The Hellsins
- Start date: 26 February 2018
- Age When Completed: 66/67
- Direction Walked: Sectional
- Others in Group:
DAVID HILL,
KRISHNA SEN
General Comments
We had a fabulous time on the Bib. It was a beautiful track, well-maintained with excellent facilities. It really is a world-class walking trail.
Food/Supplies Comments
As we were doing a sectional E2E we generally dropped re-supply boxes at the various track towns through which we were to walk.
Favourite Section
Rame Head to Peaceful Bay; the days into and out of Balingup; the southern coast and the karri and tingle forests generally.
Highlights
Karri forests and Tingle trees; watching dawn at Rame Head; sitting peacefully as dawn broke at virtually any hut is glorious.
Personal Reactions
We really enjoyed meeting people on the walk, and were surprised at how many actually came from our neighbourhood, although we did not know them previously. Lots of lovely people whom we would not usually have met in everyday life off the track
Wildlife
Encountering an emu and two emu chicks in the ‘Showgrounds’ (between Peaceful Bay and Boat Harbour); waking to see 2 emus wandering around the clearing of Yourdamung hut at dawn; finding it challenging to see about 12 snakes on the morning’s short walk from Lake Maringup hut to Chesapeake Rd East.
Your Best Equipment
The ultralight Osprey Lumina rucksack (under 1 kg); our walking poles; USB-chargeable head-lamp & battery back-up pack; good pair of gloves for chilly mornings. Ponchos were better at keeping packs dry than wearing gore-tex jackets and using separate rucksack covers.
Your Worst Equipment
First pair of hiking shoes fell apart. Hard to find walking shoes that are comfortable and last a long walk. Initial cheap brand-less battery pack bought off E-Bay proved hopeless; had to replace it with a brand-name pack.
Advice for Others
Just do it! There is no need to buy specialised expensive dehydrated food packs from camping shops. There are lots of lightweight dehydrated foods available from various supermarkets if you look around. When packing, if you’re not sure if you’ll need an item, you probably won’t, so leave it out.