Walk of Madness Report

The walk of madness (all so known in some circles as the trek of stupidity) began pleasantly enough at the Northern Terminus of the Bibbulmun track in Kalamunda with Shan having a good old power yack. And welcome to this post's first pro-tip.


Pro-tip 1: Don't consume copious amounts of roset the night before a 24 hour hike.


The three of us set off at 12:30pm, after delaying a few hours to allow the weather to ease (and for a sleep in, I had a couple glasses myself). The third member of our party of ineptitude was Dylan, who had been in a couple of 24 hour rogaines, but never managed to stay out for the whole time. The first section was very nice; through the abandoned golf course, up and down a nice little (read big) gully. Thats when the rain started. Of course, after some amount of time we reached the first hut, but only after navigating up the treacherous Bibbulmun river.

The South Coast Track, Tasmania

Tasmania is breathtakingly beautiful. When I first visited in December 08 I vowed to come back and hike. So in february 09 I planned a month long hiking adventure with the Overland Track as a warm up to the South Coast Track. I'd been warned of the dangers of hiking in Tassie and spent a lot of time making sure I had everything I needed...I would recomend anyone considering a first time hike in Tassie to seek out local advice and check out this great forum Bushwalk- Tasmania

Here is my (somewhat longwinded!) account of my first 'proper camping' hike in Tasmania

The South Coast Track

Starting a Melauca in the west and finishing at Cockle creek in the East the South Coast track is one of Tasmania's most famous walks. The 85km long track winds it's way through the mountain, plains and coastal areas of the wild south west. While relatively tame by Tasmanian's standards this drought adjusted West Australian hiker still hasn't gotten over the mud!

The mud..oh the mud!

Day 1 Hobart-Melauca- Coxbight

I start my journey in Hobart, having enlisted Jonas, a young and keen German backpacker, as a walking companion . To get to the start of the South West track we must fly in to Mellauca, an old alluvial tin mine with no access roads. We arrive at the Par Avion airport on the outskirts of Hobart, I’m limping a bit having badly sprained my ankle on Cradle Mountain a few weeks prior. In the airport’s small waiting terminal it soon become apparent that we are the only two setting out on a hike today, everyone else are daytrippers. The pilot explains where we’ll be flying over. He talks about the South West track and glancing sideways at us comments that day 3 is the hardest “at least 8hrs to get over the Ironbournd range, and there’s no turning back after that”. Jonas looks at me slightly horrified; maybe I neglected to tell him about that part…