- Start date: 1 October 2014
- Age When Completed: 44
- Direction Walked: Sectional
General Comments
Loved my time on the track - great to come away from the busyness of home and work and enjoy time, space and beauty on the Track. I’m really grateful to my family for giving me that time, ferrying me to and from the track or bus and giving me treats at food drops or pick up. It was also nice to revisit the track towns and I really enjoyed the short time or overnights I had in each town, part of the reason I love living on the south-west of WA.
Food/Supplies Comments
I have several food intolerance so I dehydrated all my dinners, lunch crackers and prepared my own muesli etc. It was mostly tasty, although discovering the mouldy jerky climbing out of Chinaman’s Gully was not a highlight!
Favourite Section
Northcliffe to Walpole - so many different views and ecosystems. It was amazing joining the dots on lots of little journeys over the last 25 years.
Highlights
Woolbales to Mandalay Beach - the granite outcrops, the views, Chatham Island and a swim made it a magical morning. Also finishing Peaceful Bay to Denmark in epic weather conditions - I felt like Superwoman, and nothing could be hard after that.
Personal Reactions
Wow!! I loved the diversity of the south-west, even though I know the area reasonably well, it was so amazing to move from this little eco-system to the next, to see the story of time, climate, fire and soil show itself. The time to myself was as restoring as a parent, would recommend it to any tired mamas (or dads or anyone). Learning to just enjoy the weather was helpful to me - raincoats are over-rated but wet feet are uncomfortable.
Wildlife
I saw wallabies, kangaroos red-, white- and yellow-tail black cockatoos, snakes, legless lizards, bugs and beetles, sawfly larvae lines, ticks, flies and a quokka - great to see and hear the critters, wish there were more out there. Sadly also saw cats, pigs and fox prints.
Your Best Equipment
Mini Trangia and hut booties. I also stole someone else’s trail hack of fitting two cut off plastic milk cartons, one nestled into the other - perfect for carrying delicate items like crackers and avocado.
Your Worst Equipment
The pack cover that didn’t fit!!
Advice for Others
Get out there and do it, in whichever way you can, one hour, one day, one week, keep on seeking new places, new experiences, new comfort in the outdoors.