Walking The Bibbulmun Track at 71

Prelude

There are heaps of blogs and articles about the Bibbulmun Track loaded with advice and experiences. This is just one more for friends and family. If you somehow land here, feel free to peruse. Maybe I cover some topic not addressed elsewhere. The Table of Contents is below where you can selectively pick what you want to read.

Introduction

The "Bibb" is a 1000Km walk from Kalamunda to Albany in Western Australia .. or the other way around if you walk northbound!. My name is Brendan and I completed the walk at age 71 between mid Sept and the end of Oct 2025.

The official Bibbulmun website is here: Bibbulmun Track Foundation Go there please for the latest info, track condition, diversions etc

Also, on behalf of myself and Eoghan and all the other hikers out there, a huge thanks for all the hard work maintaining the track. I gave a donation to the Foundation when I got back, and I encourage others who can to do the same! .

This map shows where the walk is in Australia and its rambling route through the regional town in the South West. (click for hi res version and pan and zoom for specific details).

You can scroll through the whole blog or if you prefer just click on whatever topic you like in the contents below. The topics are in no logical order.

Of course I took a lot of pics along the way, and these comprise the main content.

The pics displayed are Low-Res for faster loading, but you can click on them to get the Hi-Res version and from there zoom in and pan about to see details... very useful for seeing the snakes up close!

Also if you prefer dark mode (white text on black background) then click on the moon symbol top right.

I hope you like it.!

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Table of Contents

1. Motivation
2. Regional Towns and Townships
3. Wild Flowers
4. Rivers and Bridges
5. Coastal Areas
6. Snakes
7. Huts and Campsites
8. Food Planning
9. Social Dynamics and Hut Etiquette
10. Forests and Hills
11. Odds and Ends
12. Walking in Water
13. Equipment Planning
14. Navigation Communication Emergencies
15. Things to be Wary of

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Motivation

For me, I just liked the idea of a sustained challenge. My son Eoghan 32, completed the walk in April 2025 in 33 days. I accompanied him on his training walks including a few overnighters in Bibb huts and it clicked with me. I decided I would make the walk in April 2026, but I was already fit and motivated and instead decided to go for it in Sept 2025. This was a great decision and I'll explain that later.

There are lots of walkers out there. I estimated about 250 on the track at any time while I was there ...60 or so huts with an average occupancy of 4 hikers. Maybe a few more than that though because there are lots of people out there doing day hikes especially near the towns. Most are sociable and a common topic is why we are out there. Here are some of the reasons that were mentioned.

• To loose weight ...yep that works 100%! You will have a 1000 Cal/day deficit while out there
• To find myself ... time to reflect on life values and purpose
• To get away from it all ... a break from the constant stresses of modern life
• For a sustained physical and mental challenge ... that's me!
• A once in a lifetime family experience ...a couple and their 8 and 12 year old boys I walked with for a few days (amazing!)
• That's what I do, I'm a hiker! ... lots of local, interstate and overseas visitors.
• I'm between jobs or have long service leave ... what to do???
• Tick off a bucket list item.
• Doing it for charity ... probably doing it for other reasons but doing some good for others as well.

One reason NOT mentioned was "To enjoy myself by walking 22Km with a 16Kg pack every day for 42 days"!

Motivation WILL run thin occasionally. You WILL feel tired, get several minor injuries and get sick. I'm not sure if I coined this or not:

I also like these quotes from a famous Irish writer JP Dunleavy.

And as if you did not anticipate.....

Expect to be challenged physically and mentally. I injured a knee, taped it up and dragged it behind me for 10 days until it healed. I then pulled a hamstring, taped that up and another 10 days of limping. Limping means slower walking that's all and I knew from a sporting past that these injuries were not critical.

Blisters are inevitable at some point and yes you can carry on with quite bad blisters. The best treatment is Fixomull tape. The jury is still out on whether to burst or not. If you burst apply some iodine and then the Fixomull on top.

One or two other hikers got sick or injured, went off track for a few days to get treatment and then resume. That's a more sane approach and to be recommended!

I made sure I finished by telling absolutely everyone I knew that I was going. For me that means there is only two ways off the track; via the Albany Southern Terminus or in a helicopter. So no wimping out!

Its helpful to know that the mind weakens long before the body.

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Regional Towns and Townships

Zoom in on the map to see the and overview of the route. There are 2 additional places in that you need to know about - see the list below.

In general, all the places listed are "Bibb friendly", meaning that hey are used to seeing sweaty hikers and provide services like selling hiker food and providing budget accommodation.

You are encourage to register your name in the visitor centers' Bibb log for tracking and safety reasons.

• Kalamunda

  • The Northern Terminus
    Bibbulmun Northern Terminus at Kalamunda
  • Register here - sign the log book to start or finish
  • Are you a SOBO or NOBO? .. South Bound/North Bound

• Bussel Highway Intersection

  • Just a road crossing - but a good place for a food drop

• Albany Highway Intersection

  • Just a road crossing - but a good place for a food drop

• Dwellingup

  • Nice forest town.
  • Visitor Center
    Dwellinyup Visitor Centre
  • General Store
  • Campsite and B+B accommodation
  • Hotel/Pub for parmi or steak

• Collie

  • You have to divert a Km or 2 to go into the town - everyone does it
  • Busy Mining Town.
  • Visitor Center
  • Supermarkets
  • B+B or Hotel accommodation or an official Bibb hut I believe
  • Hotel/Pub for parmi or steak

• Balinyup

  • Lovely "hippy" village with a bit of history
  • Relaxed place with many visitors and great hamburgers
  • Visitor Center
    Balingup Visitor Centre
  • General Store
  • B+B options and the owner will drive you if its out of town a bit - or up a long hill!.
  • Campsite option that no one seems to like - buy hey its cheap!
  • Have a hamburger in the center of town

• Donnelly River
  • A holiday village with a roo and emu walking zoo and no phone coverage
  • Visitor Center / General Store
  • Hiker rooms with a bed. Cheap BUT the beds are kids bunks and there are 6 to 8 to a small room. How bad do you want a bed?
  • Hikers Hut to roll out sleeping bag, with access to hot shower and kitchen. Cheap
  • Its a nice relaxing place to hang for a day
• Pemberton
  • Medium forest/agricultural town with lots of history
  • Stay at the Hotel/Motel if you can to be central and access to everything
  • Visitor center, post office, chemist (bandages/prescriptions)
• Northcliffe
  • Small flat spacey town - probably ex logging
  • Poor phone coverage but can get high speed Wifi for "a dollar" at the Visitor Center
  • General Store
  • Visitor Center
  • Good Hotel/Pub/Motel that's good but a little pricier than other places (still recommended though!)
• Walpole
  • Small coastal town - marginally touristy
  • Its on an inlet where you can swim, but you have a walk a way, and its not inviting
  • Supermarket
  • Visitor Center
  • Good Hotel/Pub/Motel that also has a cheap shared room for hikers if you opt for that.
• Peaceful Bay
  • A beachside delux campsite
  • Cafe/shop/visitor book as you image for a campsite
    Peaceful Bay Beach
  • Most hikers stay here and also have the fish and chips
  • If its raining (as was with me) they let you "roll out" in the campers kitchen after dark
• Denmark
  • A country in Scandinavia ... no no I meant a beautiful little coastal tourist town
  • Plenty accommodation options including a hiker only one that's good
  • Visitor center, shops etc all available
  • Often the track across the inlet is too deep so you need to find a driver to take you around
  • Book accommodation from a place that will drive you - there are NO taxis. Expect to pay $50+
  • The campsite out of town is work a mention buts its maybe 2Km walk if your into it.

• Albany
  • Southern Terminus at the Visitor Center
  • They ring a bell and make a fuss if you finish an end-to-end. Nice touch.

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Wild Flowers

If you read the intro I said it was a good decision to walk in Sept-Oct. This is Spring in Australia and in WA that means a hug abundance of wild flowers. Abundance meaning huge numbers, varieties and colour. If you walk in Autumn or Winter - THERE ARE NO FLOWERS.

Nothing more to say except show a few of the pics I took along the way. I hope none of these are weeds!

Oh BTW, I met an orchid tragic with his enormous camera/lens on the section outside Northciffe and heading into the Pingerup Plains - a swampy and wet section of the track - but still a walkable! He had photographed literally 100's of orchid species. The average punter might spot 3 or 4 species and that with a bit of help!

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Rivers and Bridges

If you do the walk in Winter or Spring, most of the many rivers and streams and waterfalls will be in full flow. Probably, more passable in Spring though if its been a wet Winter. I smugly went in Spring and got the best of it. There are all dry riverbeds in Summer and Autumn so don't expect to see much water - except at he ocean inlets:

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Coastal Areas

If you do the track southbound, you will first see the ocean an hour or two after leaving the Woolbales hut. After that its pretty much all cliff walks, beach walks and through the dunes. This can be heavy going at times and you may have to navigate a few inlets. Either walk around on the busy public roads (no one does that), drive around them wade through them, or in one case you have to canoe across. That's a bit different so be prepared for it!

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Snakes

Hikers love their snake stories, and you will hear about pythons in the huts and angry tiger snakes blocking the way for hours. Take it all with a grain of salt but don't dismiss entirely. There is one (harmless) python that lives in one hut - but I never saw it. 95% of snakes out there are dugites, still very poisonous, but TIGER SNAKE sounds better right?

You will see snakes - especially when the weather is warm and they come out to warm themselves. Mostly they see you first and are gone before you can reach your camera. A few times they are lazy and don't move so you get a pic. I saw about 12 snakes mostly in the sand dunes, but contrary to all the insistence that they will run away, two of them refused to move. These were older large dugites (confirmed by expert) that obviously had seen many hikers before and were not afraid. I had to tippy toe past them whispering "please don't bite me". I live to tell the tale!

It is possible to get bitten, but its very rare and generally happens to people who are running, are surprise the animal, and also probably not wearing gaiters. You need to get used to looking 10 meters ahead for possible dangers, including slippery bits, jagged rocks and snakes. If see a snake your DNA will take over and you will take a step back and freeze. If that all fails and snake strikes, its best to have gaiters on ... protective leggings that prevent the snake from puncturing the skin. Most hikers, but by no means all, wore gaiters. They help keep sand and water out of your boots also. If look at some of my photos throughout the blog you will see me wearing the said gaiters. Very light, no discomfort and some peace of mind.

Here are my few snake pics. You may need to do a "where's Wally" and zoom in and pan about to find them!

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Huts and Campsites

There are approximately 60 Bibbulmun huts along the way. The distance between huts can vary from 10km to a max of 22Km. Obviously if you want to complete the track in 30 days or 40 days or whatever you will be doing a lot of "double hutting", meaning skipping some huts and having longer walks on this days. The most leisurely and comfortable is to stay at every hut and this is what many hikers do. You will also have more time to take in the ambiance and the scenery.

If you are double hutting for a faster end-to-end walk you need to plan this carefully, but also be prepared to adjust. Huts are closest together outs both Albany and Kalamunda but in the middle sections many are 20Km apart, and a 40K day is very strenuous by anybody's standard. Here was my schedule for my 43 night walk. Towns are in green, sites I stayed at are in orange and sites I skipped are in green. The numbers opposite each site are the distance in Km from the previous site.

The huts themselves come in 3 designs, different yet all the same! The older huts are smaller in footprint but have 2 bunk levels. Newer huts have a single level and the newest ones are also single level but the floor is L shaped. Apart from one, all huts are open to the weather - bus shelter style - but carefully situated to avoid rain getting in and to get maximum shelter from the wind. Typical sleeping capacity is 12 hikers. There are exceptions, the most notable is Mt Helena, a large double level hut that can accommodate 40 hikers.

The huts are clean and well maintained and all have large water tanks filled with rainwater. This is the only water available on track so you need to fill up. A common error is to double hut and forget to refill at the skipped huts. There is also a "dunny" (a small shed with a lockable door and a toilet bowl on top of a large hole in the ground) at each site. Most don't smell that bad, but don't gets your hopes up! Some of the more recent dunnies are "super delux", larger in size with hooks for clothes and dare I say it suitable for wheelchair access - but that makes no sense right! Anyhow these are great to change cloths and sponge down in privacy.

There are no beds or bunks, just a large wooden platform where you lay out your mattress and sleeping bag. Having 12 or more hikers in a hut can be quite an experience, and you can expect a cacophony of snoring and other noises, people tossing and turning on squeaky mattresses and getting up to pee.

You have three options for sleeping. Roll out in the hut is the most common. If there are just a few hikers you can erect your tent inside the hut, and that is good for privacy and keeping the mosquitoes off. Finally there are up to 10 small campsites around each hut where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the hut and all its noises. The latter is the what most couples travelling together do. Single walkers can chop and change, as I did and the choice is often dictated by weather, or more commonly how many hikers show up. I had 3 nights on my own and maybe another 3 nights with more than 12 hikers, but the average was sharing with 4-5 hikers at most sites.

Obviously, sharing with strangers is a situation where various social dynamics can arise. This is worth noting and I covered this topic under another heading.

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Food Planning

The simple truth is you cant carry heavy food like bread and cheese and of course nothing perishable unless you eat it on the day. You need to plan what to eat every meal of every day, meaning your rations.

The second truths is that you burn a lot of energy and eat less food than normal you loosing weight is inevitable. I think 1000 Cal per day deficit is normal and well as loosing about 100-200g per day in bodyweight. That translated to about 6Kg loss over 43 days. Many people loose more than that.

Here was my regime: Breakfast: 3 Weetbix dunked in coffee! Lunch: Wrap with Tuna and maybe soup if stopping at a hut Dinner: Dried meal like "Roast Lamb and Vegetable" -- dried meals are fairly disgusting at first! Snacks: Delux Trail mix I made up myself, Biltong, nuts. Other: Cuppa Soup, Dried potato (Deb in Australia), Tuna and Rice tubs ... all surprisingly good

You can buy packs of 10 coffee sachets that are great and save you carrying separate powered milk. I emptied them into a single zip lock bag and spooned it out as needed. Saves weight, space and avoids rubbish.

Zip lock bags are your friend so bring some spares. Put salt and powdered spices in them to stay dry.

It goes without saying that of you're double hutting, you can carry less food because you get to the next town in less days. I never carried more than 6 days food - but this was the limit for my pack size. If you are single hutting then you may need to carry more days food or if not try to arrange a food drop if that's possible. The stretch to from Kalamunda to Dwellinyup is worth looking at closely as is the stretch between Northcliffe and Walpole, both requiring more than usual food days.

Of course, when you go into towns, you can eat what and how much you like. Also factor in a big breakfast in the morning before heading off, and make some chicken avo sandwiches for lunch and maybe dinner that day. So you don't need a dried meal the day you arrive in a town and you don't need dried food the next day either.

Best to plan it all in a spreadsheet.

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Social Dynamics and Hut Etiquette

The hikers you meet on the track will come from all walks of life. Unlike most social situations where we know and choose who we want to spend time with, on the track you will be sharing accommodation with whoever else shows up.

Everyone you meet while out walking will stop briefly for a chat. The most intensive and interesting conversations are with those coming from the opposite direction. What do I need to look our for ahead? How high is the water in the Plains? How steep is the climb? Can I walk through the diversion? etc etc. The fact is that these walkers are the best and most reliable source of up to the minute information about the sights, dangers and challenges ahead.

The trouble happens around the huts, where people have wildly different ideas about hut etiquette. This means some people won't like what you are doing and other people do stuff that might irritate you! Most people adjust their expectations quickly for the sake of harmony. Others will can get bossy, or angry, bossing, and may escalate if you don't comply! Thankfully that's rare but it does happen. What annoys people most includes snoring, walking on the sleeping platform with your king boots on, washing your teeth in public, setting up tent inside the hut, flashing lights in the hut at night, wearing no shirt in the hut.

My own take is that the huts are communal spaces for use by everyone. If you can't handle the deviations from perfect behavior, then there are plenty of tent sites to get away from it all.

Some people counter that if you know you snore, then you should use a tent and not sleep in the hut and disturb others. Pragmatically, if you take this view to heart your trip will be unhappy because people use the huts and snore like crazy and do all the other "bad" (but inconsequential) things also. And you can do nothing about it.

Here's the rub. All huts have a placard with the hut etiquette that matters.

• Don't light fires out of season.
• Clean the hut when you leave.
• Take your rubbish away.
• Don't leave food scraps that are both bad for the native wildlife and attract rodents.
• Use water sparingly and for drinking only.

Personally I slept a lot in the huts and managed a good nights sleep, snoring or not. I don't remember getting rattled with what others did ... except on one occasion. Two ladies in the sixties arrived at dusk into Woodbale Hut. They were chatty at dinner time and we talked about golf as a common interest. We all retired to our sleeping bags in our respective corners of the hut. At 3:30AM a very loud radio voice "emergency! But don't worry, Andrew is safe". By loud I mean scaring any animal with 200m! Then silence, then it continued. It was an e-book being played at full volume. My first thought was one of the ladies couldn't sleep, put the book on and didn't realize here earphone were not in. I shouted "put your earphones in". No reaction. I jumped on the wooden floor. No reaction. I dropped a large food box on the floor. No reaction except one of the ladies woke up, looked at me and turned over. Now I could have touched one of the women to wake them, but that's just a bad idea! The noise stopped an hour later. In the morning I asked the women what's up and they said they were both profoundly deaf and take their aids out at night. Apparently the e-book player started by accident and neither of them heard a thing.

In another incident, things came close to fisticuffs when one guy snored all night and the other could not sleep.

Another dimension of hut etiquette is sharing. Food is rarely shared because every hiker packs the bare minimum to survive. Sure, a hot topic is what everyone is having for dinner, but sharing no, apart from a few nuts or a bit of chocolate. Other things like bandages, use of scissors, anti-inflammatory cream, headache pills etc are routinely shared.

Most hikers prefer to walk alone also, because no two people walk at the same pace and we all like to stop and start as we want. "See you at the next hut" is the best way. Hikers need to be responsible for themselves and not have to worry about another hiker who had fallen behind. (not applicable to life partners who need to resolve their own dynamics obviously, but you hear them "discussing" these very topics).

You can find yourself trapped with people for days, walking the same direction between the same huts. To escape, you can hang back a day at a hut - a zero day, or do the opposite and double hut. Many people use the towns for a rest and stay 2 nights. Going ahead and never looking back is best. Not that anyone is so awful, but you're out there to enjoy yourself and not having to deal with petty domestic baggage!

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Forests and Hills

There is a LOT of walking through forests, both in the Northern sections and around Pemberton. There are also many nice hills and valleys. Here is a selection of photos.

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Odds and Ends

A random selection of other photos that bring back memories.

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Walking in Water

WA has a great climate, but from time to time it can rain very heavily and sustained periods. By this I mean a few hours. When that happens the track can become wet with frequent puddles, some ankle deep or above. What's worse is that if happen to be on a steep incline you be faced with a small river. This happened to me after crossing the Albany Highway heading South. Your boots will become sodden and that is when blisters are common.

The Pingerup Plains has several stretches of up to 300m where you are wading through knee high water. Some people do this barefoot. Others carry a pair of crocs or other water friendly shoes that double as campsite shoes. I have seen people walk these in their boots, but boots take a long time to dry out and setting out the next day with wet feet is no fun.

There are several inlets, along the coastal areas where a body of inland waterflows into the sea. This usually means a stream or a river crossing the beach that you have to navigate. Some of these inlets are closed and one you get to canoe across. Occasionally a normally wadable inlet is opened up by bulldozer if the local water table is getting too high. In these cases they will show a diversion, but many hikers will still cross carefully in chest high water that can be flowing. In these cases it helps a lot of you meet a hiker coming from the other direction who has already crossed and you can gauge from there. If in doubt you can wade in first without your bag in your shorts to test the water. In any case the general advise is either carry your pack or unloosen the straps in case you fall over.

The takeaway is don't expect you feet to stay dry forever. However its all part of the adventure and fun.

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Equipment Planning

Everything you take with you becomes your burden to carry! There is a list of essentials though and they should be chosen to be a light as possible. This can be compromise because the cost of many its goes up exponentially the lighter they get. Here is my list with some comments:

My base weight was about 10Kg rising to 17Kg with water, and food for 5 days. This achievable with a small budget if you're careful, but I admit I ordered a few things twice when the first delivery was not quite right.

• 53Ltr Backpack ... Next time I would go for 60Ltr
• 15Ltr Frontpack ... not for everyone but I found great for carrying water and easy access to phone and snacks
• 1.1 Ltr water bottle .. I used tonic water bottles - very light
• Tent ... one man free standing tent that can be erected in the hut if you wanted.
• Mattress ... Bag inflated, rating 5 thermal
• Sleeping Bag ... I had a lightweight down bag that my son had used earlier on his trip
• Ground Sheet ... Small, light; For under tent, or under mattress in the hut to help avoid splinter punctures
• Inflatable Pillow
• Hiking Poles ... I bought the cheapest pair and they worked great
• Cooker and gas ... Jetboil style - essential for coffee and instant soup
• Collapsible cup
• Collapsible plate small
• Bag of utility items - 2 bags actually
  • Penknife with scissors
  • Lighter + spare for Jetboil
  • Headlight
  • Tooth brush and toothpaste
  • Plastic fork/spoon
  • Carabiner + fishing line to suspend food bag at night to avoid rodents
  • Sunnies
  • Reading glasses
  • whistle ( for emergencies)
  • Lip balm
  • Vaseline (perfect for chaffing upper thighs)
  • Sun factor cream (small tube)
  • Fixumol - take a role - for blisters, cuts and bruises
  • Compression bandage - for swelling or snake bite)
  • Flyspray (Jettison this item)
  • Deodorant (Jettison this item)
  • Small bottle - 15ml - of Iodine (Betadine)
• GPS tracker
• Phone + chargers ... one charger for the towns and one battery based charger for the bush
• Boots ... I had a pair of Merryl wide fitting boots - were great ... I wore a thin pair of socks with woolen socks on top
• Gaiters ...light ones to keep out grit and sand and some bite protection.
• Thongs/Flip Flops ... for mouching around the hut and for wading - crocs are better though
• Bag Liners ... I used orange bin liners, cheap light and replaceable and keep your stuff dry
• Rubbish bag ... Dedicated plastic bag you have to carry
• Raingear ... Rain pants only that can double as an extra layer on cold nights. ... After a few drenchings, I jettisoned other rainwear and just got wet ... This works fine in our climate if you can keep your sleep stuff dry
• Cloths ... All in one plastic bag to stay dry ... Keeps some for sleeping and the rest you can use as layers on the track depending on how cold it is ... we try to avoid cotton because it retains sweat. Wool and synthetic are good.
  • Merino jumper
  • Merino top - long sleeves
  • Merino leggings
  • Light hat that is UV resistant and preferably wide brimmed
  • T-Shirt long sleeves
  • T-Shirt short sleeves
  • Shorts (1)
  • Wool gloves
  • Left and right golf gloves (my hands were getting ripped when walking!)
  • Beany for sleeping (keep it dry)
  • spare light socks x 2
  • spare thick socks x 1 ( This one used for sleeping)
  • spare underpants x 2

There's a lot of personal taste with what you carry. Most people love their hiking poles including (shoulder workout, balance etc) but not everyone. Fantastic on steep slopes up and down and they stop your hands swelling. A few people had front packs like me. Good for balance and accessibility, but I only got them because my main pack was too small. If you are travelling with a partner you can get away with sharing a few items and maybe add a few extra luxuries. The best way to refine your pack is to do a few trial overnights. eg walk from Kalamunda and Ball Creek Hut, stay overnight and walk back .You will soon find out what you forgot and what you can jettison!

If you're not double hutting you will be carrying more food between towns. That's factor to consider.

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Navigation Communication Emergencies

The track is well beaten and well signed posted with Waugals - the yellow triangles with the serpent. Zoom into the pic to see a Waugal and also an example of residual winter water still flowing on the track.

Still, you can easily get lost and most of us do just that from time to time. Walking past Waugals at junctions and turnoffs is surprisingly easy, if you are chatting or otherwise distracted - or the Waugal is missing or hiding behind a bush. On one occasion I walked for 2 Km in the wrong direction which added 4Km to the day. A good rule of thumb is if you dont see a Waugal for a Km you may well be off track. This is when you need your navigations aids. Many Waugals are fixed to rust-red posts as per the photo, but many are just nailed to trees well above your eyeline.

• There are several good phone apps - I used AllTrails - that will show you where your are on the track via the GPS. You can set them up to alarm if you go more than a few 100m off track. However, its best just to turn on your app when you think you need it because they are heavy on battery and even with a battery charger you are likely to run low.

• Bibbulmun Track Foundation publish a set of maps that you should buy. They are about $15 each. Rather than carry them all you can post them to the regional towns for the sections ahead and post back those no longer needed. These will be you definitive guide for planning your day and finding your way back to the the track is you stray.

• Another essential piece of kit is a GPS emergency beacon. These can be expensive, but the new Garmin devices will allow you not only to send emergency signals when out of phone coverage, but also connect to your phone via Bluetooth and allows you to send and receive txt messages from anywhere. Another advantage is you can program them to periodically send your GPS location, and this will be displayed on a website, if you want people to follow you progress. These devices are usually in standby mode so one battery may very well last then entire trip ... mine did at least.

The situations where you can get lost temporarily are:

• Coming off the beach and going into the dunes .. the track can be obscured with sand blowing in.
• On large rock surfaces on top of "mountains" .. the signs are often hard to find
• Heading onto the large towns .. the track can get moved around but the signs not
• On very wet days with low visibility .. your phone app wont work and it maps are hard to open.
• At junctions where the Waugal is not plain to see.

I got "lost" to some extent in all these situations and many others report the same. After a while though you develop an instinct and get suspicious quickly if things don't look right. If all else fails backtrack until you find a Waugal. I did this once or twice especially on very wet days. The reality is if you are super focusing all the time on not going off the track, that's just stressing and we are out there to enjoy ourselves.

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Things to be Wary of

The walk is largely safe and easy. The challenges come from steep slopes, wading through water, slippery and loose rock surfaces and bad weather, - hot or wet.

Its easy to fall and I fell over no less than 12 times! One two occasions I sustained a minor injury. First was walking on a rock surface where the rock look solid but parts are eroded underneath and give way if you step there. I went down fairly hard and sustained a lot of bruises around the hips and back. The other occasion one foot slipped down a steep slope next to the path and I stressed a few tendons. The rest were minor, tripping over rocks and loosing balance in the sand.

If you slip going upwards on a steep slope, its easy to bang your head and draw blood ... I did this on a training run. I fell off the sleeping platform in the hut and bloodied elbow ... also on a training run.

I waded through chest high flowing water on my own. I was more worried about getting my stuff wet than drowning.

I almost went over a few times on slippery rock surfaces in the wet.

I found the canoeing very difficult, because you are working with one paddle and there were strong unfavorable winds. The canoe felt like it was going to capsize also. I was super careful but it took 20 mins to get 300m! I think on calm days its easy!

Diversions are common on the track. Its a sort of dare for hikers to ignore them "to stay on the true track". Its best if you met someone who has already gone through the diversion to let you know its safe. Or ask a local. I walked through about 50% of the diversions and all were fine apart from more than usual junk on the trail - the diversions are not maintained - and in the case I already said where I ended up wading through shoulder high water.

There are wild pigs out there, especially in the coastal sections and you can see fresh dung. There are snakes out there also. You don't want to surprise either the snakes or the pigs so walk noisily if you see the signs.

Not scary, but there are rodents at some huts so you need to not leave food around or it will be gone. Most people put their food in a secure bag and hand it by fishing line from the hut rafters. I did this and had no problems. One lady left a chocolate bar in her jacket and was it was partially eaten in the morning. They can chew into your hiking pack easily if you leave food there.

On very wet days on the hills its easy to get very lost and very wet - stay calm!

You should not be on the track one very hot days (my limit would be 30C) because you will run out of water.

Experienced female hikers walking alone seem not worried about being harassed or worse. The worst reported was some guy who like to sunbath nude even when lady hikers arrived. I noticed girls hiking alone tended to band together though.

Bushfires can happen and if they do follow the advise in the huts.

Sign the log book at each hut, even if you not sleeping there. Emergency workers can more easily track where you are.

Obvious, avoidable and common sense, but you are in an unfamiliar place and the unexpected can happen and ruin your day!

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