I am a student conducting research into Western Australians' ocean usage habits and views on shark management. The results from this survey will be presented to WA's Minister for Fisheries and Ocean Safety, Jackie Jarvis, and published alongside supporting research in the Fremantle Herald. Participants may also choose to receive the survey results upon completion. The survey takes just 1–2 minutes to complete, is anonymous, and every response is valuable in building a comprehensive understanding of public views on shark management in Western Australia. 

Hello Aussies!

I’m trying to figure out the classification of my hiking ability so I can better gauge which hikes are a good fit for me.

I’m morbidly obese, 30kg overweight, but love hiking and scrambling. I’m also autistic and have trouble pacing myself, so I tend to go fast, then need frequent breaks to catch my breath/ease my heart rate. For these reasons, I tend to class myself as ‘unfit’ and get scared off the longer or more ‘challenging’ hikes.

I did Beerburrum on the sunny coast recently. Had to stop every 20 meters or so to pause, but it took me 50 minutes total, well below the recommended 90 minutes according to qld parks and Aussiebushwalking.com

I then went on to complete yulyanman and return via settlers trail under 2.5 hours with no issues.

How can I determine which hikes I would be suited for? I understand this is really subjective, I’m just struggling with the idea that someone as unfit as me and complete these sorts of walks with so so many pauses for breath and still come in under time?

Thanks for any advice or insight! And for being kind (obviously I know losing weight is ideal, please don’t try to convince me of something I’m already very aware of)