Days 55 to 58: Mt Clare to Walpole and Rest Days in Walpole
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
The first Red Tingle Trees
Overview map Mt Clare to Walpole
Use Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 7 - Walpole
A mostly downhill trek into Walpole for some well earned R&R… not to mention eating!
As we leave Mt Clare Hut, the rain eases slightly and we begin seeing the first of the giant Red Tingle Trees (Eucalyptus jacksonii).
These Red Tingle trees (Eucalyptus jacksonii) are extraordinary: they are not particularly tall, but they are shallow rooted and have developed a wide base and buttressing to maintain their stability.
Botanists and ecologists will love the tingle forests. They are ancient, relict populations surviving from a wetter Gondwanan time when they had a much wider distribution. Now, they cling on only in the wettest parts of SW Western Australia on the few mountain peaks that have enough moisture to sustain them. With our climate changing, they have no cooler, wetter parts to retreat to higher up, and they are likely doomed. It is a devastating realisation, not least because many of the largest trees are hundreds of years old.
In a nearby burned area, we see black forms of King Leek (Prasophyllum regium)
and green forms.
First glimpses of Walpole; here, Nornalup Inlet, all of which (and its surrounds) is Marine Reserve and National Park.
Down, down, down and onto the flat.
It’s raining again, but we are nearly there!
The sun has come out and views make those last steps easier. Pub Food here we come!
Rest Days 56, 57 and 58 Walpole
Did you know that chocolate blocks come in these sizes? No, neither did I, and I’m sure it’s no coincidence they can be found in a thru-hiker town supermarket!
Today is all about resupply, and we have our priorities: 1: Chocolate 2. Pub Food (Hunks of MEAT). 3. Chocolate. 4. Lollies. 5. Chocolate.
In fact, both Geoff and I have lost weight (around 8 kg each) even while cramming in as much food as possible. Most people lose a lot of weight on a thru-hike, many of them a lot more than we have (often up to 20 kg). Don’t think that as a leisurely hiker you won’t lose weight.
If you are aiming to lose weight, a thru-hike is an excellent way to do so and it will happen no matter how much you eat. More importantly, you will be much healthier on the inside: cholesterol will be down, and cardiovascular fitness up. Of course you shouldn’t exist entirely on chocolate and lollies, but high calorie treats while hiking where the energy is used up immediately won’t cause the same problems as consuming them in a more sedentary lifestyle.
Although we have resupply boxes, track town supermarkets and stores all sell hiker staples like instant noodles, Deb mashed potato and pasta ready-meals; you’ll have to wing it but buying resupplies in towns is perfectly possible and many hikers prefer this approach.
A scratch brekky in the motel room.
We’ve picked up our bouncebox with town clothing as well as our resupply box, but there are more tasks to complete, and we have an extra day because of our double-hut yesterday. The first is taken up with rest and washing.
The TreeTop Walk Motel is under new ownership and not all facilities, including the hotel laundry, are up and running; the town laundromat is out of action as well. And it is here that we experience a bit of Trail Magic. One of the hotel cleaners overhears our attempts to contact alternative places to do a load of washing (it is Extremely Necessary!).
“I live just down the road, you’re welcome to use my machine,” she says.
It’s the small kindnesses of strangers that you remember, indicative of the appreciation townsfolk have for hikers who bring not-inconsiderable business to small villages. We take nice chocolates and a card, and chat to the cleaner and her family while our clothes wash and dry.
The next day, it’s time for the famous tour of Nornalup Inlet, run by polymath guide Gazza Muir, whose family settled here with the first European colonists.
The tour is exceptional, with a potted geographical, botanical, environmental and European cultural history of the region.
You’ll see unique and beautiful areas of the inlet, hear about its history and how an early environmentalist held sway to preserve it against grazing and developmental pressures.
It’s stunning.
A potted geography lesson in the sand detailing the separation of Gondwana.
After listening to a wide-ranging and fascinating excursion into links with Communist Russia, the chemical formula of 1080 and native pea plants, the history of the pioneering European ancestors and numerous other entertaining diversions, I ask about the First Nations Peoples and there is an uncomfortable pause, followed by an evasion. Later I discover that the history of the Noongar people in this region is not a happy one, with war and massacres as happened elsewhere in Australia. It was disappointing that this history was air-brushed from an otherwise excellent presentation; perhaps Gazza was uncomfortable with appropriating, rather than acknowledging, this history.
Regardless, we highly recommend you stay an extra day in Walpole just for this tour, whose proceeds contribute to conservation in the region. Bookings essential.
As always, Geoff rejigs our itinerary.
After double-hutting, we have an extra day in Walpole so what better to do than another walk? We cover some of the Bibbulmun straight out of town, past Coalmine Beach.
The track along the coast is a complete delight.
Knoll Drive loop is famous for its vegetation and orchids, though it’s getting a little late for many of the latter.
Mirbelia dilatata
Gastrolobium bilobum.
We learned on our tour yesterday exactly how plants in this and other genera protected and continue to protect the native animals from predation by introduced foxes and cats, and prevented the establishment of grazing. Early settlers in the region couldn’t understand why their stock kept dying, and assumed it was due to snakebite. But no: these peas contain a toxin deadly to introduced mammals, so deadly that even when a predator eats an animal that has itself consumed the pea, that predator dies, never to consume a second native animal. Local native animals have evolved alongside the toxin, and are unaffected.
This is why, on this walk and on the Bibbulmun around town, you’ll find signs of quokkas and other tiny marsupials that have been eaten out of habitats elsewhere around Australia.
Another Karri Spider (Caladenia karri)
And Pterostylis turfosa
It has been a marvellous break in a small town that’s often overlooked in favour of its larger neighbours, but we highly recommend that leisurely hikers spend a day or two here.
