Peter Hosking from Jindabyne has high-functioning autism and is undertaking a 655km trek through the Australian Alps Walking Track, which he estimates will take 10-12 weeks after he leaves at the end of October.  

His path will follow the Great Dividing Range, leaving from Walhalla, Victoria to Tharwa in the ACT, and he will have a few food drops but have to drink water from streams.

He hopes to raise around $5000 to donate to an autism support organisation.

In 2012 Mr Hosking became lost in a blizzard on Kosciuszko National Park and survived alone for 25 hours, receiving frostbite before making his way out.

“I just wasn’t prepared for the conditions,” he said.

Interestingly, it is this experience where his love of hiking through the wilderness began, which he thinks is beneficial to his condition. 

Mr Hosking said one of the challenges faced by people with autism is becoming distracted if told to do more than one task at once. 

“A lot of the typical type of people with autism have a lack of sensory development in their brain, which means unless you say something specific to someone they can get confused,” he said. 

“One of the things with autism is that in the cities there are lots of distractions, a lot of things going on, and our minds can’t compute everything that is happening which leads to lots of stress.

“In the wilderness, I’m out there; I know what I’m doing.

“I know I have to set up a fire, and now I have to put up my tent.

“It just really helps with my mind to get focused again.” 

He said two areas he finds challenging are working and relationships, where messages can be “muddled up” unless communication is clear. 

“If they seem like they’re not quite right, they are not necessarily being rude, arrogant or sexist, maybe the receptors in their brain are not signalling correctly or something,” Mr Hosking said.

“We are not being rude, we just get distracted very easily.

“Maybe people need to have a second look at them and say hey, do you suffer from Asperger’s or autism? 

“Anyone I know who is on the spectrum would turn around and say, ‘yes, I do.’”

Mr Hosking is still looking for more sponsors for his trek, and if you are interested or would like to donate to his cause, visit his website here.