David Broughton

• Start date: 29 October 2013
• Age When Completed: 68
• Direction Walked: South to North

General Comments

This is my second End to End which I completed continuously Albany to Kalamunda right to my front door. Being late the hiking season it was warming up, but not overly so. Most days I decamped early which avoided the heat of the day. The benefits to arise early, you generally avoid the tics, flies, particularly the March variety; you see more wildlife, and the need to carry less water. Most walking days were over by noon. Some sections were a bit tiring climbing over and under track litter, a lot of trees down South of Walpole.
I had three nights where it rained heavy but only very light drizzle during the day.
There were a number of people along the South Coast in the last stages to completing their End to End and or Sections, but more North it was very quiet in Hikers.
Insects were a major problem for me with swollen shins and hands, this started South of Walpole and it wasn’t until I got to Balingup when I found what the problem was. The Postmaster in Andrew recognised that I had an allergic reaction, with the remedy in taking an antihistamine. Problem went away. 
I completed the Track in 41 days which surprised me; obviously I doubled Hutted on a number of occasions.

Food/Supplies Comments

Walking the Bibbulmun this time was particularly much more difficult as I now have Coeliac Disease with no tolerance. Looking around for Gluten Free foods suitable for Hiking I chose to use a product from a supplier of a large range of Freeze Dried foods. Their range does include a very good range of Gluten Free Meals.  I chose to use this product as I only decided to walk the Track two weeks before starting out. Making up meals would have been very difficult in the short period.
The day meals consisted of Breakfast, Rice Porridge with additional dried fruit and milk power, when soaked for the night it was ready for the morning without the need for heating, saving gas. Lunch and on the run consisted G/F Muesli/Nut Bars, with lunch eating Rice Cakes with dollop’s of Peanut Butter and/or Cheese “sandwiches”. Evening meals, was a soup followed by freeze dried meal and for dessert Rice Cake and jam topping.
I prepared most of the food at home, which I took down to Albany. I took supplies with what I needed and Posted the rest onto the next Town. This I successfully carried out until I reach Dwellingup, where my wife brought down from home top up food to reach Kalamunda. The only food that I could get from the smaller town stores was G/F Muesli/Nut Bars, Rice Cakes, Cheese and Peanut Butter.
The above was fortified by healthy Breakfast of Bacon/Eggs/Bean/Tomato and in most cases G/F Toast, evening meals of whatever G/F in the Towns on the way.

Favourite Section

The South Coast would always be the most scenic along with the very good display of wildflowers.
The Forests offer the tranquillity with my favourite the open Jarrah Forest, paticully early in the mornings.
We must not forget the night time stars especially the Milky Way.

Highlights

Yes I had Highlights

Personal Reactions

Before leaving to walk the Bibbulmun I weighed myself and also on completion. I lost nearly 10kgs of body mass over the 41 days. To sum it up personally I didn’t need to lose any weight. 1 Kg of body mass equates to37000Kj, so I lost 370000Kjs over the trip. Based on that, I under consumed 9000kjs a day. With all the food I was carrying and what I eaten I would have had to carry almost double the amount of food to maintain the before body weight. No wonder walkers lose weight walking the Bibb.

Wildlife

Early mornings I saw Kangaroos, emus, birds, whilst I did see a small number of snakes most others saw “lots”. I suppose I could go down as making too much noise.

Your Best Equipment

Best piece of equipment would be the Spot GPS which did keep family members informed of my whereabouts with the knowledge that it had also a SOS feature. A second piece of equipment which also would give credit to is the Jetboil Gas Stove, very economical with gas using only about three and half 100gm bottles for the whole trip.

Your Worst Equipment

None

Advice for Others

Enjoy, and take some ear plugs.