Jessica Chaplin-Mills (The Bears)

Track Towns and Supplies

• How many days did you stay in Track Towns? 6
• Did you have any issues finding food/supplies? No
• There is no where to have dinner if you stay in Balingup - No pub or restaurants. The accommodation at Donnelly River is very restricted and expensive for what you get in terms of the hikers rooms or camping exclusively in the hut. The visitor centres aren't always open so you may not be able to sign-in or collect food drops (only Balingup had an alternate phone number to be able to collect your items if the visitor centre was closed) The Collie visitor centre charges $20 for a small canister of gas (Bunnings sells for $4).

Particular Track Towns that you would return to:

• Dwellingup
• Donnelly River Village
• Denmark

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Your Story or Advice for Others

Your Best Equipment
Mozzie net! If you can't sleep your gunna have a shitty day. We only ever stayed in the huts, opting not to carry a tent and had some really bad/heavy mosquito nights especially on the coast and through the Pingerup Plains. Also helped when the flies got so bad they would drive you mad.

Your Worst Equipment
I have a sleeping bag rated for -5 which I had used for the Three Capes hike in Tassie. However for this trip I found that it just wasn't warm enough for me. I am quite a petite person and do feel the cold. Having had no trouble previously I thought it would be alright, alas it was not.

Advice for Others
If you're feeling the cold in your sleeping bag you can zip up your rain jacket and slip it over the end of you sleeping bag to add another layer. If the huts are a little drafty or the wind is really coming in through the sides of the hut you can use your poncho to line the inside of the wall. Have a break every 2 hours while hiking and take your pack off.

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Trip Details

How you completed the Bibbulmun Track:

• All at once

• How many days did it take you to complete the Track? 49
• Who did you complete the Track with? With family
• Was undertaking your hike the PRIMARY/MAIN purpose of your TRAVEL from where you currently live? Yes
• What first prompted you to walk the Bibbulmun Track? Local knowledge
  

What did you use to navigate the Track?

• BT Maps
• BT Guidebooks

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Your Experience

• Availability of information: Fair - It would be good to see a specific Bib Track App that had current information for those who are on the track - fire/weather warnings, digital map, information about diversions/realignments, ability to track your journey.
• Amount of Wildlife Encountered: Good - close encounter with a flock of White-Tailed Cockatoos

Favourite Section
No particular sections, but definitely the forest over the coast every time.

Highlight of your trip
Seeing all the orchids and ones that I had never seen or expected to see where they were.

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