TCBT
- Start date: 19 November 2007
- Age When Completed: 27
- Direction Walked: Sectional
- Others in Group:
Benita Large
General Comments
What started as an end of uni ‘let’s give this hiking thing a go’ trip back in 2007 has become an annual pilgrimage of girl talk, good food, sing-alongs and blisters. We were quite under-prepared for the first trip (Walpole – Albany 2007), but think if we hadn’t attempted a long section we wouldn’t have loved it as much as we did, as once we got into a daily routine and got a bit fitter things became much more enjoyable after about day 5. After this we planned an annual trip where we could fit it in, with whoever we could convince to come along with us.
Thanks to all the volunteers and the BTF, it’s a fantastic asset, so close to home and so accessible, yet feels so remote and rugged!
Food/Supplies Comments
The first trip we stocked up on all the usual hiking food- 2 minute noodles and packet pasta and suffered from intense vegetable cravings (Chris ate a whole kg of tomatoes when we finished). Now we dehydrate any vegetable we can get our hands on to add into every meal and usually do a big batch of spag bolognaise which is our meal of choice (with parmesan of course!). We never drop weight on these trips – we eat too well! Looking forward to dinner is what gets us through the hard times of the walk!
Favourite Section
Pingerup Plains/D’Entrecasteaux National Park. It rained a lot, we were trudging through water/mud the entire time, but it was beautiful and such fun! The granite hills and the flat plains are just stunning.
Our worst day on the track was around this area also – we had been advised that the track from Maringup to Dog Pool was waist high in sections and we were best to just stick to Chesapeake road. Somehow walking on open, flat, gravel road seems to halve your walking pace, and it seemed to take forever (didn’t help that we gave in and stopped every km to sulk and for some silly reason turned down a lift from a ranger)…….. We still refer to a bad, slow day a ‘Chesapeake day’.
Highlights
Too many! Great way for a good annual in-depth catch up with friends. Lazy afternoons spent at the hut reading, stretching, napping, chatting and trying to hold back from starting dinner too early were the best. Loved the longer trips we did on the track – great way to get away, reset and relax.
Personal Reactions
We had a few scary moments on the track and the sound of a flute playing and white pants still induces fear in all of us. Back in 2007 we were all feeling very impressed with ourselves when we finally reached Hidden Valley and were just one day away from finishing our first trek on the track. We were awoken at midnight to the very eerie sound of a flute being played close to the hut. Not having heard anyone else come in to camp and staring out into the pitch black night theories were formed: the ghost of the track? That slightly odd guy we met at Denmark? A flute playing serial killer? (We were four 21 year old girls all alone in the bush, we got a lil scared!) We lay awake, grasping our walking poles, petrified of what was out there, except for Benita who had blissfully slept through. As she was the most likely to panic we decided not to wake her and tell her. But then a few hours later she got up to go to the toilet – and we just let her go. All too scared to get up and tell her we let her wander off into the dark when we thought there was a ghost/flute playing maniac out there (she has never let us forget this bad-friend move!!). She made it back though and fell back asleep. As the flute playing started up again at about 5am we so bravely joined hands and went to find out what was out to get us. Turns out all our theories were wrong – it was a German hiker who had gotten lost, couldn’t find the hut (he was 20m from it!) and had played himself the flute to get to sleep. Our last day into Albany wasn’t a good one, we were all very tired, except for Benita, who was just pissed off that we had let her wander off when we thought something was out to get us.
(The white pants story – well anyone who has met ‘buzz light-year’ in his white skins on the track probably feels the same!)
Wildlife
Many snake fears were overcome during these walks. One walking friend was almost talked out of the first leg when the bus driver in Albany told us how aggressive the tiger snakes were and if we heard what sounded like a bronzwing pigeon cooing we were to run as this was actually a tiger snake calling for its mate as we were in its territory and they were gonna come get us…… obviously this was unfounded and by the end of the 11 days she was walking happily out in front and reporting how many snakes (and bronzewing pigeons) she had seen each leg (27 all up for that first Walpole to Albany section!). Unfortunately Benita never got any better at spotting snakes and had a few close encounters during loo breaks, and once almost stood on a tiger snakes head which was laying obviously across the track (this is why we always carried an epirb).
Quokkas were the highlight of Chris’ sightings and Benita shared this enthusiasm when the first one was spotted and even feigned interest when Chris launched into an excited spiel about the ecology and conservation of Quokkas in the southwest and how lucky we were to see one – only to almost be mugged by them that night in the hut. Turns out they are not so rare around Pemberton. Chris never lost enthusiasm.
Your Best Equipment
One planet backpack – after attempting the first year underprepared with travel packs, without water bladders and proper support, a splurge on a new backpack made the subsequent trips all the more comfortable.
Crocs. They rock. Enough said.
Your Worst Equipment
Chris’ feet. The blister queen (Record was 14) hobbled most of the track. Which leads to our second best equipment which was fixomull and painkillers!!
Advice for Others
Just do it! Give it a go and you will be surprised what you can do and how much you will enjoy it. Take good food and friends who don’t whinge too much (or that are good enough friends that you can tell them to shut it and not cause offence).