Friday October 21, 19.9km/12.4mi

Chadoora Campsite (179.9/296m) to Dwellingup Town (199.8/266m) (WA)

I was awake at 5:30am at sunrise, as the other people in the shelter were already moving around. I was excited for town food today, so I hiked out at 6:30 and had a nice quiet morning of kangaroo sightings and birds chirping. I came across one northbound hiker, Alex, and she was super interesting to talk with. I ended up taking a longer break on a log and we swapped trail and life stories. Sam walked past, and I was reminded I should get moving again so I can make breakfast time at the cafe. After a couple of hours, the trail turned onto some old narrow-gage railroad tracks!

So, I followed the tracks for a few km.

It was easy and enjoyable walking, a perfect 20C temperature, and no flies. A great relaxing morning. These trees start appearing, I think they are called Blue Gums.

A few minutes later, I walked thru a whole forest of them! Such cool trees, with their smooth white bark.

I followed the railroad tracks all morning, and eventually they became usable tracks. The line is no longer used for lumber, I think it’s just a tourist attraction now. This was Etmilyn Station.

I walked into Dwellingup at 11am, it is a tiny town, but seemed pretty nice.

Many of the town names here have “up” at the end of their name, it means something like “place near water” in an aboriginal language. I walked straight to the Blue Wren Cafe and ordered brekkie. I love the bacon here, it’s more meaty and less burned/crispy. The milkshake, however, was another disappointing one. Not thick at all, I could pour it like water.

After that hearty meal, I walked a couple of blocks over to the Visitors Centre, which was huge.

It had recently been expanded and upgraded, and they sold clothing, camping supplies, and cafe bakery items. It was now 1pm, so I decided to walk over to the caravan park and try to check into my bunkroom. There was a playground on the way, but I didn’t see Ruben.

The caravan park was a short 500m from town.

The reception lady was super helpful, and I got to check in an hour early… and even got some laundry soap. I took a highly anticipated shower, and sorted my dirty laundry. I met another hiker, Angeli, and along with Sam, we walked over to the pub to have a beer. Or 3. And then some nice Australian wine, too. Later in the evening we were joined by Tessa, Maryanne and Steve.

Good times! Around 8pm we all kinda felt tired, and it was a nice walk back to the caravan park.