Rain, a rainbow and a bus stop

 13 April: Warren to Northcliffe, 36km and into town and back

Well, the barbershop quartet of snorers didn’t disappoint. But a lot of the snoring was muffled by the rain pounding on the tin roof of the shelter. I still got a decent night’s sleep and left Warren campsite just before 6. Once again, BOM said it wasn’t raining and the sun was to come out by 7am. As i tend to believe BOM, but also have a realistic appreciation of water coming from the sky, i decided to wear my full rain gear - you know, just as a fashion statement... 

I walked off into the dark and rain with my camp mates still making coffee- but I needed to be at the Northcliffe Visitor centre before 4pm to pick up my re-delivered supply box and that was 36km away. 

By 7 am on the dot, the sun came out. Wow. So BOM  was right, if only partially. 

A few minutes later, it started raining again. 

I crossed a bridge and then missed a turn off and when I realised, found myself a good bit down the Munda Biddi bike trail instead of the Bibbulmun. I checked the maps and found that the tracks were going to meet again about 6km later, so I kept walking instead of turning back. It turned out to be a great decision: 1. I cut off about 6km of Bibbulmun track and hence didn’t have to rush too much to make it to Northcliffe before the visitor centre closed. 2. I was on a fairly open forestry road to see a beautiful rainbow that I would have probably missed otherwise. 

Back on the Bibbulmun, I met 2 other E2E hikers, a couple going north. They had that happy-relaxed-slightly dreamy and completely-at-peace-with-the-world glow that I think I have on my face as well. I later saw on the register that they are from Arnhem Land - would have been interesting to hear their story! About an hour later, when the Bibb crossed the Munda Biddi bike trail again, 2 cyclists caught up with me at a river crossing. They were in such a different mindset- “oh, we are on a schedule, no, couldn’t stop because of the rain, sorry, gotta keep moving, still 50km to go today”. Such a difference! I don?t think it has anything to do with the mode of transport, just the different mindsets between both groups. 

I got to Schafer campsite which is located on a lake by 10am and it started raining again the second I walked into the shelter. So that made the decision whether to just refill my water or have a proper break and make a coffee easy. Coffee and oat bar it was. 

And I found my friend Corky’s log book entry from 3 years ago once again - looks like she had similar weather conditions back in April 2018! It’s so nice to see her name popping up every once in a while! 

Once the rain had stopped, I continued towards Northcliffe. There is a completely random bus stop sign in the middle of nowhere. 

The forest is beautiful- so many different mosses and fungi and s few orchids. And the light was just stunning every time the sun came out. 

I eventually made it out of the forest and into farm land- which had a slightly “Northern Germany where the in-laws live” type of feel to it. 

As I was walking along a country road, I pickup truck with a huge dog in the back pulled up from behind and the driver slowed down and handed me two apples. He drove along to have a chat and only left when another car pulled up from behind. 

I dropped my pack at the caravan park in Northcliffe where I was going to stay and walked into “town” to pick up my resupply box - real food again, finally. I’m a bit over Continental pasta and freeze dried peas... another huge THANK YOU to my trail angels Sally and Debbie! 

I had a coffee at the one local cafe - they seemed a little annoyed with the hassle of having to make a coffee half an hour before closing... and then I found an absolutely delightful little food coop where I bought some fresh local apples, dried apples for my porridge for the next section, local passionfruit and a few ingredients for a proper cooked dinner for tonight. 

The local general store had a bottle of red wine- I?ll have a glass tonight and will put some into my empty plastic jar for the next two evenings on the trail. 

Then it was 2km along the road back to the caravan park, a shower, a quick wash, setting up the tent, stretching and dinner and bed by 7:30pm. 

Oh, and the caravan park had alpacas!