On December 26th, it will be time to head south to complete the last section of the Bibbulmun Track between Peaceful Bay and Albany along the southern coast of Western Australia.

This section of the track runs for 148km and has, apparently, some of the most beautiful stretches of coastline anywhere in Western Australia.  Halfway along this part of the trail is the town of Denmark which is 63km from Peaceful Bay (or 2.5 days hiking) which will help break up the section.

The plan is to drive down to Peaceful Bay and pick up my hiking friend along the way. We’ll park the car there and hike east over 6 days to Albany. We will, unfortunately, need to do the car shuttle on the way back from Albany to pick the car up again.

This part of WA has little to no public transport and whilst I’ve heard there is a bus service that goes along the main highway it does not actually go to Peaceful Bay. This leaves no choice but to drive in to start the trail from here.  Peaceful Bay is a somewhat unusual place to get onto the trail at exactly because of these logistical problems. Most people would actually get on trail at Walpole (62km to the west) to avoid these problems. I, of course, prefer to make things a little more difficult….

As the drive down will consume much of the day, we will dry camp the first night in the area of Irwin Inlet.  As it is summer, that will necessitate carrying significant amounts of water to be on the safe side.  Our first reliable fresh water source is likely to be Boat Harbour campsite which is 15km in from Irwin Inlet.

There are several inlets in this part of the track which mostly can be crossed by a sandbar. Irwin Inlet is, however, crossed by canoe which will take a little time but is not overly difficult and is very sheltered.  It will probably take me a little extra time given I have been known to be a little uncoordinated at times and, to be honest, don’t really embrace the thought of an unintentional dunk complete with my pack.

I won’t spoil the rest of the trail, or what awaits at the end, at this stage. I know the walking will be challenging and the end is so close!…