hedonistic hiking

It was a real pleasure and a great honour to have you join our tours in Australia after many wonderful adventures in Italy. Having a Brit in the group certainly enhanced the enjoyment for everyone, it added a new dimension to the experience for all the guests and made for some lively banter on the trail! We have more international visitors booked for the Great Ocean Walk in 2015 so hope that you have started a trend! We look forward to welcoming you on our Slovenia and Friuli tour in a little over a week.

We thoroughly enjoyed your company in the King Valley - congratulations on making it to the top of Mount Cobbler, you certainly earnt your lunch! Thank you very much for your review and we look forward to welcoming you on another tour soon.

We love our events with the Dal Zotto family and are very happy that you do too! It is always fabulous to see you both and we look forward to the next occasion. Salute e Grazie Mille!

Thank you Warren, it is always a pleasure to welcome you and Deswyn on a tour and we are delighted that you enjoyed discovering a different part of north east Victoria. As you know, we have some excellent food and wine in our region and we love it when it is appreciated. Look forward to seeing you in Italy in 2015 if not before! Jackie

Thank you Gillie, we are delighted you enjoyed your Great Ocean Walk. Congratulations on completing an iconic hike and we look forward to seeing you again.

We are very happy that you discovered us too Wendy, and thank you for celebrating your special birthday with us. We hope it was memorable. May this be the first of many Hedonistic Hikes and we look forward to seeing you in Italy!

It is always a pleasure to welcome you on a tour Barbara and we hope that you keep coming back. We always aim to develop new tours to tempt you. Looking forward to hiking the Italian Lakes with you later in the year and also in the Lunigiana and Liguria.

Thank you Carmel, it was wonderful to welcome you both to our part of Victoria and we are delighted you enjoyed the weekend. Looking forward to seeing you in Slovenia later in the year.

A group of us were picked up at our accomodation and taken to the King Valley in Victoria where we had an informative and enjoyable easy hike through the King Valley with Mike. We were lucky to have the most beautiful day which ended at the Dal Zotto Vineyard where we enjoyed the amazing Prosecco, nibbles and meeting the Dal Zotto family. Jackie did an great job cooking us lunch which was thorougly enjoyed with the accompanying Dal Zotto wines. It was nice to try out different ones too! I would highly recommend this hike to everyone which has certainly given us a taste of what we could expect if we did other hikes!!

I attended the 2012 Jewels of Piedmont tour and was thrilled by the level of expertise and knowledge of both Jackie and her colleague Isabelle. It was the right mix of spectacular hiking, local history and outstanding culinary adventure. As a former tour leader in Italy myself, I was most pleased with every aspect of the organization and commend them on their enthusiasm.

No room to add how wonderful and perfect the food and wine are. This has been described in the previous reviews. My trip was a long weekend in the high Victorian bush. I was recovering from pneumonia and was not nearly as fit as I should be but jackie and Mick took great care of me and I managed the first day--18.5km off the beaten track and the third day which was Razorback--stunning. Jackie did a lovely short walk with me on the middle day whilst the other seven people tackled a long walk. The group was fascinating and we never stopped talking all weekend. I am a person who is not happy unless I am learning and understand where we are and what its history and background are. Of course, I learned a great deal. And we all shared information. I am hoping to do more walks in Australia and also in Italy with Hedonistic. As a traveller on my own I felt safe and welcomed with them. I have done some other great walking holidays in Australia and this was definitely the best.

Everything is taken care of. All you need is to turn up with your walking shoes and plenty of sunscreen. Try to get a bit of walking in before hand so you are ready for the long walks through fantastic scenery. The guides make this trip friendly and go out of their way to ensure everything is just right. The meals were absolutely fabulous -superb restaurants and in house cooking by a chef. Small groups ensure that everyone gets to know each other quickly. Mick and Jackie are a highlight with their extensive knowledge of local produce and wines, and their knowledge of the history of the local area. They are extremely approachable and helpful. We loved this trip!

Between Boxing Day (26 December 2009) and New Year's Day (1 January 2010) we enjoyed seven magnificent days (five days of hiking) in the High Country of Victoria (Australia) with Mick and Jackie Parsons of Hedonistic Hiking. There were six people in our group. We hiked on the Bogong High Plains and part of the Australian Alps Walking Track (Falls Creek); trekked from Falls Creek, through Cobungra Gap (down 800 Metres and up 1200 Metres) to Mt Hotham village; explored the track on Dinner Plain walking through snow gums (mostly burnt by bushfires in 2003 and 2006) ; hiked the Razorback Ridge, past Mount Feathertop, and descending into Harrietville; and finally a day walking on the beautiful granite plateau of Mount Buffalo. All walks delivered stunning views! Of course, with fabulous views must come the hard work of ascending and descending the mountains. To enjoy the holiday fully I would recommend you exercise and build up your level of fitness prior to the holiday. We travelled a total of 80 Kilometres on the five days.Jackie and Mick are excellent tour guides and wonderful hosts. The stories, poems and historical facts and legends were fascinating. They also genuinely care for the environment they operate in, highlighting local flora and fauna along the way. Speaking of local, they enthusiastically showcased fine local cuisine and wine (hence the name hedonistic hiking). Mick (a chef by trade) and Jackie cooked for us on the first two nights of the holiday - delicious! The local restaurants they took us to each evening were all fabulous in their own right. The picnic lunches, either hiked in by Jackie, or carried by Mick (when there was no 4-wheel drive access) were varied, light, healthy and delicious - and served with a glass of local wine!The accommodation (2 nights in each place) on the trip varied from a beautiful new self contained Alpine Resort in Falls Creek, to historic hotel-style on Dinner Plain and resort style accommodation in the Buckland Valley.A fabulous degustation dinner on New Year's Eve finished 2009, and started 2010, in exactly the way we intend to continue for the next 12 months - in true hedonistic style!