J.Bell
- Start date: 1 March 2017
- Age When Completed: 45
- Direction Walked: South to North
- Others in Group:
Walked solo
General Comments
I’m very appreciative to all those who make the Bibbulmun Track what it is - the workers at DPAW, the Bibbulmun Track Foundation, the volunteers…. you guys are wonderful. :0)
My walk was 56 day in total including 8 full days off track in track towns, spending 15 nights in total in town accommodation along the way.
Food/Supplies Comments
I posted food resupply packages containing my breakfasts and dinners and a few other essentials to the Visitor Centres in the Track towns along the way and purchased my snacks and lunches in the Track towns.
Favourite Section
Denmark to Walpole for its variety of coastline and tingle forest.
Highlights
Watching sunrise from Rame Head shelter, Frankland River shelter and it’s stunning location, walking the section of Track that parallels the Donnelly river and most of all the interesting and inspiring people I met along the way.
Personal Reactions
This was my second attempt at an end to end on the Bibbulmun Track after an aborted attempt in 2011 when I sustained overuse injuries from being too quick out of the gate! I felt like I had unfinished business with the Track and it was very satisfying to be able to return this year and complete the whole Track in one go successfully.
Wildlife
I did see more snakes than I normally might on my walks on the coastal sections of the Track which kept things interesting! The red tailed and the white tailed cockatoos were a highlight.
Your Best Equipment
My tent and its ability to be set up freestanding. It provided me with extra shelter inside shelters from both weather and insects (when it was appropriate), flexibility in my walking day and plans as well great dawn views from its perch on a granite slab looking out over the Helena River Valley at Waalegh campsite. (Henry Shires Double Rainbow tarp tent)
Your Worst Equipment
My shoes. My old favorites were discontinued a few months prior to this walk and I trialed three pairs of different shoes looking for the right fit in their replacement. The ones I walked in fit okay but FELL APART as I walked - the soles detached on the inside of the front of the foot and the inside sole also came apart under the front of my foot. I had to glue them together and use duct tape inside them over a good extra 300kms distance to the end of the track. (Merrell Moab Ventilators)... never again.
Advice for Others
Find the right shoe and sock combination for you which is not necessarily what works for your best friend or what the shoe/outdoor store wants to sell to you. With the right combo/fit, blisters and blackened toe nails should be the exception not the rule that so many bushwalkers seem to expect it to be. You’ll enjoy your walk so much more if your feet are comfortable.