There are moments on long hikes when you realise how lucky you are to be on such an incredible adventure, and this was one of them. I was conscious that I was experiencing a part of Western Australia that even most locals will never see, and that you can only ever see on a journey by foot.
We could see much of the ground we’d covered during the day, including the plains and the many forest islands. Watching the canopies of the karri trees turn gold in the fading light was simply spectacular.
The track took us through some spectacularly thick karri forest where you’ve really got no option but to follow the waugyls. The morning sun streamed through the canopy, making for a real Fern Gully vibe on the forest floor.
Accessing the water requires wading through a reedy bog, which wasn’t too pleasant, but worse was the mass of floating particulates that we had to swim through once we were in.
This section was the start of my longest hiking trip yet by far – 16 days and 335km from the tiny town of Northcliffe to the southern terminus in Albany.