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Desley Mackenzie

Completed: 26 June, 2024

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Desley Mackenzie
  • Start date: 15 July, 2010
  • Age When Completed: 65
  • Direction Walked: Southbound

Track Towns and Supplies

  • How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 29
  • Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No
  • I dehydrated food to take, but as I was only out for a 3/4 days max at a time, didn’t have to worry too much about food.
Particular Track Towns that you would return to:
  • Dwellingup
  • Collie
  • Balingup
  • Donnelly River Village
  • Pemberton
  • Denmark
  • Albany

Your Story or Advice for Others

General Comments
Doing the track in sections is not very cost effective. Overnight accommodation in track towns can add up, although I thoroughly enjoyed each town I stayed in. I had to use drop offs sometimes, which were very useful and greatly appreciated . Couldn’t have done the sections without this help. Keep on walking. It’s not a competition with anyone else. Enjoy being out there. The people you meet are just amazing. Thank you to the young dad who brought out a massive bit of beef to roast and then gave it to all eight walkers who happened to be overnighting. It sounded like he did it often.

Your Best Equipment
My 900gm tent. My Alltrails App. My PLB, which I never used, gave me a lot of confidence to head off solo.

Your Worst Equipment
Too much clothing.

Advice for Others
I gained a lot of confidence by having an App with the track on it, as I have a tendency to stray off the track. A word of warning though, don’t believe everything the app says. There were a couple of occasions where I was nicely beside a marker and off the track on the app. No detours were in place. Most days I just followed the markers and didn’t use an App.

Trip Details

How you completed the Bibbulmun Track:
  • In sections
  • How many days did it take you to complete the Track? 55
  • 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 Maps
  • App (please specify)
  • - AllTrails

Your Experience

  • Availability of information: Excellent
  • Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Fair
Favourite Section
The Tingle Forests

Highlight of your trip
Pemberton was great. Although the very lovely Cathy from Pemberton People Movers got bogged, dropping me off. I then lent her my car to do her regular customers, while I walked. Starting and finishing it. Probably all the sections I did solo, and overnight, stand out.