Bibbulmun track - 4th section - Balingup to Donnelly River Village

I want you to imagine a long, sandy beach. A thousand miles of beach, and then count every single grain of sand on that beach, and on the sea floor, and everywehre else on the planet. That is how many jarrah trees is feels like we have seen over the past 400km. You can imagine our excitement, therefore, when we were at last presented with something a little different - the mighty karri tree.

These are massive. There is no other word for it. Ramrod straight and up to 90 metres tall - more than double the tallest trees we've seen so far. And yes, you can tell you've been on the trail a while when you get this worked up about new trees. Still. They're awesome.

Callan and a Karri tree

Donnelly River VIllage is a pretty surreal place. There is a level of tame wildlife which is almost eerie following the occasional brief glimpses of stuff out in the bush. There are emu chicks here, which are adorable, and adult emus wandering about, which are basically modern-day dinosaurs. I am sat writing this on a picnic bench with a gigantic emu watching me from the other side of the table. It's quite distracting, if I'm honest. It is big and actually kind of intimidating. Seems content to just watch though. And growl, occasionally, in the same manner a T-rex might. I mean, look at those feet.

Donnelly River Village otherwise has a general store selling surprisingly little (but which does do milkshakes and hot food) and not much of anything else. We've run into our old walking crew who we got left behind by before Balingup and have had a quick catchup with them, and will be meeting my (Callan's) dad who is going to walk with us for the next few days. We've rented a holiday cottage for the night instead of staying in the tent (seems nicer what with the jetlagged father and all) and will head out tomorrow on an even-shorter-than-planned day due to a diversion in place. Will be planning some serious tree-oogling tomorrow.

PS - for anyone planning to do the walk, there is a very nice camping area between the last shelter and Donnelly River Village. No water, but fire pits and gorgeous surrounds. Of note.

Bibbulmun Track - Arrival

So we decided to walk the Bibbulmun track - a walk we’d never heard of just a few weeks before. 600 miles from Perth to Albany across the bush of Western Australia. A mixture of things drew us to it - being on the right side of the equator to mean that is was in condition, long enough to be a challenge and really well set up with free shelters to stay in on the way.

Flights booked a few weeks beforehand, we only ended up having 48 hours to prepare for the trail after returning from a trip to Holland. As well as packing for Australia we also needed to cram in lots of loads of washing, a job interview, arranging a wedding caterer and dropping the Puff (our cat) off with L+J for a few months.

The flights were as you might expect - reasonable food and movies given it was Emirates but no real opportunity to sleep. Arriving in Perth at 1am we promptly lapsed into unconsciousness, only to wake into the daze of seven hours of jetlag. Having eventually dragged ourselves out we then spent a day in Perth - a mixture of sightseeing and picking up necessary bits and bobs. King's Park botanical gardens were great and the ridge on which they were bad provides a lovely view over the city. We caught our first glimpses of Australian wildlife in the raucous, rainbow-feathered parrots. Back down in the city centre, the old courthouse museum revealed a little of the (occasionally dubious) history of Australia, including amongst the difficulties of settling the land some gems about enslaving British children and Aboriginies. A colorful past, to be sure.*

We managed to find everthing we needed in Perth: a snake bite bandage for the inevitable venomous predators we are sure to encounter, camping gas and we then popped into Woolworth's (Australian supermarket, not failed British newsagents) for enough food for the next 8 days. Unfortunately the first section of the trail is the longest without resupply so backpacks started out the heaviest they were ever going to be whilst we were least used to getting them (just imagine planning and them carrying your next 24 meals with you!). It also took us a lot of time to decide what to buy with new Australian food on offer (Timtams: yes, vegemite: no). Just a short journey by bus to Kalamunda the next day to start the trail.

*not that British history of the period is a cauldron of loveliness either, mind.