Bibbulmun – S9 – Denmark
18 March – 20 March 2019 | Days 29 – 31
Kilometres 862.1 – 954.9 >>> 92.8 (57.7 mi)
Leaving Denmark, on has to follow the South Coast Highway for a few kilometres to get back to the trail.
Ask any hiker and they will tell you that they generally hate rod walks. I’m no exception. However, today I was in a really good mood and I actually enjoyed it. I had music on followed the road.
I made it up to the Nullaki shelter and decided to stay the night there.
In the morning I was up early and watched the sunrise from the trail.
It was another sunny day and it was tremendous to wander through the green dunes.
I stopped at the West Cape Howe shelter for about an hour to fill up on water and snacks, and to marvel at the cool cloud formations over the bay below.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on some of the most beautiful sections of the trail.
I arrived at the Torbay shelter at three thirty. I checked the distance to Albany and realised that it was almost another 36 kilometres. The next shelter down though was only about twelve kilometres away, leaving 24 for the last day. Much better. So onward it was.
And boy am I happy that I kept on moving. The evening was about to become one of the most spectacular sky spectacles of my life.
It started off with some harmless looking thunderclouds and rain, just out to sea.
Looking in the other direction, there was still sunshine and a rainbow.
And then things went completely mental. There were the towering dark thunderclouds to the east of me, fully lit by the setting sun in the west.
The scene didn’t last too long, but it was spectacular. The view to the west was also very beautiful, if not quite as spectacular.
I made it to the Muttonbird shelter by about six thirty and set up my tent under a bush and went to sleep.
The night ended up being a pretty miserable one. I ended up waking up in the middle of the night with hundreds of Millipedes crawling all over me. Somehow they’d found a gap in my tent and made their way in. It was a great reason for me to finally fix all the little holes in my tent with my Dyneema tape that I always carry. I killed all the Millipedes in my tent and went back to sleep. Shortly after I woke up again with more Millipedes crawling over my face. Apparently I’d missed something.
To make a long story short, I eventually found a large gap underneath the inside pocket of my tent (which is why I’d missed it before), taped it shut, and finally had peace inside my home.
In the morning I still had Millipedes crawling all over my tent and it took me a while to pack it up.
I walked back to the shelter and enjoyed a millipede free breakfast. I was on trail by eight thirty. 23.9 kilometres to go.
It was another beautiful, cool and overcast day. The views down to the ocean were really pretty. The colours of the water were fantastic.
Even a couple of kangaroos came by to say goodbye from the trail.
Soon I could see Albany in the distance.
The last seven kilometres were a road walk into town. It was still nice enough though as it was going alongside the water front.
I arrived at the trail sign at a quarter to two and had officially finished the trail. A cyclist had also just finished the Munda Biddi trail and we congratulated each other and took each other’s photo.
We said goodbye and then I went into town to check into my hotel.
The Bibbulmun had been a great trail that I wouldn’t mind to be doing again one day.