THREE of Canberra’s best-known music-makers are coming together in late January to host an unusual singing and walking venture in Kosciuszko National Park  – but if you want to be part of it, you’d better book soon.

The brainchild of Queanbeyan-based pianist and concertina whiz-kid, Jo Creswell, describes it as “a week of glorious song making and stunning scenery.”

The plan is for a week of one to three hours of singing and the same amount of walking a day, with dinners provided at the Southern Alps Ski Club in Charlotte Pass, where participants will stay.

Noted choir leader and one-half of the duo Shortis & Simpson, Moya Simpson, will lead daily singing workshops, followed by alpine walks led by Cresswell and home cooked meals with different diet options created by Dave O’Neill in the lodge at the end of the day.

Simpson, who has been performing and leading choirs and voice workshops for over 30 years, firmly believes that everyone can sing, and her workshops aim to celebrate the natural voice. With a vast repertoire of traditional songs from very many cultures up her sleeve, her passion is for world music.

Creswell says the walks will be of one to three hours duration each day, sometimes with a picnic and varying in terms of undulation, with easier options offered.

A fluent French speaker, she has been running musical walking tours in rural France for 14 years as we have reported before here  and was once joined by Shortis and Simpson  – “that was party-time,” she says.

O’Neill, famous as one Australia’s leading guitarist/fiddlers and former director of the National Folk Festival, is not so well-known for his culinary skills, but they, are, Creswell assures us, “Industry standard.” And who knows? he may pick up his guitar from to time too.

In a possible tip to some of our politicians, O’Neill says, “musically, we’re moving France to Australia.”

Singing and walking in in Kosciuszko National Park, January 29-February 5, costs apply. Bookings and all details here  or by calling 0420 769449