Day 17: Chadoora to Dwellingup and Day 18 Rest Day in Dwellingup
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
Much of today’s hike follows the old railway line. It’s pleasant walking.
The last day to Dwellingup:
And Geoff can get his long-awaited chicken schnitzel with pepper gravy!
Whilst the day is relatively flat with gentle grades… it’s long, just over 20 kilometres. Use the Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 2 Dwellingup
Well, the weather has finally broken and we can expect a wet day today, plus our longest distance thus far, at 20.7 km (12.9 mi). Fortunately, the terrain is almost entirely flat with just a few undulations. I’m tired, but the carrots of hot showers and pub tucker are excellent motivators! We set off in the drizzle undaunted, but there are fewer images today because of the steady rain.
Our Visp rainjackets and pants are performing pretty well. They are waterproof in showery conditions but start to seep after several hours of heavy rain, particularly around the shoulders, waist and chest strap. However, because they dry so fast, they’re great in showery weather. My pack cover is DCF; we both also use DCF pack liner bags. Overkill, perhaps, but DCF is very light and the peace of mind of knowing that our down sleeping bag and sleep clothes will be dry no matter the weather is worth it.
These leaves are common. They look like orchid leaves and later I discover that indeed they are: Cryptostylis ovata. These don’t generally flower until Christmas but I might get lucky and see an earlybird towards the end of the walk. They look exceedingly like fallen Corymbia leaves. I wonder whether it’s convergent evolution to protect against grazing animals?
1080 poison is an excellent feral animal control because it targets only non-native species.
Pterostylis sp.
Caladenia magniclavata
Parts of the track are beside the rail line. This part is okay but some of the sections are quite overgrown, and in some narrower sections when the Trymalium gets wet it droops and blocks the path almost completely. We suspect that most hikers simply follow the rail track all the way into Dwellingup to avoid the brush, as well as the dips and climbs that the rail track irons out.
300- year-old jarrah
Lunch on the track. We wait for a break in the rain to stop, and the sun is peeking through as well. We had considered taking a lightweight tarp but it’s too much weight for a thru hike. Lightweight hiking umbrellas are another option for clear areas of track and it’s one we’ll investigate more after this hike.
We decide to follow the railway the rest of the way into town rather than the parallel overgrown track. Everyone we speak to later has done the same, but this part is an active line so hikers do so at their own risk. The last few kilometres seem to go on forever!
But you’ll see ghost towns, memorials and interesting interpretive signs along the rail track.
Orchid enthusiasts should detour via the cemetery a kilometre or so before Dwellingup. The cemetery adjoins the railway and is known for its orchids. Many cemeteries in Australia are rich in orchids because they were fenced with a large buffer area for expansion that never happened; this buffer was rarely cleared and never grazed. Cemeteries near country townships are usually in rich farmland that is otherwise entirely utilised, or in accessible valleys with deeper soil than surrounding stony hills. Most of Australia’s National Parks and Reserves are in the harsh steep or rocky country left over after all the fertile bits were taken: the soils and therefore vegetation in cemetery reserves is often unique and different to that in nearby parks.
We pass this granite outcrop. Normally I’d explore it but I have a hot shower front and foremost in my mind!
And finally we reach town.
Indeed it would be but we don’t have time to share the local gossip - shower and pub meal here we come!
We pick up our resupply box as we walk past the visitor centre which is on the way to the pub: excellent planning, Bibbulmun Track Foundation! We don’t realise there’s a log book to sign there. We’ve made good time and arrive before 3 pm so have not been in a rush to reach it before closing time. Then onwards to the day’s main attraction: the Dwellingup Pub across the road.
Day 18 Rest Day, Dwellingup
The outstanding community-owned Dwellingup Pub. We’re told it’s the only community-owned one in Western Australia and one of very few in Australia.
After a hot shower and brilliantly gargantuan dinner, we both sleep like stones, even though there is a Mountain Biking event in town, and the pub is jumping. Our ‘rest day’, however, proves not to be particularly restful because there is so much to do. We eat brekky at the Waypoint Cafe while a load of washing and drying (the delicate setting is okay for our woollens in the washbags from our bouncebox) does its thing. Then it’s time to organise resupply from the box in the hotel room. We ring friends and family, eat lunch and walk to the Dwellingup Cemetery to look for orchids but are a tad too early and most are still in bud. The day zips past in a flash.
The rest day routine is completely different from the past few weeks, but it’s only now that it’s brought home to us how accustomed we’ve become to it. Walk, eat, sleep, repeat. It’s demanding and easy at the same time - no external issues to worry about, just each day and each step as they arise.
Some people call rest days ‘zero days’. This doesn’t appeal to us one bit. It implies this day is a wasted day, a nothing day, because you do zero kilometres. Of course it’s neither wasted nor nothing. It’s as important physically and mentally for many hikers, especially those of us who aren’t into crunching out miles. A rest day is an opportunity to relax and recharge.
Our mental approach is that we are not walking 1,000km; we are just going for a little walk every day, for a few months. However, our bodies know something our brains don’t. I can’t remember the last time I ordered a Hunk of Red Meat at a pub; it would be at least three decades ago. Pasta and salad or fish is more my style but, when we enter the dining room, there are pork ribs on offer, something I’d not normally consider for a second. My mouth starts watering when a humungous trencher is carried past. Protein! Fat! Yes! Add leafy greens on the side and it is divine. Geoff can’t believe his eyes!
Last night over dinner we caught up with the two lovely younger hikers we’d met at Monadnocks and who had double-hutted at Mt Wells, as well as the delightful slower hiking couple who started on the same day as us but who are now a day ahead because we spent two nights at Monadnocks. Apparently the weather had indeed been horrific for them, with the track slippery and no views from Mts Cuthbert or Vincent. Nevertheless they were in good spirits and we’re sure they’ll make it.
We’ve read fun notes from them in the logbooks and miss their company, but we will certainly meet other interesting people. Solo hikers in particular often team up for mutual support but, as a couple, we are comfortable with our own company - great people are icing on the cake, and we have met fabulous hikers every night we’ve shared a hut site.
