Year 9: Bibbulmun Track, Spring Term 2019
Dwellingup to Collie (130.5km)
On Saturday, the 16th of November, the alarm bells were ringing throughout the House at 5.30am … Wake up and get ready for the Bibby!!! We all met at the back of the dining hall to form into our walking groups and collect all of our supplies for the next 7 days of walking (well, three and half, because of re-supply on the Tuesday). We boarded our relevant buses, one destined for Dwellingup and the other for Collie. Group 1 was led by Mr Mecham and Ms Amber Fresh along with Edward, Tyler, Dardayne, Kody, Jahlil, Orson, Brooke, and new comer, Ben Simpson, with injured player Kalib re-joining the team at re-supply for the second half. Group 2 was led by Mr Rhys Holdman and Ms Shaye Pett along with Tom, Oscar, Brodie, Sid, Eli, Jyrone, Michael, Eason and George.
Group 1 arrived in the beautiful town of Dwellingup with the expected temperature being 38 degrees for the day. Before our 13km walk, the Staff fueled up on some decent coffee and the boys enjoyed a pie from the Blue Wren Cafe. We were all set, with plenty of water and some good walking legs, off we all went … the heat was turned up, but we powered our way and arrived at the Swamp Oak Hut. A quick change into our swimmers and we headed down to the Murray River for the best swim ever!! we spent a couple of hours at “Fang Falls” cooling down before heading back to the hut for another surprise. Mr Jacob Miolin (Outdoor Ed) turned up in the ute and cooked the group a BBQ dinner with an Esky full of cold drinks … ‘what an end to an awesome day’ even though a few insects were out that night, falling asleep under the stars makes it all worth while.
Day two, we were not woken up by alarm bells, but by ‘laughing Kookaburra’s’ instead. We made our way from the Swamp Oak Hut to the Murray Hut, which was a tough 19km hike up and down some decent hills. The reward was once again a swim in the Murray River.
Day three, saw us leave the Murray Hut and make our way to the Dookanelly Hut which was a good 19km hike again. On Day four we hiked 15 kms to reach the re-supply at the Harvey-Quindanning Road. We met up with Group 2, shared some good stories, had a BBQ lunch and crossed over to complete the rest of the hike until both groups return back to Scotch on Friday. I just hiked to the re-supply and swapped with Mr Steve McLean who will finish the rest of the hike with Group 1. I managed to take a few photos and I have posted them below: