9 April 2014
Producing the new Guidebooks has been a mammoth project spanning 15 months involving a 60-day end-to-end walk, 21 revisions of each Guidebook by several people and many, many hours of editing.
It has been over 12 years since the Northern Guidebook was published and 10 years since the Southern Guidebook was published so there was a lot of work to do.
As part of the re-write we also determined that the Bibbulmun Track is over 1000km long. No longer do we have to say almost 1000km!
In order to make the books more user-friendly and the process of production cost effective, it was decided to divide the existing two guidebooks into eight smaller books designed to be used in conjunction with the eight Bibbulmun Track maps. The planning, history and other reference information contained in both the current Guidebooks forms a ninth book—the Bibbulmun Track Handbook. The general information contained in this book can be absorbed at home, rather than it having to be carried as part of a Guidebook.
With each guidebook corresponding to a map, walkers will no longer need to carry a book covering half of the Track when they are covering only short sections. Furthermore if there is a change in the Track alignment, only the relevant small guidebook will need to be updated.
The new Guidebooks contain a wealth of information for each map section including:
• Track Town information
• suggested day and overnight walks
• Track tips
• section by section descriptions
• vehicle access to each section
• reflections from the campsite registers, and of course
• new, improved and more detailed Track notes.
The Bibbulmun Track Handbook contains general Track information, planning, safety, history and more. It is designed to be used as a companion to the completely revised Guidebooks or as helpful planning information before you head out. It includes:
• general information
• how to get started, guided walks and tours
• trip planning
• safety
• history of the Track
• natural and human history, and more
The Guidebooks will retail for $11.95 each, and can be also be purchased as part of any map or Guidebook combination. The Handbook is free when you purchase all eight Guidebooks.
Please note that the new Guidebooks do not contain maps, distance tables or terrain profiles as this information is already on the official Bibbulmun Track maps. The Guidebooks are designed to be used in conjunction with the maps.
To keep the books up to date we will be posting updates on our website at www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/shop/guidebook-updates/. That way the information will stay current until the next revision. You can make a contribution to keep them up to date by sending your comments and feedback to guidebookyoursay@bibbulmuntrack.org.au.
All proceeds of the sales of the books will go towards improvements and maintenance of the Track.