The Bibbulmuntrack (named after the Bibbulmun-Aboriginals who lived in this area)

    

A "Long Distance Walk" in Western Australia, which becomes more and more famous.

 

The trail leads from Albany to Perth or from Perth to Albany and is almost 1000 km long.

 The walk is clearly signposted with the "Waugul "

Every 15 to approx. 20 km, there is a campsite with a 3-sided timber shelter, sit-down pit toilet, rainwater tank, picnic table and tent site area. On average, once a week one reaches a small town where it is possible to stock up food and other supplies.

Hanspeter and I started the walk on the 6th of February 2004 in Albany( South Coast). Almost 2 month later, on the 28th of March, we reached Kalamunda in the Perth hills after 965 km.

The first part of the walk was along the coast, over sand dunes, steep rocky cliffs and along the beach. Often we walked through bushes and shrubs some of them still blooming. The best time of the year for wild flowers is certainly the Australian spring starting in September. The huts in this area were always situated on places with a beautiful view and the sunset and sunrise over the sea were a wonderful sight.

 

We also had to wade through inlets or cross them by canoe. Once or twice we went for a swim in the sea but the water was quite cold and the sea rough and unpredictable.

Further north the track left the coast and we entered the big forests with mostly Eucalyptus trees, with trunk circumferences up to 16 meters. In this area you also find the “Tree Top Walk” where you can walk over a narrow steel bridge from the ground up to the top of the tree. From up there, the area looks like a huge sea of different shades of green. From Walpole to Pemberton there was usually still water in the rivers. The temperature was pleasant for walking but at night it often got very cold, too cold for our tropical sleeping-bags. At some nights the temperature fell below 10 degrees and the lowest temperature was only just 2.1 degrees. When it was so cold, we only slept for a short time and got up very early in the morning to light a fire.

Continuing going north, the area changed again. The forest became lighter the trees smaller and the rivers were dry. Some sections had also been badly affected by bushfires but we were both surprised how fast nature is able to recover. Some of the Australian plants even need a fire to be able to release the seeds.

On the whole track we didn’t meet many other walkers and so we usually had the huts for ourselves. Most people walk the track during springtime when the wild flowers are blooming. In this time of the year, it can happen that there is no more space in the hut and you have to sleep in your tent.

For drinking we always used the water from the rainwater tank and apart from once it was always of best quality. With food it was a bit tricky. We didn’t want to carry too much weight so we usually cooked 2-minute-noodles on our lightweight methylated spirit burner. During the day we just ate dried fruit, nuts, chips and chocolate. An isotonic instant beverage and a protein powder supplied us with the energy we needed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The highlights of the whole walk were certainly the fascinating scenery and the great variety of animals and plants. We saw flowers and trees we haven’t seen before, seeds in special shapes and insects that sometimes looked like from another planet. Of course there were also the bigger animals like kangaroos, emus, snakes, parrots and goanas which are famous for Australia.

We’ll never forget the positive experiences like the seclusion, the peacefulness and the unbelievable beautiful places where we spent the nights. Whenever possible we slept under the stars. A big enrichment were also all the interesting people we met during the walk or in the different places along the track.

There were also some rather negative experiences like the cold nights, the sacrifices we had to make concerning the food and of course the physical pain, especially the blisters.

After almost two month we arrived in Perth and had a warm welcome from our friends. Anita, Katrin, Marietta, Marc, Bob and Dawn surprised us with a welcome-party. After all these 2-minute-noodles it was great to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables again.

After the walk we spent 10 days in Perth, one of the most beautiful towns in Australia. We enjoyed it to be back in civilisation but in some nights, when we laid in our hotel beds, we thought back melancholy to the nights under the stars.

Before the walk, while we where shopping for our camping gear, we saw a saying on a board in one of the shops.

It said:    …….Why settle for five stars if you can sleep under millions……

After all we experienced in this two months this is certainly true for us.

 

And below you will find the links to the different pictures  I took along our “Walk of Life”

 

Scenery along the track

Animals along the track

Nature along the track

On the way

Accomodation

Various impressions along the track

Trip Brisbane to Perth by car and time in Perth

 

Different links to Australia

 

The Bibbulmun Track foundation              

Mundabiddi Trail the counterpart to the walk but by mountain bike

about Perth

Swiss family in Perth

Swiss family in Western Australia