23 April: Denmark


 After 3 cups of tea, a yoghurt with some cereal someone had left behind, and a banana, I went off and got a coffee and an almond donut at the bakery. I think overall, that makes a balanced meal as it included all food groups. 

Mia, the Chinese backpacker working at the hostel, gave me a lift to where the road met the track - I?m so glad I went for this option as it turned out to be a 30 min drive! As I got out of her car, I realised that I had left my walking poles in my room. 
Oh, well, it?s only 3 more days and Birger will be driving through Denmark on Sunday anyway, so hopefully he can get them then. 
So by 8am, I was on the trail again, poleless at first, but I found a nice walking stick after 20 min which will help me up the dunes and also increase my impact as I?m sure that plays a big part in chasing off the snakes. Supposedly, they are more frequent in this part, but so far, I?’only seen one (about 2 weeks ago) and 2 baby ones that didn’t really qualify as snakes yet, so I guess about 1.4 snakes in total. 


After my fluid intake over my extended, multi course breakfast, I was glad to hit the first campsite after 2km, so I could use the loo :-)


The trail today had lots of little bench seats at nice views- even with a log to rest the backpack on - very thoughtful of the volunteers!


 I stopped with ocean views to have my take away blueberry muffin from the bakery this morning- a nice little treat after the 60odd muesli bars I?ve consumed over the last month! 


The trail was dotted with little orchids and other tiny wildflowers and I encountered a few blue tongue lizards hissing at me. 




I got to Lowlands beach at lunch time- not a bad spot either! 
I went for a swim and had a couple of wraps with spinach and feta - the joys after access to a supermarket! 


From there, it was only another 4 or 5km to West Cape Howe - Which is definitely amongst the top 5 huts I have stayed at (Waleegh and Beraking in the beginning, Boarding House, Dog Pool and Rame Head are in the running I’d say). There is another hiker here, Philip, who is 73, almost deaf and very slow - but determined to finish his sectional end-to-end of the Bibbulmun track by making it to Albany. There are some amazing people around! 

I set up my tent in a pretty spot in a little peppermint grove and then sat at the picnic table with a view to have a cup of tea. 


Today has been my shortest day apart from day 1 I think and it’s been nice to be able to soak up the last few days. I’m still loving every step and could totally keep going if I didn’t miss Birger so much... 

I haven’t managed to take a photo of a honeyeater yet, but someone painted an awesome picture in one of the hut books: 



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