Everyone was up at 5am, town day! The temperature had plummeted drastically from 2am, it was so cold! Close to that minus 3 degrees I would say. Lindsay left first at 5.54am, he planned to get in by midday or sooner, find a telly somewhere & spend the afternoon watching the Rugby. A huge Rugby fan, there was 3 matches on this afternoon. Daisyfish wasn’t far behind him, pumped about getting into town to see her son & partner. She had accommodation already arranged just out of Balingup. Wayne, Deb & Mel were the only ones to be woken up at 1am by the sounds of someone banging pegs into the ground. Mel said, “It sounded like someone was putting a tent up or something! Or chopping wood!” Wayne said he heard a dog barking. As there was no extra tent around, we all assumed that someone must be down by the river where Wayne had gone yesterday. Deb & Mel were next off. Wayne was last, drying out his tent as we finally left at around 6.45am. Geez, today was another long day – 22.5kms into town.

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I said this part was with some hills, but the others were like, “Nah! It’s flat! Gonna be an easy hike in, just long!” Did have some uphills to it. And one kickass big hill with a steep descent on the other side. Not far along the track I startled a big Emu, thought he had run away but he circled back angry with my presence. Started making warning grunting sounds & stomping his feet. I kept still but I think he moved on, Ambles came by & with now two of us, Mr Emu had truly disappeared. It took so long to reach town with Ambles constantly stopping & readjusting his Aarn. But he couldn’t get it right & was suffering with weight on his neck. One point he was so far behind as Wayne caught up to me, said he helped Ambles with his backpack & hope it’s better now. Off went Wayne southwards & two women northwards going to Grimwade for an over night camp. Ambles did catch up, set off again. He missed a left turn Waugal marker which I had to stop him & turn him back around. Funniest thing, we see Wayne coming up the hill where Ambles had been headed. Cursing to the max as he missed the turn off had gone another 2kms down, up & down & arrived at a paddock. He was so mad he grabbed a big log sticking it across the road so no one else would go pass the marker. Ambles said the farmers probably move it but Wayne said, “I don’t give a fuck mate!” He was in a foul mood, was talking to his girlfriend last night & she incinerated he was meeting another woman in Balingup. So after more curses & adjusting his backpack some more he stormed off ahead. But we caught up to him having a cigarette at a junction. He said, “Nothing going right today mate! Was doing 6kms an hour & made good ground but now everything is coming unstuck so gonna slow down now. Get into town when I do!” Again we stopped for a light lunch & Wayne leap frogged ahead, this time we didn’t see him again.

So our lunch break was before that kickass bad hill. I trooped up it but had to sit on a log to recover at the top. Then went down the slippery steep descent to the Balingup Brook valley bridge where I sat & waited for 25 minutes for Ambles & I was getting cold! Poor Ambles, not only did he have to keep adjusting his backpack, but he has had a sore toe now for a few days. Today it was hurting a lot, especially on the descent. He doesn’t know if there’s a blister underneath or he will lose a toenail. A long day was turning into a longer day as we made slow progress with Ambles still suffering with his backpack & toe. The walk into Balingup seems to take forever a long squiggly walk, with markers missing at intersections so I guess & take one path to find out it’s the other path. Besides it taking so long to get into town, we had lovely cool weather & the walk in is very pleasant besides brooks, streams, pine tree groves. And lots of wild rabbits hopping around. We had another lack of markers & took a different road into the Main Street to the Visitor Centre where I signed us in & Ambles asked where to get accommodation. Now it was 2.45pm & we had passed Deb & Mel, they had got in at 12! Wasn’t Reagan Bailey at the visitor centre, she is always on the Bibbulmun hikers Facebook page, but a volunteer lady called Lila. She was most helpful. Everywhere was booked up but she said her cottage was available tonight only then she would find other accommodation for us tomorrow. So we settled on that. Her cottage is lovely, only 5 minutes walk from town, fireplace heaven! Lindsay is in the cottage right next to us but was at the pub watching the rugby. Lila was so lovely, fetching us fresh milk, fresh homemade bread, butter, eggs & homemade marmalade. And came over with a foot dish & Epsom salts for us to soak our tired feet into. And I can use the washing machine & dryer all free! Balinga Cottages – was meant for us!

Wayne phoned Ambles to say he was at some lass’s house getting a good soak in a bath on the veranda & won’t make it in to the pub for dinner. 🤔 He said he passed Daisyfish on that kickass last hill. She had fallen asleep on a log so he woke her up. We walked in to the pub after we had a good shower, I was starting to go off my own bad BO especially my armpits Phewwww! Lovely little Tavern, Lindsay was sitting there on his own in front of the tv watching the rugby still. Deb & Mel were having dinner & invited us to join them. The steak was good, Ambles had lip smacking pork ribs. Mel plans to cycle the 3000kms from top of north island NZ to bottom of South Island next year. And if she likes it may plan to walk it next time. These two ladies only a couple of years younger than Ambles show no signs of slowing down! As we have walked 400kms so far, Ambles shouted us all Baileys shots ( As the Tavern didn’t have port ). Deb & Mel head out tomorrow but staying 2 nights in DRV so we will catch up with them then & walk to Pemberton together. I really enjoyed this whole section from Collie. So much variety, wildflowers & the Mumby Pub! Great company on the track too! It would have been a different experience if we had done the Welly Spur Trail. The icing on the cake came when Lila rang Ambles to say she had Sunday’s booking cancel so did we want to take 2 nights in the cottage. Yes! The Trail provides 😁.

We had a long day of 21.9km with a stop halfway to collect Ambles new backpack. Had a great nights sleep with random dreams, seems everyone else had dreams too. It did get cold, my silk liner isn’t warm enough the cold cuts in through my sleeping bag zip. Waiting for my new sleeping bag liner I have ordered to arrive now😊. Ambles got up after 5am but I stayed snuggled up in my sleeping bag to almost 6am. Ambles went uphill to the toilet in the wee small hours during the night, stepped out the toilet & his head torch went flat – of all places! He had to feel his way back down in the pitch blackness. Lucky he managed to make it safely back into his sleeping bag. Ambles got moving before me, 7am. Didn’t take me long to catch up to him with a 7.20am start. We were the first to break camp but Deb & Mel quickly overtook followed by Daisyfish whom I joined for the 10 kms to the road where my parents were going to be waiting for us. We left Ambles behind as we chatted away going up & down pimply annoying hills. Nice to have someone to chat to going at a similar walking pace.

I saw my parents pull up just as I approached the road & Ambles wasn’t too far behind, 10 minutes. We enjoyed drinks & sandwiches with a muffin each to take with us for afternoon tea. Decided to rain didn’t it as I sorted through my bag taking stuff out, removing excess food. Ambles was busy taking his gear from his old backpack into the flash new one. This ones front balance pockets are smaller, sit up more perky, far better than his own heavy droopy ones 😂. These guys showed up in their car, got out saying they are looking for Jarrah as they headed off into the bush. Wayne had caught up to us & said later, “Yeah mate, those guys weren’t looking for Jarrah, they are looking for magic mushrooms mate!” He hung around watching us a bit, leaning against the guys car & saying how much pain he was in today. Then off he went saying he will get the campfire going. Sun came out didn’t it after we had packed up & ready to go. As we waved goodbye, we had another 9.9kms to go.

The rest of the walk was nice, kept raining on & off. Heaps of wildflowers were out & I spotted another different Orchid that made me happy! Love spotting new flowers. I got in around 3.15pm. Wayne was off down at some river a kilometre away wanting to catch a feed for us all laying down a net. Daisyfish was settled in her bag with a plastic bag over her feet as they were so cold, & Deb & Mel really want a fire tonight, they were busy collecting heaps of firewood. Lugging huge chucks of fallen logs over to the campfire. The temperature drops pretty quickly in the afternoon. Ambles arrived 4 pm after struggling with his new backpack, it is too tight around his neck & not balanced yet. He also carried a full goon bag of red wine offering a cup to everyone tonight.

We enjoyed a late cuppa tea with our muffins & this odd looking older guy turned up – Lindsay 61, from Christchurch NZ. I say odd because when he walked in I thought he appeared odd straight off. I whispered to Ambles if he was that ‘odd guy’ Ambles saw & commented to me about in the Dwelly Pub before we left Dwellingup. He nodded. Lindsay had stayed at the Mumby Pub last night & came from there. Sour Face must have liked him as said no accommodation to both Wayne & Ambles when they asked. The shelter is full but Lindsay wanted to squeeze in so unfortunately Deb offered the spare space next to her. This shelter is in a lovely spot, the toilet is like so close, a quick walk to the loo. And it rocks n rolls. Ambles opened the door that quickly sprang outwards as on a lean, the whole toilet started moving on its base. Took Ambles by surprise 😂. The table in the shelter is another one of those ridiculous narrow tables with hardly any room. There is lots of space don’t know why the table has to be so narrow I just looked at it & laughed. Poor Ambles was tired & he had to do the fire as Wayne hadn’t.

Wayne & Ambles were discussing 2 kilometres back along the track was a eerie spooky area. They both agreed something bad had happened there, had bad bad vibes. I had my spooky radar switched off didn’t feel anything strange on the track. Just on nightfall, Wayne went back to the river & returned 40 minutes later. Only small fish so threw them back in. He said, “It’s bloody spooky as down there! All sorts of noises by the river. Pigs & Roos tracks down there. I was shitting myself!” We had a lovely roaring fire thanks to Ambles, didn’t feel as cold but cold enough. Everyone that wanted red wine enjoyed a few cups each, Wayne had extra of course! The last night with our new Tramily, well besides the strange newcomer that didn’t say too much to us. Crawled into our sleeping bags at 8pm.

Got up 6am. Ambles was about to slip his foot in his boot & found a black spider had made home inside! Today was a 19.5km leisurely stroll passing The Mumby Pub after 12kms. They open at 11.30am so I was timing when to get up, leave & arrive just after they open for lunch. Daisyfish was first out of camp, followed by Deb & Mel & us after 8am. I off loaded some tuna & bean packs & muesli bars onto Ambles as I was carrying food for 6 days & now we were only doing 4 days. I set off in front until the Glen Mervyn Dam, looked like a real nice swimming spot – on a warm day. But today was very cold, the sun was peeking through but then disappeared behind clouds & some drizzle of rain fell. The Bibbulmun Track guide book shows a nice picture of a hiker going along the trail by the water with beautiful green foliage & trees. False. More controlled burns have turned the area into blackened tree corpses, no green around. Very sad. Unappealing. Before this Dam I had passed through a creepy area where some of the trees were bent over. Had weird sounds & vibe, happy the Bibbulmun Track veered away from it.

Ambles passed me by as we strolled around the Dam & over the wall. Someone was firing off a rifle not far away. I was feeling a tad exposed on the Dam wall. Probably some pig shooter, hopefully. Then I took the front lead the rest of the way to Mumby Pub. I was 500 metres away when Wayne caught up to me & we entered the pub just as more rain started to fall. Excellent timing at 11.37am. The fireplace was on so sat right next to it warming myself up. The temperature was 11.7 degrees outside but feels like 7.6 degrees. Would agree with that. Ambles came in 11.59am. There was no one else just a sour faced woman behind the bar grumbling at us to put our backpacks over by the wall so all the invisible other patrons wouldn’t trip over them. Gosh she was sour grapes. Ambles had red wine with a huge main meal of lamb shank, mashed potatoes & veggies. I went for the light bites BLT with chips & pint of beer. Wayne had Chicken & Prawn Laksa soup & pint of beer. We listened to country western music & felt so relaxed. Wayne was tempted to stay there a night & asked sour face but she said no accommodation. Then Wayne decided to buy himself a whole bottle of red wine to take to camp. Sour face asked if he wanted the wine in a plastic bottle he goes , “No mate. Only got two plastic bottles & one is for water”. He didn’t have to spell out the use of the other bottle & sometimes gets them mixed up 😳. Ambles decided to annoy sour face by using the pool table like Wayne to put his backpack on. Then use a chair to tie up his shoe on. Wayne is a bad influence!

We hightailed it out of there feeling pretty good actually. Still freezing cold winds, I never changed out of my arm & leg warmers staying rugged up all day. The scenery changes to farmlands & green pastures. So pretty. We walked along a disused railway track where Wayne took off, not wanting to go at Ambles speed. Farmers had set up old microwaves using them as letterboxes. We had a big long hill to climb which is why it is hikers tradition to stop at the pub, grab a drink or two then staggered up the hill after. It’s a wide dirt road so wasn’t that bad. I passed many moo cows, my little bell now belonging in the right environment, they watched me as I passed, my bell chiming away merrily. Then we passed into more forest to our camp, dotted with many wildflowers, the prettiest part of the  Track so far.

We were last in after 3.15pm. This shelter is much nicer perched above a small valley dip. But the toilet is uphill which is going to be annoying. Ambles joked saying that’s silly, now the shit can roll downhill into the Shelter 😂. The temperature is plummeting already. We are too tired & late getting in to bother trying to start a campfire. Wayne took all of half an hour or less to drink his bottle of wine. 😊 Going to be an early night rugged up in our sleeping bags. I reckon Deb, Mel & Daisyfish didn’t do this part right – didn’t stop at the pub!

After Wayne entertained everyone with his stories & joking about dressing up in a Yowie outfit, running through shelters at night & scaring hikers, he decided at 6pm to get a fire going with Ambles. “Cmon, I’ll get the big stuff you get small kindle stuff. It’s too cold! Gotta get a fire going!” Off went the boys & in no time a big fire was going. We all huddled around. Wayne is a hoot taking group photos & yelling out, “touch my bum!” Sounds better than ‘say cheese!’ Every time Wayne burped or farted we would break out in the song chorus,  ‘Who let the dogs out?! Who! Who who who!’ Mel & Deb mentioned a Buddhist camp for accommodation & Wayne was like, “Oh yeah! That’s me mate! Gonna stay at the Buddhist retreat. Change religions mate! Become a Buddhist!” 😂  Wayne said to Ambles, “You are 3rd top bloke I’ve met, it’s true mate! You’re a great bloke with a real kind heart. Yep Top 3rd bloke after my son & good friend!” Awwwwwh aren’t that sweet! Rain threatened to ruin our fun but we didn’t let it, telling stories & having a good laugh before leaving the fire & crawling into our cosy warm sleeping bags.

It was Maccas Hotcakes for breakfast, we were so keen in fact, arriving 5.27am & having to wait until 5.30 for them to open. Packing up I realised those food bags were way too heavy, something had to give so I took out a couple of dinners & nuts & stuff, leaving them in the box for our trail angels to pick them up. Left close to 7am after Wayne came knocking on our door & asking to borrow $50. So Ambles gave him money & after said, “Hope he doesn’t use that money to buy more grog!” It was about 19 or 20kms today, hard as every gadget & map gives a different distance calculation.

It was great leaving Collie town back out in the bush again! Went pass a couple of people groups free camping off the track, when Ambles went by, one couple were arguing loudly at each other so he quickly walked pass. Met a local guy just out on a morning hike. Rain was forecasted but all we got were slight drizzles of rain. The track followed down to the river which had more lovely camping spots, over the river on a main road where cars have the right of way – yep not arguing with them! Then we sauntered off into the bush up some hills where I left Ambles behind. He was doing well. My backpack wasn’t right today, felt way too heavy & uncomfortable. I thought maybe Ambles had snuck something like wine in my bag?! It was lovely by the Mungalup Dam as I waited for Ambles. But it started to drizzle & I was getting cold so I continued on, then just wanting to get to camp, Roadrunner Rose sped off taking 6 hours walking in total to arrive at camp with  two extra short breaks from my backpack. Mel & Deb were already set up. It took Ambles another half hour or so to get in. Wayne came trotting up to camp before Ambles, apparently had a great walk in started later after 9am too. Passed Ambles while listening to his heavy metal music & playing his ‘air guitar’. Wayne proudly told me he had downloaded the Bibbulmun track on Guthook so now has a map to follow.😊

Daisyfish was last in & feeling jolly & glad she decided to keep going. So we got a full house, everyone in the shelter except Wayne whom wanted to try out his new tent. And lead Ambles astray to go catch ‘tadpoles’ in the river. 😏 Ambles was showing his new bulky belt & Wayne showed his Kathmandu belt which was miles better so said he will give his belt to Ambles in Balingup to keep in exchange for the $50 Ambles gave him this morning. It’s a cold day alright, rains lightly on & off. This shelter has got to be the most darkest & gloomy of all the Shelters. Ambles & Wayne made a real good go at getting a campfire started. Those two are becoming thick as thieves. They did well without a black boy too, though the rain & winds started to pick up so we all called it a night after 6.30pm only. The plan for us was to do the Wellington Spur Trail, but all I got was negative comments from other hikers about how we don’t have to & why would we. Ambles didn’t back me up agreeing with everyone else that he didn’t want to do a 20km spur trail & jeopardise his chance to get to Albany. It was an unanimous decision to not do the spur trail. I don’t understand why everyone is against doing this Wellington Spur Trail anyway? Only nice response was from Wayne that said, “Oh yeah mate! Go check out the island I lived on for a year!” 😏 I went to bed not feeling happy unfortunately.

How you enjoy the simple things in life like sleeping in a proper bed! But we awoke early as is the norm now & decided to go across the road to McDonalds for some hot cakes & hash brown! Then we did the usual washing & drying of our clothes which at the Colliefields there is one washing machine free to use.

Ambles went back to the Physio for another session, feeling really good about his knee now. He has ordered his new backpack & hope it comes this Wednesday so our trail angels can bring it Thursday but have to wait & see when it arrives. Then I get a smorgasbord of choices Coles or Woolworths?! Grabbed some extra food but I’m going to suffer my food bags are heavy!

Bumped into Daisyfish back at Colliefields. The owner mentioned there was someone asking if a lady with red hair was staying there when I walked in so knew it was her. She is right across from us! Poor Daisyfish, Mel was consoling her as she was so upset, been crying. Found that last section so hard, was alone most nights. Even fainted on a hot day going to Murray on those uphill pains. She has booked accommodation in Balingup & seeing her son she misses terribly. So tomorrow she is due to walk out again not have a rest day until Balingup. We convinced her to keep going to Balingup, then see how she feels. You never quit on a bad day! So we all leave tomorrow morning for the next shelter. And there’s going to be some cold nights not looking forward to! Daisyfish mentioned Tim saying, “Oh it was terrible at Dookanelly with Tim! He wouldn’t stop talking!” 😂

Off to the Federal Hotel down the road where Ambles & I had a big hearty lunch & pint of beer. I had a whole tour of Collie by then as Ambles looked around for somewhere to eat – thanks for the extra walking on our rest day! 😏 Then Ambles remembered he had to buy a belt to hold his pants up, losing too much weight! Unfortunately not my case☹️. Then he got more fixamul for where the backpack is rubbing against his side causing a friction sore spot. Chores out the way we have just been relaxing, organising our backpacks & eating fresh strawberries – yum! Ambles was speaking to Wayne whom has changed his plans again. Went to hospital but they wouldn’t look at him, so he is wearing a knee brace & doped up on pain killers, gonna hike out tomorrow on his bad knee, not putting his tent up. Will travel only to Balingup & take his time, maybe stay at a shelter two nights. But Wayne will change his plans again I’m sure! We finished our rest day with a quiet meal back at the pub, just the two of us. Ready for an early morning departure. The novelty of being in a town wears off & one longs to be back out on track.🙂

16/9: Our plan was to get up at 5am & get cracking early. We had 22.5kms to do, the last 2.5kms along a spur trail that goes in to the town of Collie. We slept in to 5.10am & didn’t get going to 6.45am. Well I was waiting eager to go at 6.30am with backpack on, like a bull at the gates I was feeling impatient with waiting for Ambles! Then I had to walk slower which is painful, I like to move fast & was itching to get into town. Feel like changing our name to Ambling Roadrunner😆. Ambles went oh so slowly, using his poles to help with his knee. He kept stopping & rubbing Goanna Heat on, started moving again. We played Tag Team with Jeremy passing each other several times. Was a nice walk to the Harris Dam, spotting some fairyville set up similar to gnomesville with plastic creatures, fairy’s, dolls, gnomes & flowers decorating around the trees.

After the Dam, most of the walking cuts across many other trails, mountain bike trails with funny names, and The Munda Biddi at times shares the same path. I thought with all these tracks might be easy to get lost, but the Bibbulmun was well marked. We stopped for a bite to eat & Jeremy had the same idea. It would have been 1.30 when we got into Collie & after walking pass my trail angel Kerry, managed to locate her! We had booked at the Colliefields, an old building operating as a backpackers hostel. Our tiny room right at the end of the building has its own bathroom en-suite. A cramped little room but would work nevertheless. We took our food box from Kerry up to the room then settled for a late lunch before the cafe side closed with her. The Colliefields is the hikers hub & we bumped into Wayne whom also is staying there. Poor Wayne, he had a knee blowout & was in a lot of pain. He said that double hut he did was too much & he had arrived into Harris Dam hobbling in pain. Then yesterday it took him to 3pm to get into Collie. So he was off soon to get it looked at by the hospital. We had a great catch up with Kerry, once again so fortunate to have a friend help out & bring our resupply to us. Most people have to post them like Dave & Jayn, And it’s not cheap over $60 a box. We said our goodbyes again with full stomachs & settled in to our room. Well my first priority was to shower myself well. Ambles went to the physio about his knee. Turns out he will be fine! Due to his calf muscles being tight. He picked up a replacement knife to replace the one that ended up in the fire pit. Better one too – titanium lightweight!

We decided to check out the Crown pub for dinner. They only had Guinness in a can so Ambles settled for that. Turns out everyone was there, Dave, Jayn, Jeremy, Deb, Mel & then Wayne not long after with his girlfriend Stacey that had driven over to surprise him. Our Tramily! We all sat around a long table drinking, eating good food & sharing stories & laughs. Was a great evening! Ambles said he was thinking of dropping the axe & wine, Jayn said that is a good idea! His body will thank him. But then he said his knee will be fine so thinks he will carry them anyway. Jayn’s look of ‘You will never learn!’ Wayne’s new plan was to hike out to the spur trail Wednesday set up his new tent there. He got a new tent & sleeping bag, Anaconda refunded him & said he could keep the old tent he wasn’t happy with. So tomorrow he will go see about his knee & head to Balingup Wednesday with us. And he doesn’t order pints of beer no! He orders jugs of beer! And he gets through them pretty well on his own! Dave offered to buy him a pint but not a jug! So we said goodbye to Jeremy, Dave & Jayn. Jeremy has finished. Dave & Jayn heading off tomorrow back on the track. Deb & Mel have their second rest day tomorrow, Daisyfish should be arriving too. We finished our evening with Ambles watching the last half hour of Australian Survivor so he was happy! Looking forward to more rest!

15/9: My imagination was running over time last night. I thought I could smell smoke & felt uneasy with visions of Ellensbrook Campsite coming back to me. So I didn’t sleep much. It was a warm night so didn’t have many layers on. When I did sleep & wake up, my feet were really cold, the temperature had plummeted & I was feeling chilled but not wanting to remove myself from the sleeping bag to retrieve warm gear, I pulled the sleeping bag over my head & chose to ignore the outside world. Craig whom also slept in the shelter with us was up early & packing. Ambles said to him, “You know, I have this theory about minimalist hikers. They have always been well off or even rich, so they are happy to cut the weight & go without some comforts. But you see, I was poor growing up, so now I want everything! So I carry a heavy backpack because I don’t want to go without anymore!” Craig looked at him, smiled & said “Uh – uh”. As he was ready to go his departing words were, “It sure was nice meeting you all, I really enjoyed your company & wish I could hike with you all – but I have other plans to you!” So off went Craig, the oldest hiker I know hiking the Bibbulmun right now.

We left before Jeremy, today being an easy 13.7kms odd hike. All easy & flat. I can see why people often double hut this section. There weren’t many wildflowers. A lot of Jarrah & Marri trees which meant lots of honkey nuts under foot, and lots of black boys or as other people call them, grass trees. Lots of birds, little chirping birds, screeching black cockatoos, red tailed black cockatoos, kookaburras & flashes of green as Twentyeights went flying through the trees. Besides feeling tired from lack of sleep, I felt good. Ambles was very concerned about his left knee, it was swollen & sore. Perhaps from his fall yesterday? He went very slowly, the backpack was holding up well luckily. Jeremy likes to stop for a morning coffee break so he passed us but then we passed him. Was just before noon when we got in to Harris Dam. Two day walkers showed up but didn’t stay long. A nice spot amongst the tall Marri & Jarrah trees.

We had a restful afternoon. Shame the shelter was not closer to the Dam, didn’t feel like a round 6km odd hike to see it. The toilet is around the mulberry bush so to speak. The track winds around trees here & there you don’t see the toilet until you are upon it! Ambles was saying, “Geez, I better know where the toilet is, if I have to go at night, I might end up in Jeremy’s tent!” Jeremy set up his tent & it was just us in the Shelter. Jeremy helped collect a stack of firewood which Ambles got fired up. Then Ambles used the bag he puts the cooking cutlery in to collect dead pieces of Black boy. He emptied the bag over the campfire then goes, “Oh nooooo!” He had forgotten the plastic knife we use for the wraps & stuff was in there. Too late. 😕 It ended up being a lovely evening just the 3 of us around the campfire chatting. In fact, Jeremy was the most talkative he has been through this whole section. He finishes in Collie tomorrow, the next day heading out to Darwin to see his 9 year old granddaughter in a race. While we were talking there was this animal sound, “Eeeeeeeeeeeek!…………Eeeeeeeeeeek!” Went on for 10 minutes or so then stopped. Very interesting 🤔. So Ambles been using the knee brace & Goanna Heat on it. He is worried if himself & the broken backpack will make it into Collie tomorrow. And someone before us must of had a sleeping bag blowout. There was feather downs everywhere! We didn’t stay up too long – tomorrow was going to be a long day.

14/9: Oh my, Wayne was exhausted totally  last night, 11.30pm I awoke to the sound of his rather loud snoring. Ambles was not happy saying, “Geez! Sounds like a bloody tractor!” He went on loudly for awhile until his snoring settled a bit. Then there was the steady hum of the Conveyor belt. I didn’t get much sleep either. In the morning, Wayne felt so terrible for his snoring. He really was upset. “Oh man! Shit! So sorry. I won’t sleep in the next shelter with you guys. Maybe I could use your tent?” Then later to me he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll double hut today.” Dave & Jayn were up packing their tent at 6am so I knew they were going to double hut today as well. They left just before us.

Todays walk was reasonably flat another 19kms. I remember years back when we did this section that there was a long boring dirt 4WD road. That road looked different, not so wide. Maybe not used by cars anymore & becoming narrower with bushes growing in the middle & on the sides. Those prickly bushes that scratch my legs & arms. Today was humid, overcast again but not hot like yesterday. Ambles tripped, caught his foot on a log part sticking out fell down, catching his fall with his hands. Maybe that fall had something to do with it, but his backpack was malfunctioning. The Aarn load limo is so complex in design, luckily he caught the two metal bars that had come undone & the bottom rope that adjusts the bag to the body snapped. We were close to the shelter so he kept going, but the weight was on his shoulders now he couldn’t adjust the pack weight on his hips. Just before the Shelter, we went through a sandy flat section the ground dotted with pretty pink & purple flowers. The nicest part I reckon.

We arrived at the strange named Shelter Yourdamung just after noon. Our walking pace has definitely sped up to maybe 3.5 to 4kms an hour depending on the terrain. The shelter is off the longest spur trail walk in – 300 metres. No fires are allowed here. We are basically surrounded by Jarrah trees. The shelter is maintained very nicely, the tables & sleeping platforms varnished & shiny. Wood chips & sand make up the floor base. We like the ones with the table in the middle of the sleeping platforms. We tend to take the lower platform as easier to get into our beds. No one can sleep next to us. Dave & Jayn had been & gone leaving us all a hello in the trails log book. Wayne wasn’t far behind us as he showed up. This guy carries no Bibbulmun map or guide book. So he just follows the waugal not knowing what’s ahead & how far the Shelter is. He doesn’t carry a PLB either so walks in the middle of our group making sure he isn’t the last one. And he forgot to bring throngs so walks around barefoot or in his socks at camp. Rolls up all hyped up as usual saying, “I blasted through to here that was quick! I’m going through to Harris Dam! My first double Hut! Shit! What’s wrong with your backpack? Oh man, there’s a good outdoor store in Collie mate or I’m going to Bunbury to get better gear. You could come or borrow my girlfriends car & get yourself a new backpack?” There is faint reception here so Wayne called up his girlfriend. After he goes, “Shit man! My bloody woman is hungover, drank too much with the girls last night. I need to get her out here walking with me!” By 1pm, Wayne hightailed out of there all excited about double hutting, getting to Collie, having drinks at the pub, stocking up on more pain killers. It started to drizzle right then but that didn’t last long. Ambles pouted saying, “Oh, he was going to show me how to catch Marron!”

So Ambles spent all afternoon fixing up his backpack with good ole duct tape. He couldn’t figure out how the pieces go together anyway the system is so complex. He rang Collie outdoor store they had only one 50 litre backpack. He said he will just buy another same backpack set for $450. Not cheap. My Osprey backpacks have never let me down. They may squeak but are super reliable! Jeremy came & set up his tent. Then this old guy shows up weathered face, skinny as with no fat on him. Legs that looked like they had hiked thousands of miles. I thought he must be 80 but turns out he is 76 years old, Craig from Newcastle. He said he is hiking to Pemberton not planning on going to Albany. Interesting fellow we got chatting to over dinner, now us, Jeremy & Craig. Ambles asked Craig how heavy his backpack was & he said 12 kgs with 7 days food included. Ambles jokes & says “I hate you!” Craig carries a jet boil & a tent being a minimalist but independent of others. Carries the Bibbulmun map in a sleeve around his neck. Looks like a serious dude alright. But walks barefoot around camp. “Throngs? That is more weight!” Has had to pull out ticks on his legs but says he doesn’t react to them like the ones over east. He walks 30+kms a day, sometimes staying in shelters sometimes free camping off the track somewhere. Tomorrow he walks another 30 kms pass Collie, not interested in going into town, will camp somewhere along the track. Yes, it was a pleasant early evening, we didn’t miss Wayne’s chatter, laughing about the guys at the next one having Wayne’s delightful company instead 😂.

(Here we go second time around writing this as I had written it all took over an hour & saved it as I went along but WordPress then deleted the whole blog post thanks WordPress – you suck!)

13/9 – It was going to be a gruelling long day of 22.7kms  following the new realignment path that goes from Dookanelly to the new suspension bridge called Bilya Djena Bidi 4 kms from the Shelter, crossing over Murray River than following a long firebreak dirt road down to HQ road where it rejoins the old route for the last 8kms to Possum Springs. The track use to go up & down 3 hills for 12kms before reaching the beautiful old historic Long Gully railway bridge that was completely destroying in the 2015 bushfire which then took you onto HQ road. This new realignment is in fact longer & hard on your feet. So we were up at 5am & leaving at 6.30am waving goodbye to Wayne whom was enjoying his morning coffee. It was pleasant & cool but didn’t take long for the day to warm up. Ambles was in the mood for some blues, playing his music through his phone, happy faced & singing away.

Along the long road there are turn offs to sweet little camping spots by the rivers edge. We missed a waugal marker that wasn’t very obvious, Wayne & Jeremy did the same, and we went up some horrible long incline hill & down the steep other side to find to my dismay a waugal marker pointing right for northbound hikers along a nice pathway along the river. Man was I so pissed off about going up & down that hill unnecessarily. Along we went, starting to get too warm for our liking. Met Tim, a northbound thur hiker with a big backpack on him & a whole heap of stuff hanging off it. He said we only had one big hill coming up then nice & easy. But there was two actually. He said he had already done one end to end in Summer – nuts! Ambles got to the point of needing a break as he hadn’t had one so we stopped at one of those sweet cool shady areas by the river. I heard this noise over & over, “Whoot!…..Whoot!……..Whoot!” I watched this duck on the water, every time it’s back tail lifted it propelled forward with a Whoot! Like it was farting along! I must have been out bush to long going crazy in the head but I had a good chuckle over that. Wayne later said must of been its mating call.

So we get to HQ road, our trail angels had tied a pink ribbon on the Bibbulmun track sign so we knew they would be waiting with our resupply stuff closer to the Shelter. We had another 6 odd kms to do but before then & it was feeling so hot like 30 degrees, probably was 25 or something. I was feeling awfully tired & hot. We opened our umbrellas to get some shade but I still felt hot & sweaty. Ambles missed another turn, “Um… where are you going?!” Going up the hill was his reply as he turned around. Then it was my turn to somehow miss the path & take some steep path down into a dead end of thick bushes. And it was worse having to come back up it yes oh yes not happy. I slowly made my way up to the noisy loud Conveyor belt that goes into Collie. Under it & up the hill on the other side. Got to the top & the Conveyor stopped! Thanks.

At one point I noticed a big Emu watching me, it would run away, circle back to watch me more. Ambles came along with his piano blues serenading the Emu saying, “The Emu likes the music see?!” 😂 Really probably was a male Emu with his offspring close by & being protective. We moved on pass Emu. Then I rounded a corner and the bushes next to me suddenly shook & snorted. What I startled had startled me! I freaked out thinking some wild pig gonna run out of those bushes right for me. Ambles went through no problems so said animal had taken off very quickly. It was nearing 1pm, I was losing my cool & there was no cool to lose. I was hot. Tired. My feet burning. Sore. Aching. Sweaty. Done. Grumpy as! The road finally came up & there were our trail angels waiting for us😁. My parents had some yummy fresh salad buns with chocolate mudcake from the Harvey Bakery. And what I had been craving – coke! Two each. Ambles said, “Any beer?!” My dad said, “You didn’t ask for beer!” I downed my first coke in an instant. My lunch not touching the sides on the way down. Then I decided to swap out my Lowa boots for my Hoka One One trail boots. They are probably a size too big but hopefully better. As soon as my feet slipped in – heavenly goodness. My feet like breathed a sigh of relief if feet could, they honestly felt awesome floating on sweet air cushions. Then we picked up our resupply & were on our way 1 km to go!

It was 2.30 when we arrived. The old Possum Springs Shelter was destroyed all but the toilet the smelliest toilet I ever came across that even the fire didn’t want to go near it. So now looks different with a rammed earth Shelter just like Brookton with the matching king sized dunny throne. And on a warm day, the walls are so cool, it actually started to cool down once we got there. Moments later, Wayne came, looking shattered. We greeted him, but for the first time, he was speechless! Took him a good 5 minutes before he found his voice again. Then Jeremy, then Dave & Jayn all arrived. We all had a very long day all very much exhausted. Wayne decided he smelt bad & needed a wash, so for half an hour he told us how he was preparing for his wash, going through step by step what he needed before finally going & then coming back & saying exactly how he had washed himself. He says to Ambles, “You wouldn’t believe this mate but you know how heavy my pack is? I’m carrying around $12 in coins! Look!” Then he fishes out all these coins from his bag. “Oh man! I can feel all the toxins pouring out of my body! All those drugs & alcohol! This is a great detox shit yeah!” Wayne was feeling better alright. We sat around the cold campfire pit as no one had any energy to start one. Ambles offered around his chocolate mudcake. And we all joked about going back to Dookanelly & sabotaging Tim’s hike stealing one of his boots & socks & stuff. That Tim had made no friends. Wayne met him still by Murray River & Tim said “Yeah man not much further to go!” Then when he met Dave & Jayn, was giving them a prep talk about taking lots of breaks coz it’s hot you know & they are from Melbourne & not use to it you know! Veronique had written in the trails log book she had somehow found the markers to the old track followed them to the river where the old bridge use to be. Rang the BTF utterly confused, they probably never had someone go the old way unintentionally. She probably gave them a good serve about leaving the markers still up. Then she had to go back 12kms to the new bridge & chalked up 44kms arriving at 6.30pm at the Shelter! Yeah, don’t think she was a happy camper that day. I actually was so tired I didn’t bother washing myself as I normally do. Just was so happy to crawl into my sleeping bag early. Ambles was grumbling that the full moon brightness was right in his eyes, he had to pull his beanie down over his eyes. I meanwhile was already drifting off to sleep then BOOM! Some loud crash sound not too far away from a huge tree branch falling down. Well it was a Black Friday & a Full Moon.

12/9: The nights have gotten warmer, the early mornings not so bad, don’t need my beanie, gloves, leg & arm warmers at all. Just a shirt & shorts. We were up early again, eager to get going, arrive at lunchtime at our destination. Our walking pace has definitely increased even though Ambles says we do 3kms an hour, it’s more 3.5 to 4kms an hour depending on the terrain. Dookanelly was another 19 odd kms walk away. Wayne came down swearing & cursing about his tent again before we left. Threatening all sorts to the staff at Anaconda for selling him rubbish that doesn’t work. He is doing well for never done a multi day hike trip. Now he was like going pass Collie to Balingup all confident like, “ Man, when I get to Collie, gonna sort my gear out & get good shit then keep going to Balingup I reckons!”

It was a sweet misty morning over the river & up the hills when we left. I love how the mist changes the feel of the track to one of more mystery. The spiders must have a field day during the night, as I was in front, I had to break all the spiderwebs across the path, literally hundreds of spider webs! And all along the sides hanging in the bushes. Probably had spiders in my hair, not worth thinking about! Not only that, the first 7kms was heavily overgrown I was ninja Rose attacking branches & spiderwebs with my poles. My clothes got soaking wet from the overgrowth brushing against me. Some of those bushes were prickly like scratching my exposed legs & arms. In fact I turned at one point to Ambles saying, “This Track is pissing me off!” After 30 minutes more I found some small clearing & a log, sitting down & cooling off. Needed to gather myself & recharge my batteries. Then I could continue, the track did get better, the sun did come out, things were looking up.

The river was hardly seen even though it was right near us. The bushes were too overgrown. One little lady traveling northwards in her yellow rain jacket with the hood over her head passed us making small talk. She was finishing a section making her sectional end to end complete. Later Wayne said she scared him appearing out of nowhere. We had a good chuckle over that.

Once we passed Driver road, we knew we had 3.5kms left. But that involved some kickass long hill climb on ground that was slippery underfoot in places. The sun beat down on us as we sweated our way to the never ending top of the hill, finally to go down the other side & into Dookanelly. Which unfortunately has no river or water nearby. So I gave myself a towel wash my legs red, scratched up & dirty. Wayne was not far behind us when he came swinging into camp. He was utterly delighted with himself, “Man! I powered through today! All those overgrown bushes! I used my stick as a battling ram & pruned the shit out of them! I almost caught up with you guys! Fuck, I reckon I’m gonna go all the way to Albany now! I’m loving it! But I still have too much food! That Jayn man got in my head, but now I’m chucking those lolly packets into the box & someone else can have them! And those heavy curry packets. Don’t need extra weight! Feel like dumping the shit tent here as well!” He ended up deciding to sleep in the Shelter with us. Saying if he snored, then throw a stick at him. I think he is getting through with a lot of help from Panadol & Anti inflammatory cream. His toe was still sore but not slowing him down in the slightest. Jeremy was next then Dave & Jayn whom had a leisurely sleep in & didn’t leave Murray camp until 9am.

We all had another quiet relaxing afternoon some reading, some nonstop talking, Ambles running about making a nice campfire for all of us. We all chatted until about 7pm besides Jayn whom disappears off to her tent early. She really says very little but Dave likes to chat & mentioned how they did the AT in America. They really are avid hikers & adventurers & have their pack weights down to an art form that suits them. Their packs probably around 12kgs max, probably less than that. Ambles’s Kindle brand new, cracked a sad & all his reading books he had downloaded were gone. Vanished. Confused & annoyed he was couldn’t read a book! Is it a full moon? It was pretty bright that night.

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