Bibbulmun track - 2nd section - Dwellingup to Collie

Section length - 81.2 miles

Day 1 - Dwellingup to Murray campsite - 23.8 miles (diversion added over 2 miles)
Day 2 - Murray to Dookanelly replacement campsite - 9.6 miles
Day 3 - Dookanelly replacement to Possum-Springs - 15 miles
Day 4 - Possum springs to Harris Dam - 21.2 miles
Day 5 - Harris Dam to Collie - 14.5 miles

We left Dwellingup a little bit more refreshed and feeling clean for once. The donger (australian slang for a very basic cabin), we stayed in was nice enough but we were kept up a tad by the septogenarians in the donger next door that didn't think that 8pm meant bed time. We've started getting up with the light at 5am to avoid some of the heat of the day, this means by nightfall at 8pm we're zonked.

Due to some diversions and closed shelters for planned bush burning we knew the first day would be long. What we didn't expect was to walk through some sections that were still very much on fire! Having a wilderness fire fighter around on this trip has been surprisingly useful and very insightful.

We finally got to the Murray campsite about 4pm and enjoyed a dip in the river. The presence of the river the past few days has meant a gradual change in scenery from burnt out bush to more lush plants that grow more quickly - consequently we've done more bush bashing. A couple of shorter days has given us time to relax in the afternoons - Callan has spent this reading in his tent bubble as he's afraid of flies. It also allowed a competition between us and our travelling companions seeing who can kill the most March flies - the Aussie won hands down as his odour seemed to lure them in.

A final day of easy walking with lots of wildflowers and some cool lizards ( blue tongued skinks to be exact) let us to the mining town of Collie. Practically a metropolis by track standards it has more than one supermarket and several places to eat. Given the luxury of choice, we still just wanted a burger at the pub. Unfortunately we were informed by our hiking friends that it had turned a bit sleazy at 6pm with the barmaid now only wearing lingerie. Deciding against this we opted for familiarity with a dominos takeaway.  Knowing we had a short day the day after we had a leisurely morning and explored the fake coal mine in the visitor centre. One of the most impressive things is the size of modern machinery, they had a massive digger with 4 ton bucket on it. Newer ones can haul 60 tons per shovel.