Backpackermatt

Moving on from Denmark towards Albany on the Bibbulmun Track entails getting either around or across Wilson Inlet first. Unlike each of the other inlets encountered along the Southern Ocean coastline, this crossing can be done neither by wading nor by paddling - unless you have your own canoe or kayak. And so it was that I found myself forking out sixty dollars to the manager of the Blue Wren hostel in Denmark, to drive me all the way around the inlet and drop me off at a boat ramp on the northern shore of the Nullaki Peninsula - about six kilometres from Denmark as the crow flies, but a 45-minute drive by more conventional means. Once there, the final 80km of the Bibbulmun Track stretched out in a generally easterly direction towards Albany, running roughly ... read more

After enjoying a day-and-a-half of rest and relaxation at the wildlife utopia of Donnelly River Village, I endeavoured to leave on Monday morning (20th September) only to find myself lingering as I passed mobs of kangaroos lazing about in the sunshine on the front lawns of the local houses; and then when I finally did manage to turn out of the main street I encountered the same male emu I had seen on each of the previous two days, still faithfully shepherding his four youngsters from one grazing spot to the next. It wasn't hard to see the attraction of this remote hideaway in the midst of the karri forest, for both animals and humans alike - even if I couldn't approve of the visiting families feeding the tame wildlife (which consists mostly of kangaroos, wallabies, ... read more

Stretching for 1000km between Kalamunda in the Perth Hills and Albany on the Southern Ocean, the Bibbulmun Track is one of Australia's longest and most loved walking trails. It's not hard to see the appeal. Almost entirely contained within a string of National Parks and other protected conservation areas, it passes through the botanical wonderland of the South-West forests, before paralleling the Southern Ocean for much of the way between Walpole and Albany. At it's northern end the track runs for 210km  (crossing two highways in the process) without encountering a single town. After that, a small town is passed through roughly every 4-8 days, allowing through-hikers to either stock up on whatever food might be available from the local grocery store, or collect food drop boxes that they have sent on ahead in the post ... read more

Having faced unexpected trials and tribulations during my first three days on the Larapinta Trail, it was with a fair degree of trepidation that I rose to greet the day on Thursday (August 12th), knowing that - according to the map guide at least - I was about to face one of the most difficult days on the trail. Still, it also promised to be one of the most spectacular, with the route climbing up and over the Chewings Range before descending to a campsite near a picturesque waterhole. Despite wasting fifteen minutes trying to buy a lip balm from the kiosk at Standley Chasm (the less said about that the better) I managed to get going by 9am, as planned. The fact that each of the three ladies with whom I had been camped had ... read more

Rising in the vast Arnhem Land Escarpment, the Katherine River (known to the Jawoyn people as Barraya, meaning 'Blossoming Kookaburra') flows through a fault in the sandstone escarpment, forming a vast gorge system framed by spectacular cliffs. In the Wet Season the river rises up to ten metres, flowing unimpeded through the entire gorge system at a speed of up to 40km/h. In the Dry Season however, the river falls significantly and a series of exposed rock bars divide the gorge into different sections separated by small sets of shallow rapids, with the various navigable stretches of river being referred to as the First Gorge, Second Gorge and so on, continuing upstream as far as the Thirteenth Gorge some 16km away. And though freshwater crocodiles are right at home in this sort of ecosystem (there are ... read more