Simon Lappin (Baggins)

Track Towns and Supplies

• How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 5
• Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No

Particular Track Towns that you would return to:

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

---

Your Story or Advice for Others

General Comments
I am so incredibly grateful to all those that made this life changing adventure to there and back. To the Nyoongar people that have cared for Country for the last 65,ooo years. To those that built the huts, maintain the trail, provide advice and guidance, to those in the towns that enable those on the trail, and to our family and friends that support us along the way.

Your Best Equipment
Loved my Altra shoes and Injinji socks - not one blister! Loved my wide mattress and fitted sheet which fostered better sleep. Walking poles - black diamond shock - tit would have been very hard to walk the trail without these. Finally, I rate my Wilderness Equipment gaiters, they provided peace of mind and protection from the various snakes and sticks etc

Your Worst Equipment
I reduced my net weight over the journey, through culling of unnecessary items; a good lesson for the next longer journey

Advice for Others
What are you waiting for?

---

Trip Details

How you completed the Bibbulmun Track:

• All at once

• How many days did it take you to complete the Track? 57
• 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? Word of mouth/friends
  

What did you use to navigate the Track?

• BT Maps
• App (please specify)
• Other
• - Bib app and Garmin Explore
• - Used DPaW GPX files on my Garmin GPS

---

Your Experience

• Availability of information: Excellent
• Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Excellent - Lots of snakes; had a 2m tiger snake swim pass me on the Pingerup Plains. Curious quendas and kangaroos; had a close encounter with a large male kanga at Blackwood (he was happy to flex for those straying in the hut). Loads of different birds, with the blue wrens at a number of huts being a highlight.

Favourite Section
To hard to choose one section

Highlight of your trip
What I loved • Being on country, without the noise or speed of the world; stepping out of the petri dish of domestication and into the healing and nourishing embrace of Country (which has been cared for by the Nyoongar mob for over 65,000 years) • Eco diversity – the diversity of plants, animals and reptiles and the way this changed across the journey; I had a number of close interactions with a range of wildlife including swimming tiger snakes on the Pingerup plains, dozing dugites, buff kangaroos, curious wallabies and quendas, frantic emus, bouncy blue wrens, cackling cockies and so much more. • Simplicity of life on the trail – walk, eat, sleep, repeat • Feeling healthy and strong – I was unsure whether my hobbit was going to last the journey to there and back; the reality is I have not felt this strong and healthy for decades • Overcoming challenges and setbacks – life on the track is harder, with more challenges and less convenience, but life is so much easier and it has forged a new sense of self-belief • The dawn chorus – I loved waking and walking to the dawn chorus and rising sun • Amazing landscapes and skyscapes, both during the day and at night; the views were spectacular, and the night sky at Mt Wells was intense with the most vivid display of stars (of which there are around 10,000) and galaxies. • Time in towns – beyond the bakery’s, burgers, bacon and eggs, fresh food, showers, beds and fresh supplies, I discovered a new found appreciation of the small communities that support and enable those on the trail; perhaps a tree change is on the cards? • Father’s Day – having my son carry my pack, from Dwellingup to Swamp Oak on Father’s Day • Interactions with some of the other hikers and lessons learnt from them

---