Find out the latest news about the Track and the Foundation before you set off for your next walk.
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All Eyes On Collie and Dwellingup: Major Trail Projects Underway
12 August 2019
In order to deliver the Dwellingup Adventure Trails, DBCA has partnered with the Shire of Murray to secure $3.45M through a Commonwealth Government Building Better Regions grant and brought in their own contribution of $4.95M.
Over 30km of new mountain bike trails will be built in Murray Valley, along with an 8km realignment of the Munda Biddi Trail and a new trail link between Dwellingup and Lane Poole Reserve. At Baden Powell a new trail centre and suspension bridge for walkers and cyclists will be constructed. The suspension bridge will be connecting to the Murray Valley trail network across the Murray River and promises a spectacular view looking out over the rapids. For more information please see the Shire of Murray website and check out the YouTube video here.
With $10M from The State Governments Royalties for Regions funding, The Collie Adventure Trails project is sure not to disappoint.
Over 130km of Mountain Bike Trails will be built throughout Wellington National Park, Arklow Forrest Block and Westralia Conservation Park. Multi-day loops and link trails from Collie are in the plans as well as a new river crossing, and completion of the 72km Walking Trail through Wellington National Park.
However it's not all about building trails, in an effort to seek Trail Town status Collie is upgrading its facilities, with new bike wash stations, bike racks, storage, signage... the list goes on. For Collie, DBCA predicts a Tourism spend of $3.8M annually, creating over 30 employment opportunities in the area. The Collie Adventure Trails project is due to be finished by 2023. Check out the full report here.
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The State of Play Report: Bush walking is on the rise
12 August 2019
Nationwide, the AusPlay survey has been running since 2015 with a total of about 20,000 interviews conducted annually. This State of Play report however, is very exciting as, for the first time, it has included bushwalking.
The numbers clearly support that bushwalking and outdoor recreational activities are on the rise. According to this summarised report by SportAus, Recreational Walking is the number 1 activity in Australia, with bushwalking coming in at number 8. Increasingly more people are seeking an active lifestyle through outdoor activities and nature.
The full survey is available here, but here's a few key points to get you going:
- On a national level, ACT & Tasmania take the lead with 10.6% and 10.2% participation rates for bushwalking, with WA at 4.1%
- Leading Ladies - 12% marks the highest share of play, with women leading the pack (aged 25 - 34)
- Over the next 12 months a 7% increase is expected (from 1,174,049 to 1,253,740 Bushwalking participants)
- 6% of all participants are paying, with an average annual spend of $838, and nationally $52.9 million annually.
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Great job by the Support Volunteers
9 August 2019
Hard working support volunteers, preparing a new supply of timber posts for the Track.Thank you to the Bibbulmun Track Foundation Support Volunteers who spent three days at Dwellingup cutting, chamfering and painting Track marker posts.
Thanks to Parks and Wildlife Dwellingup we now have a storage area at Dwellingup for the new Track marker posts. There is still more work to do painting/chamfering all the posts, which the Foundations Support Volunteers will complete.
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Website links
8 August 2019
Please be aware that some of the page content links on our website are currently not working. We have our web guys working on it and are hoping it will be fixed soon.
You can still access the site and all pages but you may have to google some directly from within another area where required.
If you get really stuck, please contact us.
Thank you for your patience.
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Carolyn Riordan and Penni Ellis are walking the Bibbulmun Track to raise awareness on lung cancer.
5 July 2019
Despite being a non-smoker, Carolyn Riordan, daughter of one of the Track’s founders, Peter Hewett, has lung cancer. In a tribute to their Dad's legacy, Carolyn and her sister, Penni Ellis, are walking the Bibbulmun Track to raise awareness that 10 to 15% of people who contract the disease have never smoked.
On Mother’s Day weekend last year Carolyn was given the devastating news. She had lung cancer - Australia’s biggest cancer killer - and it had spread to her bones and brain. She joined a campaign to remind medics, as well as the public, that one in three women and one in ten men diagnosed with the illness have never smoked and that more funding is needed for research.
Penni and Carolyn chose to walk the Bibbulmun Track as a fitting tribute to their father, the late Peter Hewett who worked in the Forests Department back in 1972. He was part of the enthusiastic planning team who designed on paper a Lancelin-to-Albany walk, via the Leeuwin-Naturaliste ridge, but in ensuing months it was realised this was unrealistic, and this proposition was abandoned in favour of a shorter Kalamunda to Northcliffe proposal. It was at this time that the name Bibbulmun Track was adopted and the first alignment of the Track was marked on the ground in March 1974.
Peter Hewett and Geoff Schafer at the 10th Anniversary celebrations in 2008
"Remembering our Dad, Peter Hewett, today and his wonderful contribution to the creation of the Bibbulmun Track. He was a man of many hats but his favourite was probably his hard hat."Carolyn is walking the Track in three parts. The first stage kicked off in Albany on the 13th April. The second stage started in June and the third stage will be in October 2019.
Day 14: Mt Clare (Shedley Drive) to Mandalay BeachThree of her four daughters, Courtney, 26, Brittany, 24, Gabrielle, 22, and Elyse, 16, will join her on the walk. “I do have a partially collapsed lung where the main tumour is. Hills present a big challenge for me,” she said.
"Our Dad, Peter Hewett, is with us every step of the way. We have our scout/guide toggles on our backpacks in honour of Dad and his old Forest Department compass helping guide our journey — in Northcliffe, Western Australia."Carolyn and her sister Penni arrived at Harvey-Quindanning Rd having left Yourdamung Campsite for their 20th day on the Track.
To support Carolyn's efforts please donate today, via: https://bit.ly/2ZDQ1DX .
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