offer on one of our trips.
21 June 2008	New featured trips Our Featured trips page has been updated with two new trips.
8 May 2008	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 35 is now on the website It includes discounts not available elsewhere, information about mosquito nets, how age affects thirst, how a volcano in Chile may affect our trips and more. New Photo Gallery Graveside Family Walk, September 2006. This photo gallery is beneficial both to those interested in the Graveside area and to families considering coming on one of our family trips.
2 May 2008	New Special Offers Our Availability Page has been updated with some new special discounts on trips in May and June. New Featured Trips Our Featured trips page has been updated. New trip report Two of the clients on our last trip to South America have written an illustrated trip report about the trip. Now you can get an unbiased opinion of what our trips are like.
25 March 2008	New Featured Trips Our Featured trips page has been updated with two new trips and two new special offers.
16 March 2008	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 34 is now on the website It includes discounts not available elsewhere, new information about flying to our starting points, Aboriginal land rights in the Kimberley and much more.
13 March 2008	New featured trip and photo gallery Durack River Photo Gallery Durack Explorer trip page Durack Explorer trip notes Featured trips page
11 March 2008	Special offers Our Availability Page has been updated with some new special discounts on some April and May trips. New Trip Our South Africa trip booked out so fast that we're offering a second similar trip. New Photo Gallery See what the Bungles in the Wet was like this year. Amazing, absolutely amazing, nothing at all like the Dry.
1 February 2008	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 33 is now on the website It includes a chance to win a voucher worth $500. New Featured Trips Our Featured Trips Page lists four new trips.
9 January 2008	Availability Update Our Availability Page has been updated with all the 2008 trips which already have bookings. Book now and you lock in the 2007 price.
16 December 2007	New Printable Trip List The draft 2008 trip list has now been posted on the website.
20 November 2007	$3000 Competition Everyone wins ... and someone wins big. We've been going for 20 years. Now we need information from our past and potential clients to work out where we go for the next 20. We've prepared a questionnaire which should tell us what to do next. It's a long one so we're offering a big reward for filling it in. Everyone who fills it in and sends it back before 31 December will receive a voucher worth $50 off the price of any one of our trips in the next two years. All returned questionnaires will go into a prize draw where the major prize could be worth up to $3000. Click Here to take our survey.
6 November 2007	New Featured Trip Green Kimberley: 3-16 February This trip goes into two areas which are very different from the Bungles -- much more water at all times of the year. We'd very much like to promote this trip, so .... Special offer. Book either the full trip or section two on its own in combination with the Bungles in the Wet trip, 17 February to 1 March, and we'll give you an extra 10% off whatever discount price you are entitled to. We'll also throw in a night's accommodation between the trips.
11 October 2007	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 31 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. The information on ultralightweight walking has again been updated.
21 September 2007	Walk for a week while carrying less than 8 kg! Don't believe it's possible? Read this new article on ultralight bushwalking and see how it's done. The many web links make it easy for you to find or make the gear you need to join the ultralight movement.
15 September 2007	New client trip report The wet season is coming. One of the people who took part in our Kakadu Light trip in February wrote it up and published it in the Coast and Mountain Walkers club magazine. I've scanned it and added it to the website so you can get an impartial view.
2 August 2007	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 30 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. Our About Us page now contains a link to a brief history of the Darwin Bushwalking Club. This gives you an idea of how owner Russell Willis developed the experience which led to the founding of Willis's Walkabouts. Our Getting Here page has been updated with information about new cheap flights between Melbourne and Darwin or Alice Springs. Our Featured Trips page has been updated with new information.
18 July 2007	Updated trip notes Kakadu Highlights No. 6. The trip notes have been completely rewritten and we have added a short bush tucker and Aboriginal culture walk with a local Aboriginal guide.
15 July 2007	2008 High Arctic Summer Walk Arctic Summer 2008. The Arctic Summer trip notes have been completely re-written with new maps, photos and links to more information. Unless you are a polar explorer, you're never going to get closer to one of the poles than this trip to 80° North on Ellesmere Island. The file is 1.1 MB so please be patient.
18 June 2007	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 29 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere.
8 June 2007	New Featured Trips West Macdonnells: 24 June - 7 July, two sections, either of which can be done on its own. This trip shows you some of the best places in the West Macdonnells, both on and off the Larapinta Trail. Watarrka National Park: 8-21 July This is the most biologically diverse park in the Centre. Want more info? Read this Watarrka Trip Report written by one of our clients. See our Availability and Specials page for special offers on these and other trips.
2 May 2007	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 28 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. New featured trip Kakadu Highlights Special: 30 June - 7 July This replaces the second section of our Kakadu Circle No. 2. In most years this is justifiably one of our most popular trips. This year, although we've had two people booked on section two since July 2006, we have only one other booking. We don't like to disappoint people who book that far ahead so ... Special Offer. The original trip listed for $1295. We've added a Yellow Waters cruise and a night at Cooinda and dropped the price to $995.
19 April 2007	Special Offers Due to an unusual pattern of bookings, we are offering some very special prices for a few people on trips or sections of trips. See our Availability and Specials page for details.
10 February 2007	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 27 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. Arctic Spring Photo Galleries You can now get a better idea of what our March 2008 trip will be like by having a look at the two photo galleries from our March 2006 trip. Southeast Alaska Yukon Dogsled
4 February 2007	2007 Australian Rogaining Championship The 2007 Austrailain Rogaining Champtionshops will be held near Alice Springs on 28-29 July. In addition to the roagine, two orienteering events will be held in Alice Springs during the week before the rogaine. Want more? The second week of our Macdonnell Ranges trip begins the day after the rogaine finishes. Our Watarrka (Kings Canyon) trip begins the following Sunday. Both trips get you off the beaten track and take you places you might not be able to get permission to visit on your own.
27 January 2007	Important Updates The The Tour Availability page has just been updated. The Featured Trips page has been updated with the inclusion of several trips, all but one of which are already guaranteed departures. Rain in the Centre Thus far in January, Alice Springs has had 8 times the rain it got in January 2006. Watarrka has had 10 times the rain it got in January 2006. If it keeps up, this will be an especially good year for a visit. You can see the last 13 months rainfall on the Met Bureau website at Met Bureau NT Charts From that page, click on the relevant letter for the weather station, then on the particular station you want to see.
24 November 2006	2007 Program The final complete program through February 2008 is now on the website. Our annual letter to our past clients is also on the website. This has information not available anywhere else.
23 November 2006	Special discount offer. An extra 15-20 minutes a day could get you a discount of up to 50% on our Kakadu Light trip in February. See the PDF trip notes for full details.
11 November 2006	Updated Trip Notes We have updated the background information on all our Mitchell Plateau trip notes. Mitchell Plateau No. 1: 1-14 April Mitchell Explorer: 13 May - 10 June Mitchell Plateau No. 2: 8-21 July Mitchell Plateau No. 3: 19 August - 1 September
21 October 2006	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 25 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. Birdwatching and Bushwalking Our new Birdwatching and Bushwalking page gives information about birdwatching on our trips and links to birdlists from a number of our trips.
17 October 2006	New Featured Trip Kakadu Super Circle No. 1 in January-February 2007 is our longest wet season expedition in Kakadu. It's the only way you can get close to Jim Jim and Twin Falls at this time of year. Want an unbiased view of what it's like? One of the clients on our January-February 1992 Kakadu Super Circle has put their photos and description onto two web pages. Part 1: Koolpin to Jim Jim Creek Part 2: Jim Jim Creek back to Koolpin and out to Yellow Waters So long ago and yet .... The trip is still pretty much the same, the guide Ron is still leading trips for us and Feroze, the oldest person on the trip, has just booked another trip for 2007. Note. Because of the need to put out a food drop before the 4WD tracks close for the Wet, we cannot run this trip if we don't have at least four bookings by mid November.
8 Octobber 2006	Updated 2007 Trip List The second draft of our 2007 trip list has many changes to the first. More will come. Book now and save. All the prices are those we charged in 2006. Increased costs mean many will rise. People who book before the final prices are posted on the website will lock in the old price.
3 October 2006	New Photo Galleries Kakadu Circle No. 1 -- our longest and most leisurely trip in Kakadu. Too many photos for one gallery so we divided it in two. The galleries link to two different sets of comments from the participants. Kakadu Circle No. 1, Section 1: Koolpin to Jim Jim, May 2006 Kakadu Circle No. 1, Section 2: Jim Jim to Gunlom, May 2006 This trip is already half full.
14 September 2006	2007 Trip List The first draft of our 2007 trip list is now on the website as a printable pdf. All the prices are those we charged in 2006. Increased costs mean many will rise. People who book before the final prices are posted on the website will lock in the old price.
11 September 2006	New Featured Trip Kakadu Light in February 2007 offers you the chance to experience the pleasure of bushwalking in Kakadu in the Wet without the need to carry a full pack or camp out.
17 August 2006	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 24 is now on the website It includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere.
29 July 2006	New Photo Gallery New Year In Kakadu: 2005-06 Here's a brand new photo gallery and trip report showing how we went on our last New Year in Kakadu trip -- which wasn't actually in Kakadu. This trip is already a definite departure so why not log on and see what you might get to enjoy if you booked.
30 June 2006	New Featured Trips Our featured trips page has again been totally revised -- new discounts and more. Mitchell Plateau No. 3 will now begin two days early at no extra charge. Special discount available. See the new trip notes for details. Twin Falls Health Retreat No. 2 Our first Healthy Retreat booked out early so we're offering a new trip for those who missed out onthe first one.
26 June 2006	Southern Africa 2007 We are offering two Africa trips in 2007. The new trip notes are now on the website. Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, 4WD and walking, March-April. South Africa's Great Walks will book us onto some of the best known walks in South Africa. These trails are so popular that we cannot run this trip unless we have five confirmed bookings by mid-December. Mitchell Plateau Update Mitchell Plateau No. 3 will now begin a day or two early. See the new trip notes for details.
23 June 2006	Patagonia 2006-07 We are offering two trips this year, five and eight weeks. The new trip notes are now on the website. Click here to download a PDF of the detailed trip notes for the long trip beginning in late November. Click here to download a PDF of the detailed trip notes for the shorter trip beginning in mid December.
12 June 2006	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 23 is now on the website The newsletter includes information about our 20th anniversary map and book sale which expires at the close of business on 21 June. It also includes discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere.
1 June 2006	New Featured Trips Our featured trips page has been totally revised. An exceptioanlly wet March and April in the Top End and Kimberley means that 2006 will be an especially good year for bushwalking. We are offering special discounts on five of the six trips listed on the Featured trips page.
5 May 2006	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 22 is now on the website The newsletter contains information about discount offers and other information which is not available elsewhere.
24 February 2006	Where to Stay Our new accommodation page gives you information about where you can stay before and after one of our trips.
8 February 2006	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 21 is now on the website The newsletter contains information about a free competition for a $1000 voucher and other information which is not available elsewhere.
10 December 2005	Latest Newsletter Our Newsletter 20 is now on the website The newsletter contains special offers and other information which is not available elsewhere. Did you get one? Our newsletter email program had serious problems. If you think you should be on our mailing list and didn't get one or if you received more than one, please let us know. We may need to purchase a new program, suggestions welcome.
6 December 2005	Trips with Aboriginal Guides This is a new page describing the seven different trips we are offering with Aboriginal guides in 2006. In addition to information about our own trips, this page links to a number of other sites which give good information about Aboriginal culture and art. Our new Aboriginal art special is the first time we have been able to offer a trip specialising in Aboriginal art. If you have a particular interest in rock art, you owe it to yourself to have a look. Coming from outside Australia? Our Getting Here page has been updated with new information about international flights and discounts for international visitors.
24 November 2005	Willis's Walkabouts in the International Press Our Green Kimberley Light was featured in an article in the November issue of the American magazine Outside.
26 September 2005	Clickable Kakadu Map The map on our Kakadu page has now been modified so that clicking on any of the words takes you to the page describing that area. Several new photo galleries have been added.
13 September 2005	New Photo Gallery and new trip page Kakadu & Nitmiluk Photographic Special This is a new illustrated page describing this trip which will be led by photographer Paul Benjafield and will give participants the best possible opportunity to get some excellent wet season shots. Photo Trip Gallery This gallery gives a few photo tips and shows examples of the kinds of photography which are likely to be included during the trip. When you click a photo to see a larger version, you will see the largest photos we have ever put on the website. If you think that having photos of this size is a good idea, please send us an email and let us know.
10 September 2005	The Kimberley Our Kimberley page had been completely revised. It contains new information and new links to other sites which provide good information about the region.
15 August 2005	New pages Trip notes This page gives easy links to the printable PDF trip notes describing every trip we offer. Forms This page gives links to printable versions of our Bushwalking Guide, light pack information sheets and registration form.
1 May 2005	New Map Products Australia on CD and two excellent books. We can provide every product available from Geoscience Australia, not just the maps covering our walks.
18 April 2005	New How to Find It Page The new Site Navigation PDF page is an easily printable document that helps you find what you want in the mass of information on this website. This should be especially useful for people who have done little overnight bushwalking. We welcome comments on how useful you find this.
15 April 2005	New Map Index The new Map Index page links to all the maps on the website. Now you can find all of our maps without having to scan the entire site.

Click here to go to our archive page to see earlier but still relevant changes made to the website since March 2002.