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| Me on Mazzoletti Beach |
And so, here is the penultimate section of my walk along the Bibbulmun Track for Epilepsy Action! From Walpole, through to Denmark, via The Valley of the Giants and Peaceful Bay.
08/11/2013: Friday Day 43
Walpole rest day. Slept in until 6:30am and wandered down to the café about two hours later. Boots and Noddy had decided to stay an extra night due to a diversion which cuts out a day to Peaceful Bay. Saw Mikey and he was heading on, likelihood is won't see him until Perth but you never know what might happen.
Supplies bought, met up with Boots and Noddy for lunch in the pub, and then packed ready for an early start the next morning.
09/11/2013: Saturday Day 44
Somewhat reluctantly left the excellent Walpole Lodge, and retraced my steps through town to pick up the track where it enters the town.
The inlet was beautiful in the early morning sun, and a joy to walk around.
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| Jetty on Nornalup Inlet |
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| Nornalup Inlet |
Just as I turned to head for Coalmine Beach, I heard someone shout "hello". I looked back up the track and saw an elderly guy walking behind me. He caught up and started a conversation, and said he would walk with me as far as the beach if that was okay. I saw no harm, and we chatted as we went. Charles was 74, and it was soon clear, despite him freely admitting, that he had Ausbergers Syndrome.
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| Beach on Nornalup Inlet |
We reached the beach, and he decided to walk with me to the South Coast Highway. With the road behind me, I thought he would turn back, but no, on up the hill he came "just to the tall trees."
I didn't mind so much, but I did have a double hut in the back of my mind, and Charles was putting that in jeapordy. As the hill got higher, Charles finally decided to turn back, 7km into the walk. He gave me his email and website address, and said I could email him if I wanted to. I was certainly intrigued to see his website.
I reached the hilltop lookout and was pleasantly surprised to see it actually had a lookout!
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| A rare hilltop lookout with an actual view! |
From here, the Tingle Trees terrritory really begins, and you are treated to some great examples of this remnant of the Gondwana Continent, when Australia was connected to Antarctica.
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| Tingle Trees in Walpole-Nornalup NP |
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| Just something about these magnificent trees! |
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| Remnant of Gondwana Land |
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| Relatively short, but stocky |
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| Looking through the Tingle |
On my way into Franklin River Shelter, I spotted a couple of Tiger Snakes; one stuck around for a photo, before I went to pass him and he skulked off.
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| Tiger Snake |
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| Forest |
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| Wildflowers |
I was down at the shelter by 11:45am. It was early, but the location was a good one and I decided to stay. Boots and Noddy came in a half hour later.
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| Frankland Shelter |
10/11/2013: Sunday Day 45
I was away by just gone six, said goodbye to Boots and Noddy, as I was keen to miss out Giants shelter and get the diversion to Peaceful Bay out of the way.
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| Track above the banks of the Frankland |
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| Sappers Bridge |
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| Frankland River |
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| Track near Sappers Bridge |
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| Waugal on a Tingle |
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| Track through trees |
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| Tingles |
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| Small bird |
I passed Sappers Bridge and was making good time to the Tree Top Walkway, arriving at 9:15am. I have been on the walkway three times before, the last time was April 2012, when I managed to get my mum on it. It takes you forty metres high into the canopy, giving a birds eye view of the Karri and Tingles.
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| The Treetop Walkway |
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| The Treetop Walkway |
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| The Treetop Walkway |
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| The Treetop Walkway |
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| The Valley of the Giants Walk |
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| The Valley of the Giants Walk |
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| Me, walking through a Tingle |
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| A Burl on a Tingle |
An hour and a bit later, I headed off to Giants Campsite.
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| Giant's Shelter |
I was surprised to see in the log book that Mikey hadn't stayed last night; I guess he had the same idea as me. I topped up my water and headed off.
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| Leaving Tingle Country |
Up over one final hill, with plenty of Tingles along the route, then down to cross the South Coast Highway, where the diversion began due to controlled burning. It was a two hour baking hot, fly infested, 10km road walk!
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| South Coast Highway |
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| Diversion |
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| Mad Dogs and Englishmen |
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| Flooding near Peaceful Bay |
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| Muddy track near Peaceful Bay |
I reached where the track diversion ended and had to endure some soggy sections and the dreaded sand dunes, before arriving at the Peaceful Bay Caravan Park.
Exhausted, I booked in, but the place was full and the backpacker caravan was full. It turned out that Mikey was here and hadn't double hutted, but had filled out the log book incorrectly, so I was able to crash in the caravan after all!
I picked up my food parcel and the very last map of the trip; Albany was now just 9 legs away, even less if a double hut is taken!
11/11/2013: Monday Day 46
Up from a restless sleep at 4am, we were on our way before dawn, with the prospect of a hard day of sand dunes and high temperatures. Time to watch the sun rise and spare a thought for the fallen on Remembrance Day.
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| Peaceful Bay War Memorial |
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| Sunrise at Peaceful Bay |
The walk out to the crossing point of the Irwin Inlet was a good couple of hours and the mercury was already starting to rise.
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| Dasies |
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| Tackling sand dunes at 6.15am! |
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| Irwin Inlet |
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| Irwin Inlet seasonal sand bar |
We could have probably crossed the seasonal sand bar at the inlet mouth, but I think we were both looking forward to a canoe crossing. We reached the canoe shelter and the crossing was drama free, and if anything, a little too short.
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| Kayak crossing of the Irwin Inlet |
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| View from my Kayak |
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| Pelican |
On the other side, there was a fairly good four wheel drive track for part of the way, but as we were about a kilometre from Big Quarram Beach, it got tougher.
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| Heading for Quarram Beach |
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| A rest in a tiny piece of shade |
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| The track to the sea |
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| Tackling another sand dune in stifling heat |
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| Quarram Beach |
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| Quarram Beach |
Down on the beach, we only had a couple of kilometres on very soft sand, before we were up, over and down to Middle Quarram Beach. Here, the sand was harder, and in sticking to it, we missed the waugal and had to retrace our steps when the beach ended.
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| Wildflowers |
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| Over the peninsula above Middle Quarram Beach |
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| Little Quarram Beach |
The dunes from here were my undoing. My frame of mind was negative and, in the heat, I was in a foul mood. Still, the views were stunning, but they were well earned!
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| Vibrant colours! |
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| Little Quarram Beach |
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| Looking back at the Quarrams |
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| Thoughts of the shelter, but still half hour away |
I eventually pulled myself together and went into automatic gear, trying to concentrate on anything but the bloody sand! It worked, helped by the last section being used to test erosion prevention techniques and therefore more stable paths.
I took the last drop of water from my hydration bag as I descended into camp!
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| Bird in Boat Harbour Shelter |
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| Boat Harbour Shelter |
I was shattered, and for the first time on the trip, I even had an afternoon nap!
12/11/2013: Tuesday Day 47
It had been a humid night, but the cloud cover promised lower temperatures for the walk today.
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| Walk down to Boat Harbour |
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| Boat Harbour |
We were off at 6:10am, and at Boat Harbour we bumped into a guy who had got his car beached and he had spent the night there. Why he didn't just nip up the nearest dune and get a phone signal, I don't know, but maybe he was a little embarrassed!
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| Stranded! |
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| Stranded! |
Once again, I struggled on the dunes, whilst Mikey raced ahead. Still, the views made up for the hardship, despite the murky conditions, but I would rather murky than sunny today.
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| Boat Harbour |
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| On the cliffs near Boat Harbour |
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| Mikey on the edge |
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| Great view of Boat Harbour |
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| Secluded beach below |
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| Coastal view |
We made good time into Parry Beach where Mikey was waiting for me. After a break of about 45 minutes, chatting to some people staying at the camping ground there, we had another inlet to cross; Parry Inlet. This was a doddle; the sand on the beach was hard and the sandbar was good, meaning the water was knee high at its deepest.
The first five kilometres of Mazzoletti Beach were good and firm. It wasn't until we both commented as much, that the terrain changed, and it was more of a challenge for the final three.
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| Mazzoletti Beach |
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| Selfie on Mazzoletti Beach |
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| Posing on Mazzoletti Beach |
As it was, it took us a couple of hours to reach Greens Pool.
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| Collapsed cliff, diversion to Greens Pool |
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| Greens Pool |
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| Greens Pool |
Here, Mikey was going to be staying with some relatives of a friend, and so we parted. I climbed up Tower Hill to the William Bay shelter, whilst he wandered down to the beach while killing time for his lift. Next possibility of us meeting up might be Denmark, or I might possibly catch up with him at the last shelter before Albany.
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| William Bay Road |
I was there before one in the afternoon. Read and relaxed for the remainder of the day.
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| Lookout near William Bay Shelter |
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| William Bay Shelter |
About 6:30pm, just as I was starting to think about downing my kindle and turning in, an American girl called Moss turned up, after hiking from Denmark. 15 minutes later, from the opposite direction, came her friend, Gypsy; an Australian woman. They were trail mates from the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, and I was humbled by their thru hiking experience.
13/11/2013: Wednesday Day 48
Denmark today and a rest day tomorrow to look forward to! I was off by 5:10am, pleased to be hiking in the cool morning as the sun rose.
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| Sunrise from Tower Hill |
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| Turbines in the distance |
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| Roos |
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| Sandy track |
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| Interesting boulders |
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| Rock face |
First up was Lights Beach.
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| Lights Beach |
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| Staircase not suitable for short arses like me! |
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| Coast |
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| Boulders on the beach |
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| Looking back on the beach |
As I made my way along the coast, to my left, looming large, was the 220 metre ascent of Mount Hallowell.
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| Mount Hallowell awaits.. |
When I finally reached it, I rested and then started up the hill. It was a gentle gradient, on sometimes rocky paths, to a prominent granite outcrop called Monkey Rock.
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| Sheila Hill Memorial Track |
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| Monkey Rock |
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| Gnarly path up to Monkey Rock |
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| Monkey Rock |
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| Monkey Rock view |
From the rock, I climbed higher, passing more impressive boulders, until I came to the top. I dropped off my pack and took the short walk to the summit.
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| Continuing up to Mount Hallowell |
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| Huge boulders litter the hill |
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| More boulders |
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| Mount Hallowell this turnoff |
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| View from Mount Hallowell summit |
The climb down was difficult. I thought the fallen tree problem would have been behind me, but no. The granite was taking its toll on my sodden feet, and by the time I had reached the bottom they were starting to "trench" up.
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| The descent of Mount Hallowell |
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| Slippery track on Mount Hallowell |
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| Nearing the bottom |
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| The bottom of Mount Hallowell |
I was on the outskirts of Denmark now, but still 6km to go through suburbia, along the inlet, and down some back tracks. It was good to reach the trail head for the town, and complete the final ten minute walk to my accommodation.
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| Wilson Inlet |
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| Wilson Inlet, near Denmark |
Another section done, I checked in and took my time trying to restore my feet to some semblance of normality.
To be continued..
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