Julia Forsyth
- Start date: 2 August 2017
- Age When Completed: 60
- Direction Walked: North to South
- Others in Group:
Andrew Craig
General Comments
The Bibbulmun gave us the opportunity to realise a long-time dream of doing a long distance hike. It was very different from doing our usual 2-5 day walks, and has been one of the best experiences of our lives.
Food/Supplies Comments
Apart from one food drop at Sullivan’s Rock to help cover the long first stage, we shopped locally in the track towns. We were very happy when we found supplies of ‘Backcountry’ (brand) food, but always managed to find enough of what we needed, although at times it was pretty basic. It was quite expensive, but we thought it important to contribute to Western Australia’s economy (even if the GST gets whipped away by the Federal government!). Plus we ended up experimenting with new combinations of food some of which worked really well - and others, well, less so.
Favourite Section
So hard to choose – the imposing karri and tingle forest, the dramatic coastal sections, the abundant colourful wildflowers and watery Pingerup Plains.
Highlights
While we found the three-sided shelters a bit chilly at times, especially at night, it was lovely to wake in the night and see the trees silhouetted against the starry sweep of the night sky and hear the natural and at times mysterious noises of the night. It was hard to go back to sleeping indoors afterwards. Seeing the humpback whales blowing and breaching from the coastal sections was amazing. The Murray in full flood was an impressive sight, even if it did force us to make a couple of impromptu diversions involving some significant bush bashing in the vicinity of Chalk Brook.
Personal Reactions
The Track was both what we had expected and also much, much more. We hadn’t realised how much joy there would be in the simple act of getting up each day, putting on our packs and walking, oblivious to what was going on in the outside world. Even when certain body parts painfully protested (mainly feet of course) our enthusiasm always overrode the prospect of a hobbling start the morning. As the day and we warmed we soon got into the rhythm of walking. Having to dig deep when running out of steam was also very satisfying - at least in retrospect! Developing into a wonderful and very compatible hiking duo with each other on the Track.
Wildlife
On the second to last night a quenda (sp?) visited the Torbay shelter. We sat in silence as it snuffled around in the woodchips on the floor of the shelter, and then headed slowly down the Track finding food in the litter on the ground. Magic – as it was for the echidna that Julia spotted just north of Collie; the aforementioned whales; a couple of blue tongue lizards: a cacophony of birds, emu and ‘roos. Fortunately for Julia, Andrew encountered most of the snakes - a big thing for us New Zealanders, as none exist in our country. After 52 days on the Track we entertained the possibility that we may also be considered wildlife!
Your Best Equipment
Our lightweight and very warm down jackets from ‘Macpac’. We wore them every day, and night. Julia used it in her sleeping bag to keep her increasingly bony hips warm. We would never travel without them.
Your Worst Equipment
Julia’s once very good, but aged parka evidently reached the end of its useful life t. Wet arms and sleeves are not much fun. Andrew’s worst equipment was his expensive inflatable sleeping mat which decided to slowly deflate over the course of the night, whose leak evaded detection. Luckily he managed to buy a new, but somewhat heavier one in Pemberton.
Advice for Others
While it was colder than expected, August and September was a great time to walk the track, especially as there is very little in the way of annoying insect life. It would have been good to have had 2-3 more rest days so that our feet could recover. So - if you can, allow for a few more days than you think you’ll need. Next time we’d check and test all our gear more carefully, rather than assuming that because it is fine on a short trip, it may not be necessarily so on a long distance hike. Andrew recommends not wearing undies: and as he walked the entire track in sandals, no socks either – cuts down on the laundry, odour and weight he claims!