Day 54: Woolbales to Long Point
We acknowledge the Nyoongar People as the traditional custodians of the land and waters along the Bibbulmun Track
You’ll reach the Southern Ocean today!
Use Bibbulmun Track Foundation Map 7 - Walpole
Elevation gain and loss information for the day. I find it tough, with a seemingly endless climb towards the hut. Again, however, the rewards are worth the price… and you’ll finally reach Western Australia’s famous southern beaches with their squeaky white sand and crashing waves.
Someone had written in the logbook last night that there was no more wading BUT THEY LIED!!! Oh well, you’re nearly at the end and this may be your last day of wet boots! Besides, just look at it: beautiful.
You’ll traverse through that fabulous open heath, so rich in wildflowers…
And more forest and granite.
Granite monadnocks often have plant species not present in the forest or heathland around them. I’m not sure what this one is, possibly Verticordia. If you can help, please do!
Bartsia trixago looks weedy, but it’s native.
Many Forest Mantis spider orchids (Caladenia attifens ssp attigens)
Tantalising glimpses of the coastline… but it never seems to get any closer!
Randomly placed duckboard, but I’m not complaining!
If you’re hiking in spring or autumn, you’ll almost certainly have seen quite a few snakes in the last few days (we see two today), but this is probably the most dangerous encounter you can experience on the Bibbulmun. Looks innocuous, but it’s a swarm of bees on the ground in the very centre of the track, and the scrub on either side is dense and almost impenetrable. Can you imagine planting your foot in the middle of them? This little blob on the track requires a twenty minute bush-bash detour.
The wildflowers are extraordinary.
Granite sun orchid (Thelymitra ‘Southern Granites’)
Slender lobelia (Lobelia tenuior)
A new donkey orchid, the Dunsborough Donkey (Diuris jonesii)
The terrain has a distinct coastal ambience now, yet another change.
Fields of pink Pimelea rosea
And another new orchid, Cyanicula gertrudiae. Thank goodness because my legs need more spring in them!
What a spot for lunch! We have been able to see the coast on and off for hours now, but are finally almost there.
This fabulous bright purple daisy is, sadly, purple groundsel (Senecio elegans), an invasive weed.
But this is not: a boronia right on the foredunes, B. alata
At last, we’re on the beach! I generally don’t enjoy beach walking but, as part of a much longer track, it’s such a welcome change and the sand is relatively firm.
Back into the dunes. Yellow Senecio sp. growing in bare, deep sand.
Oh my. A short, steep soft sand dune will test your legs but, before that, you get to experience THIS.
A little breather before descending again.
This extraordinary flowering shrub in the Solanaceae (potato family) is Anthocercis littorea, or Yellow Tailflower.
The coastal views are a fabulous change from the forest, farmland and swampland of the past fortnight.
And there are these fabulous hiker seats, with a little raised shelf on which to rest your backpack!
A final descent to the hut at last! I’m exhausted.
Boots and insoles drying. Have we finished the wading? I think so!
The hut is beautifully situated. As with all Bibbulmun huts, it’s also perfectly oriented with its back to the wind. You’d think this would be an obvious design consideration, but anyone who has stayed in many Australian huts will realise it is less common than you might imagine. Non-hiker Designers will often orient them to take advantage of a view, thereby also ensuring rain and wind blow straight inside to drench sleeping platforms.
But we camp on one of the tent pitches instead. The ones around Long Point are amongst the smallest and most sloping options out of all the pitches we’ve seen thus far; larger tents like the XMid 2p would probably need to be pitched on the track into the hut.
Afterwards in the hut, we all feel a sense of satisfaction. Nearing the end of the journey, everyone is beginning to consider their achievements, and recalibrating or refining their original motivation. Anyone who has come this far will be clear about why they are hiking: you may not have been sure at the start, but you will be by now because, without this understanding, you will have given up. You will also have grown as a human being.
My respect for solo hikers in particular has grown, too. When you are hiking in a group or as a couple, there is always someone to support you when you are down or discouraged. There is someone with whom to share your achievements and your daily highs and lows. Solo hikers must rely entirely on themselves, and perhaps this is why so many of them find ‘tramily’, or Trail Family, at least one other person with whom to share their journey. We are a social species, selected through evolution to coexist with others in our tribe.
Many weeks ago, we met a young man who had unsuccessfully attempted the Bibbulmun a couple of times before but, when we first chatted, Geoff and I were both certain that he would succeed this time, not only because of his determination and deep self awareness, but because he teamed up with a trail mate.
If you are hiking solo and are doubting your ability to complete your journey, teaming up with a like-minded (or completely different!) hiker may help. Clarifying your own motivation will help, too. During the course of our walk, Geoff and I clarified our own motivation, and the specific aim of the website you’re looking at now is a direct result of that hike.
