Gaynor Williams (Mo and Gaynor Honeymoon Hikers)

Track Towns and Supplies

• How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 10
• Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No
• We mostly dehydrated our own food and brought it with us. Everything else we needed we were able to buy in track towns.

Particular Track Towns that you would return to:

• Dwellingup
• Balingup
• Donnelly River Village
• Walpole
• Albany

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Your Story or Advice for Others

General Comments
Mo and I double hutted only a few times. We decided to hike the Bibbulmun slowly over about 60 days so that we could take our time enjoy everything along the way and take the time to have a rest in each of the track towns. For us that was perfect. We came here from Queensland, and really wanted to enjoy everything that this beautiful part of Western Australia has to offer. We found setting out in mid-October was just right for us as well. The weather was mild and as we approached the southern terminus we enjoyed cooler weather than we had in the northern sections of the Trail.

Your Best Equipment
We brought our Helinox zero hiking chairs and use them every time we stopped for a tea break or lunch along the way. Definitely my Helinox Hiking poles prevented me from slips trips and falls many times. To hike the Pingerup Plains we wore Dexshell knee length waterproof socks. They were amazing. I couldn’t believe after walking nearly 10 km through deepwater. My toe socks underneath the waterproof socks was still dry when I removed my boots. It made for very comfortable and enjoyable walking. I was also very happy with my choice of protective clothing, a good shady hat, gaiters, hiking gloves and a long sleeve shirt to protect me from spiky overgrown shrubs. The most valuable item however was my fly net.

Your Worst Equipment
I didn’t have any worse equipment, but I carried a gortex rainjacket and pants all the way and I didn’t ever end up needing them. I would never leave waterproof gear out of my pack because it is necessary for safety reasons however I would probably bring a lighter weight jacket and leave the pants out in the future. For this hike my Sea to Summit poncho was enough.

Advice for Others
Don’t leave Home without a fly net to put over your hat. It is also well worth carrying mosquito coils from Northcliffe south.

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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? 61
• 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? Word of mouth/friends
  

What did you use to navigate the Track?

• App (please specify)
• - Bibbulmun ( Find the fun)

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Your Experience

• Availability of information: Excellent
• Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Great - It was great to see lots of cockatoos. It was special to see a quenda and we enjoyed the emus and roos slo g the way.

Favourite Section
All of it but especially Walpole to Peaceful Bay.

Highlight of your trip
The abundance of wildflowers, the magnificent views in the Perth Hills, meeting other like-minded hikers along the way, the fact that I didn’t break my neck walking on pea gravel for hundreds of kilometres and when there wasn’t and pea gravel there were plenty of Honky nuts under foot to add a bit of fun to the hike, finding two red cockatoo feathers on the trail, arriving in a shelter just in time to avoid an unexpected hail storm, learning that the snakes out there wanted to get away from me as much as I wanted to get away from them, so many streams, rivers and cascades, Donnelly River Village, which is about the most cute as a button town in Australia, chance wildlife encounters, the kindness of strangers along the way, splashing through the water in the Pingerup plains, the oh my God magnificent Karri and Tingle tree giants, the incredible blue of the Southern ocean, padding and wading through the Inlet crossings and finally arriving at the southern terminus the day before temperatures soared to 35°.

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