Bibbulmun Track: Part 4 Dwellingup to Possum Springs – having a hard day – end to end thruhike
We're heading up there. (Oh, up there). OK. Thanks to the support crew - we will see you soon. On on! On on And off we go - morning of day 14. Day 14. We're heading out of... Dwellingup. We had a zero day yesterday - day off. Great little trail town this one. They've
got heaps of bike tracks around, a lot of walking and they've just done up their visitor's centre and it's...yeah, they've done a really, really good job. Good weather today - only going up to about 23 or so. 13km to Oak Swamp (WRONG - Swamp Oak!) campsite. Full pack again - we've got six days worth of food. Although we've had some really, really good rest and a couple of good feeds at the pub so, yeah - on on! (music plays) Day 14 - day 14 back on track - out in the forest - feeling great! You can tell my pack's full because it's sitting up high but mostly Howie gets the extra weight really My pack starts slightly heavier than his and his fluctuates a lot more So he takes most of the food - I've got the breakfast and the coffee and the hydrolyte. Alright!
I'm glad I wasn't standing underneath it when it happened! This is new. Well, I just have to just take a look, take a little walk around. Yeah, she's a big jarrah tree and that's just come down very very recently. Which way are we going? Over that way? Let's check out what Howie almost stood on Oh and be very grateful he didn't! What a lovely beastie! Goanna! Yeah, I was off in my own little world there walking along and genuinely almost stepped on him! We've stopped for a break and we've got something -we've got something special here! Judy from the support team has made us curried egg sandwiches! (Woo-hoo!) I came off the Cape to Cape trail looking for curried egg sandwiches and couldn't find any...
so I've had to wait - walk 200 odd k on the Bibbulmun... for a curried egg sandwich! Aah! Ah the pines, the pines. Have I ever mentioned that I like walking through pine forests? (sings) In the pines, in the pines where the sun don't ever shine I would shiver the long night through (Is Bob behind?) No no, padding along - there he is I've got to say, though, that sandwich...
the highlight of our culinary experience! There's the master chef who made that sandwich We've eaten it already. Yeah, here comes Bob and his support crew brian and Judy. A nice easy little walk-in today - first day back on trail. Mild sort of weather A couple of real highlights of the day - obviously, that egg sandwich... just walking through the pines. I love walking through pines - don't know what it is in particular
maybe I used to be a pine tree in a previous life or something! Who knows? Paparazzi! (music plays) If you're at the Swamp Oak campsite - a little short walk down to the Murray River - excellent little swimming hole - just beautiful little spot down there. So just head out of the campsite - turn right -head down the four-wheel drive track - go past the metal gate - turn right - follow that road down, not far, maybe 100 metres or so - you'll cross another road but you'll be able to hear the water by then and you'll see a little track heading down the other side (music plays) (bird song and camp chatter) Ah good morning - day 15 leaving Swamp Oak campsite heading to Murray - probably about 18 kilometres and it's not getting too hot as well, so it should be a great little day (music plays) We're walking on an old railway formation. It's lovely and flat, with cutaways and you can see how the bank has been built up on the side It's a really nice aspect looking down to where Swamp Oak Brook flows likely it's ephemeral and not actually flowing right now, as is the case for most creeks and brooks. These kind of waterways only really flow when it rains consistently or very heavily. Big thank you to the maintenance workers who clear the path for us when there are obstacles! (music plays) Well, just got into Murray Camp. Good day, but it did get a bit hot. 19 kilometres. Sort of one
of those days that just sneaks up behind you gives you a good good kick in the ass, actually! See the Murray River down in there. We'll go and check that out later. Yeah, time for a wash! Yeah, anyone coming southbound from Perth - just the last kilometre or so... some serious sort of uphills and downhills - very short and sharp! You think you're here, but you're not! Okay just keep going and - yeah. Beautiful spot, though. It's gonna be great! Anyway, off to the drone shot! (music plays) Damp on the floor, soft underneath, sun breaking through a little bit nice green tunnel Sometimes I think to myself, 'Oh, this feels like an adventure!" and then I remember that it is! Little birds flitting in and out of the thicket. Oh, here's an obstacle! And here we go - alleyoop - oop! And - a - oop! A-hoy-hoy folks! We got a beautiful little morning this morning, hugging the hillside here up above the Murray River. We're just cruising along. Heading to Dookanelly - about a 19km walk Temperature's gonna pick up a little bit today - it's gonna get up to about 25 or so.
So, we should be getting close to about 250km by the end of today - we're roughly about a quarter of the way... already! Forgot the other things I was going to talk about - so we might cut this short! See ya! Ooh now, that, ladies and gentlemen, was the rare call of a 'Bob Holland' Latin name: Localus Legendus (laughter) (Bob & Kath singing 'The Road to Gundagai') (Bob singing a bush ballad) Up here - this fellow is a white tail cockatoo. Now I'm not sure if he's a Carnaby or a Baudin or SHE! what a pretty little voice Compared to the Kaaraks, they're a bit more tuneful. The Kaaraks are the red tails - the ones that say 'kaarak-kaarak!' Well, what the bush has been making me think about is transience and change -impermanence not the least of which is evoked by the ephemeral creeks that we cross that right now are dry, or thinking about the ever-changing flora that we're passing - and in amongst all this change and all this impermanence, here are we and in a very human way we attach ourselves to our routines. We control what we can. We try to get a grip on things... while the environment around us is ephemeral and changeable. And that may be something worth thinking about - this year, in particular, as we let go of things that we thought were certainties and it turns out they're not We just took a little side quest, off the Bibbulmun for about 300 metres.
Went down to a little bridge crossing over the Murray River. Had a little snack, put the feet in the water, those sort of things. I washed! Had a wash. Saw a goanna on the way back Yeah, been a pretty good day so far. It's warming up a little bit now. We've got about three and a half km to go to camp
and just look at this bush we're walking through Welcome to Dookanelly campsite and we're here today with Bob Holland, Howie Gaskin -our cameraman - and me, your presenter - Kath Norcross. We're here for the special prize giving after the mystery set by our former companions who are now off adventuring elsewhere. Before we look at the prize, let's talk about what our guesses were. Howie you guessed...
I guessed it was chocolate but I just wanted more chocolate... and I (Bob) suggested a muesli bar or breakfast bar... and I (Kath) thought it would be kangaroo poo! There you go, nice dried kangaroo poo! Thinking along different lines! All right, so here it is... the great unveiling! (singing) Dah-dah-dah-dah! the prize surprise. I don't think it's kangaroo poo! All right, and on the back here it says there's a can of emu, like the one that was placed for us, ticks - a little tick for the tick magnet and a tree and a smiley face. It's a muesli bar, pretty much, it's yogurt Yay Bob! The winner!! Welcome to the tent. I don't know if you can hear them, but there are march flies
everywhere! I don't mind coming inside the tent right now and it's time to set up the beds (music plays) And that's home! That's our wee little home! So we've got a hot day and about 23 kilometres tomorrow, so we've set an alarm to get an early start... Ay, caramba! It was Kath's suggestion, so... 4 30. Because walking in the heat is worse than waking up in the dark Morning 4 30. It's really quiet A quarter to six, and we are off! The rest of camp's not too far behind us - probably, another ten minutes or so Bob's gonna catch us up on the trail. What are we? Morning... seventeen? Seventeen, yeah. Seventeen for us, nineteen for Bob and,
yeah, we've put in the put in the early morning effort to try and beat the heat - it's gonna hit somewhere between 30 and 32, someone else told us at one stage. Chilly now! Chilly! It's chilly, bro! A few, a few little... Oops, probably got blinded by the sun there... a few little events on today. We get to go across a bridge
might get 'dronathon' out there, we'll see. We've heard it's a highly rated bridge - highly rated from our compatriots, Jen 'n' Fi! Jen 'n' Fi! Also, there's a mining conveyor belt that we get to walk under, apparently it's a thing. I think I could hear it off in the distance last night, it's a bit noisy - low rumble Anyway, I suppose that'll feature, and plenty of bush... and nice light, etc Out here in the Lane Pool Conservation area, one is sometimes privileged to catch a glimpse of that elusive creature, the local legend, and here it's, of course, Kambarang season - the cessation of the rains bringing with it the onslaught of flies and march flies now this creature has quite cleverly devised a protection against this onslaught and so we see the local legend in full plumage and be-netted. It is a wonder - a wonder of nature (music plays) So we've just had an interesting last hour or so - temperature's climbing we're coming out into some sort of open canopies and stuff here, so there's not much shelter going on.
Ooh, no! I'm just about to turn off. We might get some shade - awesome! We did, we ended up walking through, or having to walk through a motocross section which sort of paralleled down by the river and I'm not sure why the little track doesn't the Bibb track doesn't go and skirt along the river there. I'm sure the motocross guys don't like us being on their track - and we don't like them being on our track and, whatever, I don't know, I might cut that out! We found another tick on Bob, and pretty soon we get to walk under this conveyor belt - mining conveyor belt. You may be able to hear the noise in the distance, hold on.
(Loud rumbling of aluminium mining conveyor belt in operation) Yeah, I don't know.... It's all a little bit hot and dusty at the moment - maybe the low point so far but... you know, all we've got to do is keep walking and it'll get better, eventually. So, apparently, we've found out recently that the collective noun for a group of wildflowers is a RAVE! Who'd have known? A rave of wildflowers! What a day! It was long, hot, flies, ticks, motocross riders, big noisy conveyor belt thing Yeah. Woo! Really glad we left an hour earlier than we normally do, because we'd still have another hour of this to go! It's cooling down again tomorrow, so we should be should be okay and cooling down for a little bit after that... and maybe a 34 degree day coming!
So we may take an extra rest day in Collie, but we'll see how that all goes. Time to rest! Uuuggh! Bob's a bit tired this arvo (afternoon) and he's taking the lying down method to putting up his tent!
2021-04-22 02:35
