Tramping Western Australia

you could post on bushwalk.com hte aussie tramping forum, there will be members there who will have done it..

I haven't done the whole thing but i have done about 70% of it in sections. My pesonal favourite sections are around Pemberton and Walpole where you walk through old growth forrest with Huge karri and marri trees 100s of years old. Similarly when you start to reach the coast from Demark to Albany is very nice. When it comes to repetition walking this track is somewhat different to what you'd be used to. From my experiences you don't often get many views (there are a few spots along the track) but for the most part you're walking through the bush. However this can actually be quite dramatic and beautiful. It can change multiple times in one day from one extreme to another. The site below might be useful to you, and like waynoski said try the aussie tramping forum. http://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/trip-planner/track-sections/ If you can get a hold of the section guide books (there's 2, one for the north section one for the south) they might prove helpful in making a decision as they include maps, pictures of major points and descriptions for each day. Similarly, attempt to get in contact with the Bibulmum track foundation. They have a cumulative experience of the track that no one can beat and they're all really nice people. Personally, if i was coming over. I would attempt to see as much as i can. However, distance in WA are huge, it will take 6-7 hours one way to get to Albany, the end of the track. I would suggest heading up north, However it will be the start of the raining season (need to check on that) so might be off the cards. There's some blogs on the track floating around. if u can find some of those they might be very helpful. The time of year for the track is really good, shouldn't be too hot at all, and wildflowers might be in season. You wouold want to start maybe late october and finish before november as it can get very hot. I've done 2 weeks in summer where u get up at 5am and have to stop at 12pm as it's too hot to go any further. So the closer to winter you can go the better. Snakes shouldn't be a problem, just stomp or scuff your boots from time to time. At the time of year you're going you probably wont see anything till lunchtime till mid afternoon (if any), and then they'd be directly in front of you. So keep common sense. there are typically more sightings the further south you go Let me know if you have any more questions about huts tracks or even specific day walks and ill see what i can dig up from memory. HOPE THIS HELPS :D

It’s not the tiger snakes that you need to worry about (as their legs are so short, they can’t run very fast), it’s the hoop snakes. In the hill country, they lie in wait on the slopes. When you enter a breeding ground, they bite their tail and roll down the hill. They let go of the tail and give a flick which propels them through the air – about head-height, usually. Not all that dangerous, really, as they can’t control direction once in the air – you just need a stick to knock them down. However, you get quite a fright if not expecting them.

hoop snake = fiction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoop_snake

Fortunately we carry trekking poles so will be able to catch the hoop snakes on them and flick them away. But thanks for the warning! lol Thanks for the info and links, waynowski and alexf. I will check them out when I have some time. Cheers

I'd be more worried about drop bears, Thylarctos plummetus, a large, arboreal, predatory marsupial related to the Koala. - Read more at: http://australianmuseum.net.au/ As a local, my personal preference over the Bibbulmen would be the Cape to Cape (125km) and/or a traverse of the Stirlings (4days) - shorter trips but cover similar country. I'd leave more time to explore the N but by 4wd.

Drop bears only feed late autumn about a week and 4 days after the equinox so as long as you dont go then you will be fine.

When we planned our 2 months in Namibia the first guidebook I read mentioned lots of snakes including black mambas at Waterberg Park. So I skipped Waterberg from our first itinerary. Then I bought another guidebook, forgot what the first had said, and booked us three days there! We walked in bush and up the plateau every day and didn't see a snake :-)