Bibbulmun Track – Kalamunda to Albany | Aushiker: Bicycling & Hiking in Western Australia

961 km (597 mi) End to End

Completed End to End – August – October, 2003

Introduction | Accessing the Track | Maps/Documentation | Track Sections |Others Track Notes/Resources

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The Bibbulmun Track is the longest walk trail in Western Australia, approximately 961 km in length. The actual distance does vary marginally as the track is subject to frequent re-alignment (both temporary and permanent). The Track’s northern trailhead is Kalamunda, a hills suburb of Perth and the southern trail head is at Albany, on the southern coast of Western Australia. The Track leaves Kalamunda, travelling through jarrah/marri forests, before entering the karri forests and then the tingle forests as it snakes south. Eventually the Track emerges on the southern ocean for the final coastal run into Albany, hence it is often referred to as the forest to the coast track. Along the way there are 48 campsites (three-sided shelter, bush toilet, water tank, picnic tables, and fire ring) and the Track passes through seven towns. Over the length of the Track, an average days walk is approximately 18 km (based on a 54 day walk). The track is very accessible, allowing for short family walks, to day walks to overnighters, to going end to end.

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ASSESSING THE TRACK

The northern trailhead is approximately 26 km east from the Perth General Post Office and is located on the corner of Mundaring Weir Road and Railway Road, Kalamunda (hills suburb of Perth).

<small><a href="http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-31.973248,116.060706&z=20&t=h&nmd=20091127?source=embed" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.nearmap.com');" style="text-align:left">View Large Map</a></small>

The southern trailhead is 409 km south of Perth (via road) at the Old Railway Station on Proudlove Parade (300 metres east of the southern end of York Street), Albany.

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Northern Trailhead

Public transport to the northern trailhead is via Transperth buses which service Kalamunda regularly from Perth city. See the 285, 287; 298, 300; 302; 303 timetables. There is no rail service to Kalamunda.

Southern Trailhead

The main public transport provider to the southern trailhead is Transwa. Transwa services Albany daily. The applicable timetables are S1, S2, and S3.

Other major access points include North Bannister, Dwellingup, Balingup, Pemberton, Northcliffe, Walpole, and Denmark.

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MAPS/DOCUMENTATION

The main documentation on the track are the two guidebooks published by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) (formally the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM)). These are "A guide to the Bibbulmun Track: Northern Half" (2nd Edition) which covers the Track from Kalamunda to Donnelly River Village and "A guide to the Bibbulmun Track: Southern Half" (2nd Edition) which covers the Track from Donnelly River Village to Albany.

In addition to the guidebooks, DEC publishes a series of eight maps covering the track. Maps 1 to 4 cover the northern half and maps 5 to 8 cover the southern half. The maps where updated in 2003 and are in a scale of 1:50 000 and printed on virtually rip-proof and water proof paper. The respective maps are:

Northern Half:

Map 1: Darling Range
Map 2: Dwellingup
Map 3: Collie
Map 4: Blackwood

Southern Half:

Map 5: Pemberton
Map 6: Northcliffe
Map 7: Walpole
Map 8: Denmark/Albany

DEC also publishes the maps in a northern series and a southern series map pack, generally at a reduced price over the single maps. There is also a DVD/Video available, titled "Getting on Track – Making the Most of your Walk."

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TRACK SECTIONS

The Bibbulmun Track is "divided" into 58 sections. While the Track is divided into sections, its is not uncommon for end to end enders or section walkers to walk more than one section in a day, so the sections are delineated only by the placement of campsites or towns and should only be a guide to planning a walk schedule. Sections between towns which have public transport access (or reasonable resupply options) are highlighted in yellow.

In the comments sections I have detailed my 2003 walk itinerary. With hindsight I would do it a little differently, including cutting out the rest days at Dwellingup and Collie and leaving my options open for Denmark and Pemberton. Also I would walk straight through to West Cape Howe from Denmark unless having to walk around the inlet. In the northern section, Waalegh or Beraking straight through to Brookton is quite possible, saving another day. With these changes alone, my walk time could have been reduced by six days.

Other points worth noting when planning and walking the Track:

A good source of local information is the relevant Department of Environment and Conservation office which manages the section of Track of interest.
It is not uncommon to find mosquito larvae in the water tanks at the campsites. The larvae can be easily filtered out with a piece of cloth or stocking over the tap. I personally carry a stocking for this purpose. If you find one on the water tank’s tap please leave it there for other walkers.
The water colour in the tanks often has a brown tinge. This is a result of tannin in the water. It has no impact on the taste, just how it looks.

Northern Half

Section Number	From	To	Section Distance – Kilometres	Cumulative Distance – Southbound	Cumulative Distance – Northbound	Comments on the Section
1	Northern terminus	Hewett’s Hill	10.3	10.3	955.8	Day 1 through to Hewett’s Hill
2	Hewett’s Hill	Ball Creek	10.6	20.9	945.6
3	Ball Creek	Helena	8.6	29.5	935.0	Day 2 through to Helena
4	Helena	Waalegh	9.5	38.9	926.4	Day 3 through to Waalegh
5	Waalegh	Beraking	8.5	47.4	916.9
6	Beraking	Mt Dale	11.5	58.9	908.4	Day 4 through to Mt Dale
7	Mt Dale	Brookton	8.3	67.2	896.9
8	Brookton	Canning	11.1	78.3	888.6	Day 5 through to Canning
9	Canning	Monadnocks	12.7	91.0	877.5	Day 6 through to Monadnocks
10	Monadnocks	Mt Cooke	15.6	106.6	864.8	Day 7 through to Diversion Temp Campsite due to 2003 Mt Cooke fires
11	Mt Cooke	Nerang	12.7	119.3	849.2
12	Nerang	Gringer Creek	16.6	135.9	836.5	Day 8 through to Gringer Creek
13	Gringer Creek	Whitehorse Hills	17.6	153.5	819.9	Day 9 through to Whitehorse Hills Gringer Creek is two kilometres from North Banister Road House. Transwa buses stop at the roadhouse
14	Whitehorse Hills	Mount Wells	14.5	168	802.3	Day 10 through to Mt Wells
15	Mount Wells	Chadoora	14.9	182.9	787.8	Day 11 through to Chadoora
16	Chadoora	Dwellingup	19.4	202.3	772.9	Day 12 through to Dwellingup Day 13 rest day in Dwellingup Dwellingup is a small town with a supermarket, however, it is not serviced by Transwa or other public transport.
17	Dwellingup	Swamp Oak	13.1	215.4	753.5	Day 14 through to Swamp Oak
18	Swamp Oak	Murray	18.5	233.9	740.4	Day 15 through to Murray
19	Murray	Dookanelly	17.7	251.6	721.9	Day 16 through to Dookanelly
20	Dookanelly	Possum Springs	19.3	270.9	704.2	Day 17 through to Possum Springs
21	Possum Springs	Yourdamung	18.6	289.5	684.9	Day 18 through to Yourdamung A NO fires policy applies at Yourdamung campsite ; fuel stoves only.
22	Yourdamung	Harris Dam	13.6	303.1	666.3	Day 19 through to Harris Dam
23	Harris Dam	Collie	21.3	324.4	652.7	Day 20 through to Collie Day 21 rest day in Collie
24	Collie	Yabberup	19.6	344.0	631.4	Day 22 through to Yabberup
25	Yabberup	Noggerup	17.7	361.7	611.8	Day 23 through to Noggerup
26	Noggerup	Grimwade	21.9	383.6	594.1	Day 24 through to Grimwade
27	Grimwade	Balingup	22.4	406	572.2	Day 25 through to Balingup Balingup, whilst being a small town and is serviced by Transwa. Gas canisters now available at Balingup April 29, 2007: Called in on the General Store – found walker "supplies" to be very limited and mostly unsuitable. I would not recommend relying on the store for resupply. Donnelly River Village continues to be a better option.
28	Balingup	Blackwood	17.7	423.7	549.8	Day 26 through to Blackwood A NO fires policy applies at Blackwood campsite; fuel stoves only.
29	Blackwood	Gregory Brook	18.0	441.7	532.1	Day 27 through to Gregory Brook
30	Gregory Brook	Donnelly River Village	20.5	462.2	514.1	Day 28 through to Donnelly River Village Donnelly River Village does carry some walker supplies and they can get supplies in from Manjimup overnight.

Southern Half

Section Number	From	To	Section Distance – Kilometres	Cumulative Distance – Southbound	Cumulative Distance – Northbound	Comments on the Section
31	Donnelly River Village	Tom Road	15.9	478.1	493.6	Day 29 through to Tom Road
32	Tom Road	Boarding House	22.8	500.9	477.7	Day 30 through to Boarding House
33	Boarding House	Beavis	19.1	520.0	454.9	Day 31 through to Beavis
34	Beavis	Beedelup	19.5	539.5	435.8	Day 32 through to Beedelup Steep climb to the loo
35	Beedelup	Pemberton	23.7	563.2	416.3	Day 33 through to Pemberton Day 34 rest day in Pemberton Farms and roads
36	Pemberton	Warren	21.7	584.9	392.6	Day 35 through to Warren
37	Warren	Schafer	21.1	606	370.9	Day 36 through to Schafer Swimming in the lake
38	Schafer	Northcliffe	14.0	620	349.8	Day 37 through to Northcliffe
39	Northcliffe	Gardner	15.1	635.1	335.8	Day 38 through to Gardener
40	Gardner	Lake Maringup	15.9	651	320.7	Day 39 through to Lake Maringup
41	Lake Maringup	Dog Pool	24.5	675.5	304.8	Day 40 through to Dog Pool
42	Dog Pool	Mt Chance	19.4	694.9	280.3	Day 41 through to Mt Chance A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
43	Mt Chance	Woolbales	20.4	715.3	260.9	Day 42 through to Woolbales A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only. Worth diverting to make the climb of Mt Pingerup. Push on through the carpark crossing the granite to get the great views; There is a track behind the Woolbales hut that leads to a granite dome which provides spectacular views of Broke Inlet
44	Woolbales	Long Point	17.2	732.5	240.5	Day 43 through to Long Point A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
45	Long Point	Mt Clare	12.2	744.7	223.3	Day 44 through to Mt Clare A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only. Should have walked on through to Walpole, skipping over-nighting at Mt Clare
46	Mt Clare	Walpole	10.0	754.7	211.1	Day 45 through to Walpole Day 46 rest day in Walpole
47	Walpole	Frankland River	17.5	772.7	201.1	Day 47 through to Frankland River A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
48	Frankland River	Giants	13.7	785.9	183.6	A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
49	Giants	Rame Head	15.6	801.5	169.9	Day 48 through to Rame Head Day 49 rest day at Rame Head A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
50	Rame Head	Peaceful Bay	10.5	812.0	154.3	Day 50 through to Peaceful Bay Peaceful Bay is a small settlement. The caravan park shop does carry some walker supplies. The settlement is not serviced by public transport.
51	Peaceful Bay	Boat Harbour	22.7	834.7	143.8	Day 51 through to Boat Harbour A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only. Canoes to cross inlet if bar open
52	Boat Harbour	William Bay	19.9	854.6	121.1	Day 52 through to William Bay A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
53	William Day	Denmark	15.1	869.7	101.2	Day 53 through to Denmark Day 54 rest day in Denmark
54	Denmark	Nullaki	16.4	886.1	86.1	Day 55 through to Nullaki A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
55	Nullaki	West Cape Howe	16.5	902.6	69.7	Day 56 through to West Cape Howe A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
54	West Cape Howe	Torbay	16.4	919.0	53.2	Day 57 through to Torbay A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only. Long diversion if inlet not crossable
55	Torbay	Hidden Valley	17.5	936.5	36.8	Day 58 through to Hidden Valley A NO fires policy applies at this campsite; fuel stoves only.
56	Hidden Valley	Albany	19.3	955.8	19.3	Day 59 through to Albany