Reflections III
Seven Years of Adventures
Hello again. For those new to the website, my name is Mark and what you see on these pages is my trail life, The Life of Py. I'm a 35yo WA local that enjoys taking long walks anywhere I can, taking way too many photos and exploring new places and trails (among other life pursuits). This is third time I've sat down to write one of these after this one and this one and given how much I've managed to pack into the last two years, this might become an annual event going forward. It's been seven years now since I first decided to start my own website and what it has morphed in to is beyond my wildest imagination. If you'd given 2014 Mark a glimpse of what the website looks like now, I'm not sure he would have believed that life would have taken him to all those amazing places or that he would have the stamina and determination to complete it all. But that's life and we are meant to evolve, change and challenge ourselves to find out who we are as people, how we fit into this crazy world and what makes our life worth living.
I'm nowhere near answering those questions but the website has provided a great excuse to explore my interests, spend time alone and with others and reflect on what makes me happy human. It would be an understatement to say that I enjoy getting out in nature, photographing what catches my eye and then sharing my experiences with the world. There is an enormous amount of work that goes into it all from planning to doing to editing, writing and formatting but I take a lot of pleasure in crafting my posts so others might be inspired to go out and explore their own backyard too. It was a bit overwhelming putting together the collage you see at the top of the page (best viewed on a PC or Tablet) and seeing the past two years laid out in picture form. Each photo represents a post that has gone on the website in sequential order ranging from a small walk or snorkel to one day of a week long adventure (119 in total plus a couple from rides with my podcast partner).
I'll break it up into the two separate years so now would be a good time to go brew yourself a beverage if you're planning on reading the whole thing. Here goes...
2019 - Finishing the Bibbulmun Track
New Trails - 64
Total Distance - 696.7km
Website Visits - 288,628 (up 32.7% on 2018)
After an action packed 2018 where I ticked off a few sections of the Bibbulmun Track and was fortunate enough to go on a couple of Google Trekker trips to Fitzgerald River and the Pilbara, my main goal for 2019 was to complete my sectional E2E of the Bibbulmun Track. I still had Northcliffe to Albany to finish, along with plugging in gaps in the Darling Range section so I spaced out trips throughout the year culminating with a ceremonial finish in Albany in late September. The year started out pretty quiet as usual with the summer heat, flies and bushfire threat limiting activities to snorkelling and completing Tasmania posts from the previous year's adventures. A trip to Rottnest for the annual Festival of Aron in February provided a good opportunity to write-up a couple of snorkel trails on the island at Parker Point and Little Salmon Bay. I then joined my podcast co-host for a trip over to Penguin Island where we explored the island and did some more snorkelling. While I was finishing Tasmania posts from the previous year, another trip to the Apple Isle snuck up, this time to the North East of the island.
Joining Caris' aunt and uncle for another trip over Easter, the main focus was the Bay of Fires Lodge Walk with a side trip to Freycinet National Park and Launceston thrown in for good measure. The trip was a high point of the year thanks to the lovely scenery, great weather and excellent company. Even now I feel a great calmness looking back at those photos and remembering the experience. After another dry autumn in WA where I mapped out the Golden Helena Valley Loop, it was time for the first big section of the Bibbulmun Track. I chose to do Northcliffe to Walpole in early winter because the Pingerup Plains wouldn't yet be flooded and I thought that was a good compromise between getting wet feet and not seeing wildflowers. I was looking forward to this section as it would be a good opportunity to experience a relatively wild part of WA that provides a variety of scenery that the Bibb sometimes lacks. I was blessed with perfect weather all the way through until Mt Clare but the final 9km into Walpole was still fun in the pouring rain. Highlights of that trip included the beauty of Lake Maringup, walking between the islands of forest on the open plains, Mt Chance (even though DBCA had burnt it to a crisp), the Pingerup Plains, Little Cove, the walk from the coast through the Tingle forest into Walpole and of course meeting Malcolm for the first time (Hi Malcolm).