Online Surveys

Current Surveys

Member Survey

Take five  -  and tell us what you think!
A strong membership base is vitally important to the Bibbulmun Track Foundation and we would like your thoughts on what we do well and what we could do better to encourage membership and retain our members over the long-term.
Members not only give the Foundation vitality but help to ensure that the Track remains a well-maintained and valuable community resource for the next generation.
The short survey shouldn't take more than five minutes and is completely anonymous so click here and tell us what you think. 

Thank you!
The BTF team.

 

Previous Surveys

Tell us what you think about our current website

 

February 2020

We asked all our members what they thought about our current website so that we can make improvements to help everyone get the information needed. We had almost two hundred responses with some very valuable input. Thank you!  Congratulations to Ian Chapman from Bull Creek who contributed and won a titanium spork thanks to Sea to Summit.

Here is a snap shot of the results.

1) What are the top three things you think are really good about our website? The ones that came up a lot were:

  • The distance calculator
  • Current Track conditions
  • General information in the Section by Section Guide

2) Overall, how well does our website meet your needs?

  • Extremely well 32.3%
  • Very well 53.85%
  • Well 13.1%
  • Not so well 0%
  • Not at all 0.8%

3) What do you like least? You can be brutal - well, maybe a little! This was tricky to summarise but these were the most common responses.

  • Nothing, it is all good
  • No response
  • Photos require updating
  • Too much information 

4) Is the information you are looking for usually easy to find?

  • Very easy 30%
  • Easy 37%
  • Ok 15%
  • Could be easier 13%
  • Could be much easier 3%

5) How important are having the following features on our website?

a) Essential:

  • Current Track Conditions: Groups on Track notices
  • Current Track Conditions: Realignment and Diversion notices
  • Current Track Conditions: Closure and bushfire notices
  • Current Track Conditions: Inlet crossing notices

b) Very important

  • Distance calculator
  • Interactive Maps
  • My personal account profile to track my membership status, manage subscriptions and update my contact details

c) Important

  • Noticeboard/Classifieds

d) Somewhat important

  • Online shop

6) What other features could we improve on or add?

There were only 19 responses to this question. Of these, a handful were "nothing" or similar. Some were about features that were already available on our website such as Track conditions appearing on a map not just in text form, or having a distance calculator or a listing for Walker Friendly Businesses. This may mean we need to communicate better about the current features of our website. Other suggestions have been taken on board for consideration like having a map which interacts with the current distance calculator.

7) What sections of our site do you regularly visit? 

The top four are listed here:

  • Trip Planner: Section by Section Guide (Highlights, Online Maps, Track conditions, Groups on Track, Inlet Crossings)
  • The Track (General information, FAQs) 
  • Trip Planner: Track Towns, Weather, Food, Equipment and Hire, Distance Calculator, Schools and Scouts.
  • News (Latest News, Notice Board, Online Surveys)

8) When you check the Track Conditions online before going on your walk, which is the primary website you go to for up-to-date information? 

  • The Bibbulmun Track Foundation (www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au) 75%
  • DBCA's Parks and Wildlife Service (https://alerts.dbca.wa.gov.au) 12%
  • The official Bibbulmun Track Foundation Facebook page (not the Bibbulmun Track Group page) (www.facebook.com/BibbulmunTrackFoundation) 5%
  • I never bother checking the Track Conditions 5%
  • I just ask people on other Social media sites and hope the information is correct and up to date 2%
  • What? This is something I am supposed to do? Ooops I didn't know. 1%

 

Track User Survey

The Foundation conducted a survey to assist with the future planning, management and maintenance of the Track in 2015.

Your feedback helped us manage this trail better and provide supporting data to the survey undertaken in 2014.  

Results will be published on our User Survey webpage when they are ready.

 

What food should be supplied for walkers in the Track Towns? 
Learn some great tips at our Food In A Fuel Stove workshop.
Learn some great tips at our Food In A Fuel Stove workshop.

January to March 2012

We asked you what food you think should be available to walkers in the Track Towns. Why? We are continually giving recommendations to suppliers in the Track Towns on what walkers would like to purchase.

Congratulations to Dianne Clayton of Queensland who won the draw.  An Ultra-sil Dry sack is on the way to you thanks to our sponsor Sea to Summit.

These are some of the breakfast items people would like to be available:
Cereals: Muesli, porridge, weetbix, Logan Brand Rolled Oats and Quick oats, Nutrigrain, Corn flakes, breakfast/muesli bars, – small packets or individual serving sizes are more useful.
Drinks: tea bags of various varieties, instant coffee/coffee bags/coffee, mocha sachets, hot chocolate, milo, Up&Go, Orange juice powder (high C).
Fruit: dried apples, cranberries, sultanas, apricots, prunes, fresh fruit in season, bananas.
Dairy: powdered milk, fresh milk, UHT milk, Jarlsberg cheese slices.
Nuts: slivered almonds or other nuts.
Crackers: Vita Wheat/wholemeal crackers, Ryvita, Oatcakes
vegetarian soy sausages.
Other: brown rice, cous cous, Baked Beans, fresh or powered eggs, raw sugar
Honey, vegemite in tube, jam in tube.

These are some of the lunch items people would like to be available:
Bread/pasta/crackers: flat bread, Mexican wraps (tortilla or burrito), mountain bread rolls, rice/corn cakes.
Paste: Nutella, vegemite, tahini.
Protein: fresh fish, roo meat, tuna or salmon in foil sachets, salami, hard/soft cheeses (shelf stable), edam, cream cheese in small sachets, beef jerky.
Chocolate: Cadbury chocolate/55g bars various for after lunch energy, dark choc bars.
Nuts/dried fruit: as for breakfast.
Salad: fresh salad veggies, Lebanese cucumber, onions, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, carrots
Free range eggs: – to hard boil.
Other: Sundried tomatoes in a plastic tray rather than glass, packet soups, 3 min noodles.

These are some of the dinner items people would like to be available:
Dehydrated/freeze dried food: packaged and instant mash potato, tvp, dried peas/beans/corn/carrots, dried parmesan cheese.
Packaged meals/pasta: a variety of pasta flavour sachets, Indian veggie meals, angel hair and other pastas, pasta stir through sauces and dips eg wattle valley various to mix in with pasta, coconut milk curry pastes in pouches.
Veggies: spinach, tomatoes, fresh broccoli, capsicum & carrots.
Rice: flavoured rice (curry and savoury vegetable), Uncle Bens three minute rice, three minute pasta.
Protein: sardines (in tomato sauce), smoked trout, smoked salmon in sealed packets, not tins, smoked chicken.
Dessert: single serve packs of Foster Clark custard powder/other instant desserts.
Other: olive oil in small bottles, olives, parmesan cheese.

These are some of the snacks and other non-food items people would like to be available:
Miscellaneous snacks: trail mix, chocolate coated coffee beans, natural sweets like snakes, Werthers, marshmallows, barley sugar, sesame bars, power bars, dried fruit straps, fruit cake, digestive biscuits, pop tarts, tubes of sweetened condensed milk, Red wine casks, Staminade/Tang, Crisps, salty pretzels.
Nuts: salted and unsalted nuts. Loose peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts etc to make up trail nuts, raisins, chocolates of any type.
Batteries: AA, AAA.
First aid supplies: eg Fixomul.
Repair equipment: tape, cord, knife or scissors, cable ties, inflatable mat puncture repair kits.
Stove fuel: gas (250gm and 450gm), metho, shellite, hexitab fuel tabs, waterproof matches, lighters.
Filters: to utilise water along the trek / water purification tablets.
Wet wipes in handy travel packs.
Other items: snap lock bags, travel size shampoo and conditioner for when we get into a town, small toothpaste,  Lip balm/blistex, Sunscreen and insect repellent, Mosquito coils/candles, Bibbulmun Track postcards and stamps, baby wipes, hand sanitiser.

Also one respondent added that suppliers should rent a power point out by the hour to recharge phones etc. and another suggested suppliers should sell portable solar power units to recharge communication and GPS devices.

Other statistics
Almost 60% of respondents do not dehydrate their own food.
35% buy and use freeze-dried meals.
Around 20% rely fully on food from towns, most utilise food drops or have people bring them food.
More than 60% have not had trouble resupplying along the Track.
Thank to everyone that participated!

Name a campsite 

December 2011 to January 2012

This survey was only open to members. With the construction on the two new campsites either side of the windfarm near Albany will commencing early in 2012, we asked members their preferred names for the campsites.

All members completing the survey were entered into a draw to win a cool prize thanks to our sponsor, Sea to Summit! Congratulations to Tina Dawson of Albany who won the draw! Your prize is in the mail.

We had a number of responses but the most popular were Sandpatch for the eastern campsite (48% of votes) and Mutton Bird for the western campsite (60% of votes). These suggestions have been sent onto DEC for consideration.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

What is your favourite Track food? 

January to July 2011

We asked people what kind of food they loved to eat on the Track. The most popular favourite breakfast was porridge by far. The type of porridge varied from bought packet style to some really great home-made recipes like this one:

Organic rolled oats with almond meal plus dried full cream milk and dried blackberries/raspberries/blueberries as available. Can be prepared with cold water or boiling water, soaked o'night to soften or first thing in the morning; the berries give it a lovely lift and the almond meal provides much-needed fat, as does the dried full cream milk. Also it is very sustaining and you don't need very much of it - good for packing small.

The most popular favourite lunch was a flatbread or wrap of some kind with a huge variety of fillings listed.  Though probably the lunch not heard of before is this:

Two Scottish oatcakes either with a hard boiled egg [get them at Donnelly River, they are the tops, and hard boiled they last for 4-5 days or with two slices of Jarlsberg cheese. Plus a plain chocolate Kitkat bar or a Mars bar and a few nuts. This lunch is quick and easy but don't put the cheese between the oatcakes before you leave in the morning; by lunchtime the biscuits will be all soft. Yuk!

Dinner was really varied from...

Peperoni and vegetable Morrocan tagine with fragrant cous cous. It's hearty and just as tasty as something I'd cook at home and it's delightful to share with other campers who don't think great food is possible camping!

to this...

Deb Onion Flavour Mash with Tuna and Minty Peas + Chilli Flakes - Lightweight and very tasty

this...

Home dehydrated casseroles. Nutritious, tasty, free from preservatives or flavours and very light weight

this...

homemade dehydrated massaman vegetable & bean curry with cashews and instant rice / couscous. Trifle: Steve's "food on a fuel stove" recipe soaked in alcohol of choice with instant custard. This gourmet meal allows lots of time for reading and relaxation, rehydrates extremely well and tastes great and offers a nutritious, filling, well balanced meal

and this...

It is a tie between Spag Bog and Honey Mustard Turkey with cous cous. Both are home dehydrated meals and they both taste so much better than the bought ones.

and finally this comment...

Forget dinner, let's talk dessert. I did a track walk with a group and one lady made something similar to crème brulee (used powered milk, water, etc). It was cold enough out in the open to set. We had some very jealous fellow campers.

48% of respondents dehydrate their own food, 28% use freeze-dried meals and 60% of those use Back Country Cuisine.

60% of respondents are End-to-Enders and 75% of respondents are members of the Foundation.

Congratulations to Amanda Thompson of Victoria Park for winning the draw for entering the survey. She was won an X-plate thanks to Sea to Summit. 

Bibbulmun Track Guidebook survey 
A great companion for all walkers.
A great companion for all walkers.

October 2010 to February 2011

As you are probably aware, the Northern and Southern Bibbulmun Track Guidebooks are very popular among walkers.

Before updating the Northern Guidebook, the DEC would like to ascertain how the Guidebooks are used, how many walkers use them, whether there is a greater preference for them versus the maps and if other technologies are used in conjunction with the maps or guidebooks when walking the Track.

The information you provide will help the DEC in planning for future updates and prints of the Guidebook. All responses have been passed onto DEC. Thanks for participating.

Tell us what you think about our website 

June to September 2010

We wanted to know what you thought about our current website so that we can make improvements to help you get the information you are after, make it more user friendly and perhaps include other features not currently on our site. We had over one hundred people respond with some very valuable input which will help us design our new site. Thank you!  Congratulations to Sarah McNamara of Albany who contributed and won an X-bowl donated by Sea to Summit.

Here is a sample of the feedback received:

What do you like about the site?

  • Extremely useful information, contains everything you need to know.
  • I like the trip planner section and the pics.
  • Warm colour combinations. Natural and indigenous look.
  • The main menu is always effective and gets you where you need to go quickly. The black bars/ drop down menu is good.
  • User friendly. Any information I have ever wanted was there or linked to another site.
  • Logically organised.
  • Things happen as soon as you open the first page.
  • Things have dates so you know how long they have been up for.
  • It’s a one stop shop.
  • Clear and simple to read if you are in a hurry.
  • Keep up the good work I say.

Is the information you are looking for easy to find?

  • Very easy 35%.
  • Easy 56%.
  • Ok 6%.
  • Could be easier 3%.
  • Could be much easier 2%.

What can we improve on?

  • Put walk with friends events up online.
  • Get rid of the white gaps either side.
  • Under track conditions maybe people can have a spot where they can add some input - they can leave notes of their experience and any problems. These notes would be much more valuable than notices from DEC.
  • Please include captions on the flora pics so we know what they are.
  • More news items - perhaps have excerpts from the Track registers.
  • Some you tube type videos of the various topics would be great eg someone explaining the equipment they take, how they pack it etc.
  • More testimonials.
  • Events could be more prominent with photos.
  • Encourage more diary entries from end-to-enders.
  • A member log in section and also online event bookings to confirm your place on the event.

Thanks for such great feedback. We have already taken steps to improve our current site. For example there is a you tube video on how to fit a backpack. We will also be looking to add things like a member’s only section to our new site.

Vote for your favourite Track Town! 
Main street of this small rural town.
Main street of this small rural town.

December to June 2010

The results are in! We asked walkers which Track town was their favourite. With over 100 responses here are the results.

Favourite overall:

  1. Balingup with 25% of the vote.
  2. Pemberton 23%.
  3. Walpole 21%.

We also asked why their choice of town was their favourite. These towns were first the following categories (note that results were very very tight!).

  • Walker friendly: Walpole.
  • Range of accommodation: Pemberton and Albany.
  • Quality of accommodation: Walpole.
  • Natural beauty: Pemberton and Peaceful Bay.
  • Helpful and efficient Visitor Information Centre: Dwellingup, Pemberton & Walpole.
  • Range of food supplies: Denmark.
  • Facilities: Pemberton and Albany.
  • Range of cafes/restaurants: Albany.
  • Accessibility: Pemberton.
  • Communication available (e.g. mobile phone coverage, Internet facilities): Pemberton and Albany.
  • Local attractions: Pemberton.
  • Bibbulmun Track signage: Balingup.
  • Quality of information about the Bibbulmun Track: Walpole.
  • Alignment of the Track (i.e. route into and out of town): Balingup.
  • Is part of my favourite section of the Track: Walpole.

40% of respondents had visited their favourite Track Town before they began walking on the Bibbulmun Track and 46% had stayed more than three times in their favourite Track Town.

In the last 12 months, 25% had been to their favourite Track Town three times or more.

72% of respondents were members of the Bibbulmun Track Foundation and 75% were not volunteers.

Congratulations to Dani Rob of Exmouth who won draw and receive an X-bowl and X-plate thanks to Foundation Gold Sponsor Sea to Summit.

Vote for your most favourite gear! 
The Foundation has an equipment hire service to get your started.
The Foundation has an equipment hire service to get your started.

August to November 2009

Over 100 people participated in the survey. People’s boots were voted as the most favourite piece of gear. The top reasons were that they simply ‘work’ and are comfortable. Other reasons for voting for other gear was that it was functional (66%), lightweight (50%), fool proof (47%), and robust (41%).

Here are the top ten voted the most favourite gear out of list of 30 items.

  • Sleeping mat 7.0%.
  • Rain proof jacket 5.0%.
  • Tent 4.0%.
  • Fleece jacket 4.0%.
  • Torch headlamp 2.0%.
  • Boots 19.0%.
  • Sleeping bag 14.0%.
  • Walking sticks 13.0%.
  • Backpack 11.0%.
  • Stove 10.0%.

44% of people had their gear for between one and three years and 35% for four years or more but when it came to replacing the gear 44% said that they would replace it at the first opportunity if it failed rather than either live with it or mend it - fussy we bushwalkers aren’t we!

41% said that their friends perceive them to be gear freaks and 68% are members of the Bibbulmun Track Foundation.

Congratulations to David Bodeker for winning the draw. David receives an X-bowl thanks to sponsors Sea to Summit. Your prize is in the mail!

Vote for your most challenging section! 
Boonerring Hill.
Boonerring Hill.

May to July 2009

75 people voted for their most challenging section. For quite a while it looked as if it was going to be tied between two sections. But in the end, one section was voted as the single most challenging on the entire Bibbulmun Track - but only just! Dookanelly to Possum Springs received 16% of the vote. In second place was Peaceful Bay to Boat Harbour with 14.7%, closely followed by Boarding House to Beavis with 13.3%.

Congratulations to Dawn from Busselton for winning the prize from Sea to Summit!

More results:

  • 65% said the biggest challenge was the steepness of the hills.
  • 54.5% said it was the amount of hills on that section.
  • 26% said the distance was the third biggest contributing factor.
  • 62.7% said in was harder going from north to south.
  • 45% did that section as part of their end-to-end.
  • 68% of respondents are members of the Foundation .

Vote for your favourite Bibbulmun Track campsite! 
Relaxing with a good book.
Relaxing with a good book.

January to April 2009

138 people cast their vote and went into the draw to win the prize from Sea to Summit. The campsite with the most votes was Frankland campsite with 17.4%.  Second place was tied between Blackwood campsite and Dog Pool campsite.

Congratulations to Julie Bessant of Shoalwater for winning the X-bowl and cutlery set from Sea to Summit!

More results:

  • Almost 90% of voters liked their campsite because of the location/surroundings. Other prominent factors included the view and the serenity.
  • 45% of voters were End-to-Enders. A further 20% had walked more than half of the Track.
  • 80% of voters are members.
  • 17% were maintenance volunteers.