Donnelly River – Pemberton
100.2 km
2152 m
2.5 days
Donnelly River → Tom Road → Beavis → Pemberton
The forest walking continued through to Pemberton. Recent track clearing meant we could spend more time looking up at the trees, making for a more enjoyable walk. There was more climbing, and the rolling hills made for a nice change from the flatter ground in the previous sections.
After we passed halfway (500km!) we stopped for lunch at Chappel Bridge. We got chatting to an avocado farmer who kindly offered us a job picking avos over summer. We later found out his accompanying brother-in-law was a good friend of Tom’s dad!
Over the last few days we had been warned about the ‘earthy’ water at Beavis campsite so later that day we made sure to fill up at a stream a few hundred meters before reaching the shelter.
The next day there were a couple of wildflower hotspots, and we were fortunate enough to meet a young couple who pointed out some snail and leech orchids to us at Beedelup waterfall. Looking for these orchids meant we got caught out in the rain, which could have been avoided had we made it to the shelter 10 minutes earlier!
We arrived in Pemberton around 6pm later that day, only just making it in time to book a room at the Pemberton Youth Hostel. Staying at the youth hostel was very cheap ($10 each), and relied on an honesty system for payment, leaving the cash in our room. We did not see anyone the whole time we were there. The sheets in our room were stained, and as such we decided to lay out our sleeping mat on top of the mattress to sleep on. Resupply at the IGA was straightforward, with a wide variety of options and decent prices. We bought dinner at Source Kitchen, a family-run burger restaurant which offered very welcome service to two dirty hikers!
