24th August

Day 15 - Collie to Yabberup

Had a nasty breakfast from the local bakery consisting of a sausage roll and a pasty. I had been able to buy a gas cylinder for the first time and I had bought enough groceries to get to DRV (Donnelly River Village) as Balingup had a reputation as being poorly supplied and overpriced for hiking through.

By 11:40 am I had arrived at Mungalup Dam and since it was a very pretty place decided to have a nice long rest break here. Whilst resting and eating a Singaporean fellow by the name of Jiayong I think came by and asked if I was David or Rone? He had obviously been reading our Red Book entries since Kalamunda and spoken to Kevin who was about a day or two behind us at this point. His gear seemed kind of out of place as he was carrying a school bag in front of him and seemed to have poor quality boots on. I kept resting and he walked off ahead.

After the Mungalup Dam, a T-intersection was reached and Jiayong came walking back from the wrong direction after following the wrong trail. I was feeling like some company so I walked with him for an hour. I then rested and met up with him at the hut. His plan was to walk the trail in 40 days or less so he was off again within 10 minutes of my arrival.

Day 16 - Yabberup to Noggerup

Mungalup Dam lunch stop