9th September

Day 31 - Pemberton to Warren Campsite

For breakfast at "The Club", the hip name given by the backpackers for the house I was staying at, I pigged out on the last of my fresh food - muesli and boysenberry yoghurt. I made Nutella sandwiches with the remaining Nutella and bread I had remaining for lunch. By 2 pm I was still full. No wonder I actually gained weight over the 1000 km hike. I was a real little piggy.

This day was the first truly Spring day with warm walking. My backpack holding 9 kg of food and the excesses of Pemberton with a little bit of food poisoning perhaps made the 20km hike to Warren one with considerable effort. After passing the Gloucester tree for the second time I made my way to the Warren River and enjoyed a side trip  to the Cascades - a very scenic section of rapids and small falls.

The walk along the Warren river apart from the cascades didn't really commence until later in the walk when the trail gave a few glimpses of the tannin tainted waters. I saw my first snake today - a tiger snake which was brown or black with a yellow belly. Another sign of the change in seasons was the increasing presence of mosquitos, midges and sand flies. During the day I noticed the presence of a group of white-browed babblers which are hard not to notice with their unusual cat-like noises and incessant chatter. Southern Boobook owl calls were a usual feature of the bushland along most of the walk except perhaps the alpine heath each night.

Since DRV each camp site has had a supply of Jarrah firewood provided but Beedelup and Warren have also been provided with chopping blocks and hand axes to make fire construction easier.

This was my 3rd solo experience of the trip. The campsite as usual was in a lovely location having considerable height above the Warren river valley.

Day 32 - Warren to Schafer