8 Weeks on the Trail. The Bibulmun Track, Western Australia
The Bibulman Track, Western Australia
The Bibulman Track (affectionately known as the Bib Track) is a world renowned long distance bushwalk located in the South West of Western Australia. It runs approximately 1000km from the east of Perth (Kalamunda) through to Albany covering some of the best natural scenes Western Australia has to offer. The track was officially opened in 1979 (although it was being used by walkers throughout the 70′s) and was named after the native people from the Perth area, the Bibbulmun people.
Although many people walk sections of the track a few days at a time, if you walk the whole thing in one go you can expect it to take you 6 to 8 weeks (depending on how hard you wish to go). During this time you will cover all sorts of terrain including the Jarrah forests of the Darling Range, Karri forest, coastal forest, scrub and sandy coastal beaches. You’ll also pass through a number of quaint towns including Dwellingup, Collie, Pemberton, Walpole (where you’ll see the giant Tingle trees), Demark and a few even smaller towns than these.
It is possible to walk the Bibulman track anytime between March to December, the best time to walk it is between September and November (Spring). It is during these months that you will catch the wildflower season (go from north to south as the blooming season is later in the south). Not surprisingly, the summer months can get extremely hot and winter can be very wet.
Apart from all the beautiful flora, you’ll probably come across some native animals. In the warmer months you’ll be sure to stumble across some snakes (expecially Tiger Snakes near water, which are known to be aggressive and poisonous so dont try to play with them! If you do come across one, stay calm and move around it, slowly. You can use a stick to keep distance just in case but do not threaten it. It most likely will not attack unless threatened and/or provoked). Kangaroos are quite common as are the rare white tail Cockatoos which will follow you squaking until you are out of their territory. If you are lucky you may also spot some of the more timid marsupials and perhaps even a quokka which are widely thought to only be found on Rottnest, an island off the coast of Perth. The best time to spot the marsupials
are and dawn and dusk, and as many hunters know, you must be very quiet and if you have to move, do it slowly, very slowly.
After walking for a few days you will start to get into a routine. It will probably go something like this. Wake up to the birds, do your morning thing (breakfast, pack your gear etc), walk, have morning tea, walk, eat lunch, walk, arrive at the campsite, have afternoon tea, relax, eat dinner, relax, have supper, relax, go to sleep. Every 4-9 days you will come across some sort of town or at leat a shop where you can resupply on food and perhaps bed down in a hotel or something if you choose. The rest of the time you will be carrying all your food and at least 2 liters of water on your back between campsites. Most campsites have purpose built shelters consisting of 3 walls, a roof and a raised wooden platform to lay your sleeping mat on. They also have water tanks and a ‘drop dunny’ (a wooden box toilet which is basically a very deep hole in the ground and some type of toilet bowl on top. The smell is usually not pleasant). You need to bring your own fuel powered cooking source eg a trangia and don’t expect a shower or kitchen utensils. Of course, many of the huts have resident ‘pests’ which have gotten used to the humans and use them as an easy food source. It is advised to bring an alternative shelter eg a tent just in case a tree falls on a hut, there’s a bushfire, there are too many people in the shelter (especially on weekends) or for anything else that may occur.
Arguably, one of the best things about trekking is the Bibulman track community. There is track gossip. You will hear stories and updates on people whom you’ll probably never meet (unless you catch up to them) and will probably follow groups via the camp log journals. You are also sure to come across some interesting characters such as Steve, the stereotypical aussie who walked in stubbies (really short stubbies) and carried a bottle of port with him (it’s actually quite surprising how many people carry alcohol on the track). Some people are there to do the track as fast as possible and literally run the whole thing in just over 20 days. You may come organised groups out for just a few days or lone rangers who have decided to just live at one of the huts for an undetermined amount of time. If your lucky, it just may happen that you’ll end up walking at the same pace as a person or a group and will become good friends. Of course the pace you choose to walk often depends on who you meet. You may decide to stay another night or walk a bit faster depending on who you choose to keep company with.
It’s no doubt that people decide to walk the Bibulmum Track for a great variety of reasons. Whatever the reasons are, there is definitely a lot of time to ponder. At times it may be hard and you may get fed up with it all or feel like you can’t go on. If this ever happens, just remember these words once told to me by a very wise and experienced bushwalker:
“Bushwalking is nothing more than a series of short walks in between meals” Tom Shackles
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