Matt and Sally Keady
- Start date: 4 March 2017
- Age When Completed: Both 54
- Direction Walked: Sectional
General Comments
We did the track in consecutive sections over four years, walking from town to town starting in Albany. It was good to walk in different seasons: flowers, fungi, different bugs that wanted to eat us! We now have an addiction to the Australian bush and every few months we get a bit twitchy to get back out there.
A huge thank you to the Foundation and all the volunteers that maintain the shelters and the track.
Food/Supplies Comments
We purchased a dehydrator after the first couple of sections and our food pack got a bit lighter after that. We used a billy for all our cooking. It was handy when we had a camp fire because we could save gas on the longer sections and heat water for hot water bottles in the colder sections.
Favourite Section
We loved the Perth hills. Our favourite section was from North Bannister to the Brookton Highway. Incredible views and a lovely lunch break on the granite dome of Mt Cuthbert, the Canning River was an oasis for a swim and lunch under the shade of the bridge.
Highlights
Traversing the southwest on foot and becoming familiar with all of the national parks, rivers etc
Staying in the country towns at the beginning and end of each section.
Most memorable: getting sandblasted in a gale on Mandalay Beach and then getting caught in a hail storm as we arrived at the inundated Pingarup plains.
Personal Reactions
Huge sense of personal achievement to complete this epic walk.
Wildlife
Kangaroos, black gloved wallabies, emus, an echidna, long nosed bandicoot, racehorse goannas, tiger snakes, western crown snake, bardick snake, western bearded dragon, long necked tortoise, motorbike frog, march flies, ticks, mosquitoes, too many birds to list.
Your Best Equipment
Comfortable packs and shoes
Our trusty billy
Camelbaks
Puffer jackets
Walking sticks (for bad knees)
Your Worst Equipment
Sea to summit air mattresses. Comfortable but SO noisy.
Advice for Others
Don’t underestimate the extra water required for the hilly sections, especially in warmer weather. We discovered about 900km into the trek that Camelbaks with electrolytes in the water made a huge difference to our hydration with less muscle soreness at night.