Nov 30 update

Day 7 was the wildest weather which continued through night. Freezing despite sleeping in all my dry clothes down bag and space blanket over top. More rain Day 8 but patchy sun. Had great feed in Balingup with Ron who came out to meet me. Great afternoon with some great climbing and views. Ankle held up well until Gregory Brook hut where I stayed. Through donnelly. 2 more huts today hopefully. 

Nov 29 Update

'Holy Cow, what a storm, was in full on survival mode to get to hut. Made it around 8pm, well over distance with course change. About 65km I think. Heading to Balingup - more rain'

Nov 28 Update

- Moving ok. 3 Hut day today - Sitting in hut with 1 more to go today but howling storm has hit so hoping it will break soon. Tough section to finish day. Will be late.

Nov 27 Update

Day 6 on Bibbulmun stopped early to rest inflamed ankle. Will make early start tomorrow.

Update 26 Nov

Stopped at murrays 35km in 8.5hrs. great day beautiful hut, went for a swim. cruising nicely again.

Nov25 Update

Getting hot again. Moving ok but slower, 88km and 19.5hrs drained me a bit. Not sure if I stop at Murray or push on to Dookanelly.

Update 24Nov

On Mt Cooke Looking to stop soon, Day2: 64.5km. Lost track coming off Mt Cooke cost me time so stopped at Nerang 14.21hrs. Long haul today weather good wish me luck! Spectacular View from Mt Boomerang

Update 23Nov

Packed it in after 15:09hrs and65.9km on garmin but less by guide book. Sharing Mt Dale hut with naked old man who got a fright when i rocked up in the dark. At brookton hwy now reloading. Feel good. Another long day ahead. Warming up but moving well. Just climbed up from Canning river. 31km for day so far in 6:20 but some hills ahead.

Update 1

Damn hot but going well. 40km in including bonus kms for official detour at Weir and missed turns retraced early on. Struggling with fluids in heat. Looking forward to cool evening. Have drop at Brookton Hwy but might not make that. 

He's off

Bibbulmun Track

Stretching from the outskirts of Perth all the way south to Albany, the Bibbulmun Track is Australia's longest dedicated hiking track. At an official 967km but closer to 1000km in reality it takes the average hiker many weeks to complete an end-to-end traverse. The current Fastest Known Time for the Bibb is held by Bernadette Benson in 15days 9hrs 48mins completed in November 2011. This was a supported effort (see definitions fastestknowntime). The claimed fastest 'self-supported' is by Andy Fawcett in 17days 15hours and 10mins set in November 2008. No supporting evidence has been offered to substantiate this time and it appears that it was not a solo effort. After that the next best known and documented traverse was by Nicki Rehn in 19.5days in 2009 which included a rest day amazingly.

I am planning a traverse of the full Bibbulmun, solo and self-supported starting Friday 23rd November. I will be carrying a Spot tracker and Phil will be posting updates here as I can get them to him. I plan to utilise half a dozen small food drops and spend some nights in town accommodation en-route. My primary goal is to finish. How long it will take me remains the big question. If I do finish, I hope to establish a new verifiable self-supported fastest time. Anything more will be a bonus. Wish me luck!
Andy

Another GNW done and dusted

November 10-11 Phil and I completed another GNW100 miler. That makes seven finishes each (plus I have a 100km finish the first year when Phil paced Dog instead of entering). That puts us well clear of all others on the GNW finishers list. In great conditions we both set PBs, Phil in 25:02 and myself in 31:44. I would like to say it is getting easier but it's not. And the re-introduction of the old section after Bumble Hill was at least half an hour slower. Our 63+ hour finish of the full GNW250 back in June seemed a long distant past. But the sleep monsters were just as bad. And the trail was equally unforgiving. The records are irrevocably etched now and we start to think about the next challenge. Phil is planning to rest a nagging injury hoping to clear it up. Me, I have another long trail to tackle. I will update here before starting and get Phil to post updates as best I can relay them through when I have reception.