Bree Medcalf (Breeza / Blister Bree)

Track Towns and Supplies

• How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 7
• Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No
• I premade most of my breakfasts and dinners and bought food in each town to stock up my lunches.

Particular Track Towns that you would return to:

• Kalamunda
• Dwellingup
• Collie
• Balingup
• Donnelly River Village
• Pemberton
• Northcliffe
• Walpole
• Denmark
• Albany

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Your Story or Advice for Others

General Comments
This is by far one of my favorite experiences and one I am incredibly proud to say I've accomplished. We are lucky to have such an incredible track right on our doorstep.

Your Best Equipment
I bought a Gossamer hiking umbrella with a pack clip to attach to the shoulder strap of my pack, this kept the umbrella in place while keeping my hands free, the umbrella was especially helpful in camp as most of the rain fell throughout the night. I actually ordered this while on the track and had it expressed post to Collie, luckily for me it arrived on my free day in town. I also loved my knitted fingerless gloves and headband that I wore under my cap to keep my hands and ears warm on those windy days, I also carried clear glasses for the same reason. While I literally only needed it for one day I was thankful I had packed a flynet, for the minimal weight it was worth my sanity! I also had an incredible group of friends supporting me on the sidelines, even calling DRV to make sure I go in ok when I didn’t have reception to check in and tell them I was safe.

Your Worst Equipment
My boots and socks, I’d worn the same style of boots for years but my feet had obviously changed and the trusty faithfuls were no longer suitable. I learnt the hard way and lost most of the skin from the bottom of my foot due to blisters. A friend eventually met me in Walpole with a new pair of trail runners to finish the track in.

Advice for Others
Have a new pair of shoes at the half way mark or at the very least a new pair of inner soles every 300km or so. If you don’t like the feel of pole tips hitting rocks then keep a spare pair of pole tips with you or in a supply box as I was unable to find any replacements in town. Make sure your toilet paper holder is actually water proof… turns out my waterproof sack was not in fact water proof! If you wear Gore-Tex make sure you water treat it before you leave, this is the only thing I forgot to do and my jacket was not even remotely waterproof. I would recommend a free-standing tent. I loved my Durston but some of the tent sites between Denmark and Albany left a lot to be desired and the mosquitoes in this section were quite bad so the option to put my tent up inside the hut was a winner. I was able to make shift stake points for my tent in most huts except Sandpatch but a free standing tent would have made life much easier. Choose the socks you are going to wear and wear them while you’re training so you have time to work out what does and doesn’t work for your feet. I wish I had a pouch to hang off the front of my pack for my phone/camera as this wasn’t always easily accessible if I was adding or removing layers. I would also recommend taking Cold and Flu tablets or an ArmaForce equivalent to keep that cold at bay, I can assure you hiking with a cold is not fun! (thankfully this was only the last two days) Factor in more food in the last couple of sections as your body will have used most of its reserves and you will need to fuel yourself more (or just get used to being hungry)

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Trip Details

How you completed the Bibbulmun Track:

• All at once

• How many days did it take you to complete the Track? 59
• Who did you complete the Track with? Solo (primarily)
• Was undertaking your hike the PRIMARY/MAIN purpose of your TRAVEL from where you currently live? Yes
• What first prompted you to walk the Bibbulmun Track? Local knowledge
  

What did you use to navigate the Track?

• BT Guidebooks
• App (please specify)
• Nothing – just relied on the Waugals and my intuition!
• - FarOut

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Your Experience

• Availability of information: Excellent - The information available is extensive and the BTF is a great resource, I honestly couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
• Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Good - I honestly didn’t see a lot of wildlife as I was often the last to leave camp which meant everyone before me had scared much of the wild life off. Though I did see a lot of roos, an emu and several snakes through the coastal areas and while I didn’t see them, there was definitely very fresh evidence of pigs around Collie I did however come across a brood of ducklings in the dunes before Torbay. I have no idea where mama duck was , I tried to convince myself she was out looking for food but with the amount of snakes on the track I suspect she had a different fate. The ducklings followed me for quite some time, with one little duckling following me for close to 1km before I managed to escape. To be honest I felt terrible leaving them behind especially with one having been split from the group but I couldn’t exactly carry 9 baby ducks in my pack. I hope they grew up to be happy little ducks instead of dinner!

Favourite Section
I loved Northcliffe to Walpole, especially the Pingerup Plains. They weren’t too flooded so there was only a few short sections of wading but the wild flowers were absolutely next level. Torbay to Sandpatch was a really lovely walk despite the rain and flies. The wind turbines added a new dimension as I got closer to Albany.

Highlight of your trip
I had lots of little highlights on my hike, starting and realising this dream was finally happening. Meeting an incredible couple from Vic (JJ Kale and the PeaGravel Princess) who played scrabble each night and serenaded the camp with their guitarlele. Having one of my close friends join me from Dwellingup to Collie, she jumped on board when I needed support the most and I loved sharing the experience with her, especially a great pub dinner in Collie wearing nothing but bathrobes while we did our washing! The final stretch walking into Balingup was absolutely stunning, I can’t wait to explore this area more. The Nature in Art trail in Northcliffe The incredibly curious cows coming along the Munda Bidi out of Northcliffe, they followed me along the fence line for ages My cheeky little nudie swim at the beach on one of the few warm days I had on track.

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