Your next adventure awaits with the Shepparton Adventure Club

By Nicola Ceccato

Sep 11, 2023

Living with a taste for adventure: Marg Clarke, Brendan Espagne, Graeme Betts, Karen Speedy, Barb Watts and Maartje Heuperman are just some of the members who participate in a monthly walk around the region’s tracks and trails. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Shepparton Adventure Club started in 1975 as a boys’ outdoor activities club, and now, 48 years later, the club has become a place for all genders, ages and abilities.

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When the club opened its doors to everyone in 1979, members would go on extreme adventures such as canyoning, snow-caving, rock climbing and abseiling.

Now, the club focuses on adventures at a different pace, with its main activities including bushwalking, cross-country skiing, canoeing and kayaking, cycle touring, social camping and gatherings.

Greg Smith has been president for four years, but his involvement with the club stretches on for decades.

“I joined as a young person in my mid-20s,” he said.

“I met a lot of people through the club and did a lot of adventurous things like snow camping, skiing, rock climbing and the like.

“We’re just out to have a good time in nature and our local environment and meet people along the way and do a bit of fitness.”

While the club has a solid member base of about 70 to 80 people, Mr Smith said new members with any level of adventuring experience were welcome to join.

Those with expertise in canoeing and kayaking are encouraged to help lead expeditions and teach.

“If there are any people who have some experience and want to come along and lead a trip, we can help them with that, starting with something local and relatively easy and building up from there,” Mr Smith said.

Currently, the club runs three regular activities per month, as well as weekend camping trips, overnight hikes and an annual week-long trip.

Every fourth Wednesday of the month, there’s a midweek walk where members drive to a destination outside Shepparton and walk the local trails.

More recently, the club added another event, ‘Around Shepp Trails’, where members meet every second Wednesday of the month to walk around Shepparton’s river trails and bush tracks.

Mr Smith said this was great for members looking for a leisurely walk and for new people to come along and see what the club was about.

For those looking for more movement, club members participate in monthly bike rides on weekends.

Visit the Shepparton Adventure Club website to sign up, view membership prices and for more information regarding upcoming events.

For more updated news, visit the club’s Facebook page.

The club will have a stall set up for the World Rivers Day event at Victoria Park Lake on Sunday, September 24. All are welcome to come down and chat about the club or sign up.