Collie to Pemberton

Everyday on this trail provides something different - 3 hours out of Collie can you imagine the thrill of seeing a gigantic bird flouncing away? It disappeared so no photo - but a few days later we saw Emu poo,

then we saw daddy Emu shepherding his chick along the road. Amazing.



Bobtail lizard

Another day we saw the wonderful blue-tongued bobtail lizard - the reptiles were definitely on the move....we have seen maybe a million sticks on the track that look exactly like a snake - but still no snakes.












The scariest thing so far has been hearing an explosive crack followed by a huge WHUMP as somewhere nearby a tree fell. If  you could see the size of the trees around here you would understand why our hearts skipped a few beats.

12 kilometres from Yabberup (don't you love the name?) we knew there was a tavern. The temperature was in the high 20s, so our level of anticipation was huge. CLOSED. Knocked on the door. Lee the owner opened up. He was right out of a movie like Deliverance. He never stopped talking. We asked for a coffee (I miss my coffee) - he got out some sort of grater and started grinding beans. Rob took over. Lee plonked a bottle of past the use by date milk on the bar and told us it should be okay, he had it on his weetbix and was still alive. He charged us a ridiculous amount of money, but to make up for that and because Rob talked engines and motorbikes and other blokey things, he gave us a pack of locally-made sausages. They were delicious - Rob cooked them up on the campfire and our fellow trail buddies got to share. Yum. Anything to add interest to the dehyd!



White tailed black cockatoo

We did a huge 35km day on a diversion around a burnt-out campsite (very depressing seeing burnt-out areas) and ended up in real outback Donnelly River Village with hardly a sealed road in sight. Some days we have enjoyed a cacophony of cockatoos, other days birdsong all day long. The campsites have been awesome, shared a few with bush rats - one stole Rob's scroggin. The karri trees are fantastically tall and make us feel small.





The weather has been springy - as in wet - as in 6 degrees one morning. We are ready for some sunshine. We are getting tired, and look forward to trail towns - but hey, we are more than halfway and still enjoying it. Now we are in Pemberton where Rob has been reunited with his beloved birdbook and binoculars - he pulled a muscle in his back and sent them on to lighten his load. We are adding in a few more rest days because we now realise we are not spring chickens and our original itinerary was just a tad ambitious. Ha. And there is absolutely nothing on earth as good as a hot shower after a week in the wilds!
 



Bridge over tree trunk