Bibbulmun Track Itinerary and Resupply Plan

Planning a long walk like the Bibbulmun Track can be a really daunting task. However, having a good idea of how far you’re going to be walking each day and how far apart the town stops are, make a thru hike much more manageable.

The Bibbulmun Track is one of Australia’s most popular long distance trails. The 1000km long hiking trail can take anywhere from 5 to 8 weeks, depending on how fast and far you want to walk each day. It’s definitely a trail that can be done differently, tailoring it to your own pace and comfort levels.

However, it can be really helpful to see how others planned their walk, including their personal itinerary. So, I’m going to outline below my exact Bibbulmun Track itinerary that I ended up walking over 48 days, plus provide some tips on food resupply options and things I would change if I did the trail again.

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Planning Your Bibbulmun Track Itinerary

It’s not necessarily essential to have an itinerary worked out before you start walking. With the convenient hike-in campsites and shelters along the Bibbulmun Track, you can definitely just aim to get to the next shelter each day. However, it can still be helpful to have a rough plan of the distances you’ll be covering each day.

Some hikers who want to take it at a more leisurely pace can simply go hut to hut on the Bibbulmun. However, others like to combine some days together or skip a hut, also known as “double hutting”, to put in some longer days. If you’re planning on finishing in a certain timeframe or would like to have achievable daily distances across the trail, then it’s a good idea to sit down and work out a rough itinerary.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to stick to your itinerary. Although, it does help if you want to book accommodation ahead of time as this will provide an ETA in each town. Most accommodation providers understand that things can change on trail though and they will try to adjust your booking dates if needed, so don’t stress if things don’t go according to plan. Otherwise, there’s generally something available even if it’s pitching your tent at the caravan park.

I‘m going to outline my itinerary below and offer some tips for planning your own.

Read next: Complete Guide to Thru Hiking the Bibbulmun Track

My Bibbulmun Track Itinerary and Resupply Plan

I didn’t really have a plan when I started walking the Bibbulmun Track, other than knowing that I had to do the first section to Dwellingup in maximum 9 days because that’s all the food that I had (I didn’t organise a food drop, but many hikers do for this section). Otherwise, I’d planned to generally just see how I felt along the way, do some long days, but try to stick to a pretty nice 20km or so average daily distance.

I estimated the trail would probably take me 7 weeks, maybe less if I was feeling really good and I was pretty accurate. I did the trail in 48 days including 5 rest days, and if it wasn’t for my problematic achilles issue I may have done it in a few less days. But in general, I think this was a good timeframe for me.

Why I Hiked Southbound

I happened to be in Western Australia for winter and spring in 2024, so I planned to walk the trail at the start of spring. Walking southbound is generally the preference for that season due to the weather conditions, but it was also logistically easier for me to store my van in Perth and catch the bus back from Albany.

I also really liked the idea of walking south from the city to the coast. Having the coast as the end point is really appealing to me, because just like my experience on the Heysen Trail, it’s so special to see the ocean for the first time knowing that that is the end of your adventure.

Campsites on the Bibbulmun Track

The Bibbulmun Track has 50 free campsites along the trail, each with a three-sided shelter/hut, long drop toilet, picnic tables, and tent sites. In between towns, this is where hikers stay, either pitching their tent or sleeping on the platforms in the shelters. 

I slept in the shelters rather than my tent, but it can get quite busy, with up to 12 or so people in spring per night. Otherwise, you can also get nights to yourself in early spring or winter, depending on when you’re walking. 

The distances between huts varies along the trail, but in general it’s an achievable distance to cover for most people. This means you can either go hut to hut, or double hut if you’re fit and feeling good. The Bibbulmun Track website has a handy distance calculator that you can use to work out distances between different camps on the trail.

The campsites are one of the main highlights of the trail because they’re maintained by volunteers and an absolute luxury to have at the end of each day. It’s really unique compared to other trails in Australia.

Navigation for long distance trails: I recommend the FarOut App for any long distance hiking trail, including the Heysen Trail, Bibbulmun Track, Australians Alps Walking Track and more!

Choosing Accommodation on the Bibbulmun

While the shelters are nice to sleep in as opposed to a tent, it’s still good to have a break from your sleeping mat by staying at accommodation in towns along the way. Some people book a room in every town so they can get a proper bed for the night, but there’s also some options for camping at caravan parks if you just want a shower.

I mixed it up a fair bit and used caravan parks and hotels along the way. I didn’t book anything prior to starting the trail so I knew sometimes I’d be more limited with my options when I came into towns. Some of the accommodation is also quite expensive, so this sometimes influenced when I opted for a tent site over a room. Plus, if the weather was going to be bad, I definitely found a room somewhere!

Many hikers tend to stay at the same accommodation places, because there’s not that many choices in some of the towns and most people tended to look for more budget options too.

In my guide to the Bibbulmun Track, I list the most popular accommodation for each town, but here’s where I stayed:

• Dwellingup: Hikers Room at Dwellingup Caravan Park
• Collie: Single room at Black Diamond Lodge
• Balingup: Tent site at Transit Park
• Donnelly River: Free trail hut
• Pemberton: Unpowered site at Pemberton Caravan Park
• Pemberton: Double room at Gloucester Motel
• Northcliffe: Unpowered site at Northcliffe Caravan Park
• Walpole: Unpowered site at Coalmine Beach Caravan Park
• Denmark: Single room at Blue Wren Travellers Rest Hostel
• Albany: Double room at 6 Degrees Hotel

Rest Days

I didn’t necessarily plan any rest days, but I knew I would definitely have some. Originally, I thought every second town stop, but the trail always has different ideas. Some people like to have a rest day in each town, but it honestly depends on how much time you have and how you think you’ll handle the trail.

A handful of hikers don’t have any rest days and just have a shorter day coming into a town, so they have enough time to resupply and do laundry and keep going. Each to their own, but I would find that very rushed and I feel like my body needs a break from the trail for a day every two weeks or so. Plus, it means you get to explore the towns and eat some good food!

I opted for a rest day in Dwellingup because the first section is quite long and my body needed to rest after adjusting to the trail in that first week. It was also terrible weather and having a rest day allowed me to skip the worst of the storm.

I skipped a rest day in Collie but ended up having two rest days in Balingup. This was because my achilles tendon on my right leg was starting to feel very tight and I wanted to make sure it didn’t get worse.

I then had another two rest days in Pemberton for the same reason. My achilles wasn’t much better so I decided to give it more rest, plus some rain was also coming in and I avoided that by having an extra day off.

I then didn’t have another rest day after that. I was going to have one in Walpole but decided I felt good enough to keep pushing until the end. So I ended with 5 rest days, which may have been 3 if I didn’t have an overuse injury.

Food Resupply Planning

While you can technically rely on the general stores and supermarkets on the way, most hikers tend to have some food resupply boxes along the way. How many you have is entirely up to you, but some people have one in each town stop or just town stops that have limited food options. 

I had four resupply boxes, but looking back I probably should have had a couple more, because I ended up with some really long food carries in between major towns. I also have dietary requirements (gluten and dairy free), and this makes it much harder to use some of the small general stores to get what I need.

Each town has a Visitor Centre and they’re all happy to hold a box for hikers. You can simply mail them or drop them off yourself. They ask that you put your name, your mobile number, your ETA date and that you’re a Bibb track hiker.

I had boxes at Dwellingup, Balingup, Pemberton and Walpole. If I had my time again, I’d probably add one somewhere in the first section like Brookton Highway before Dwellingup, and one at Donnelly River. Potentially a small one at Northcliffe as well.

The Kalamunda to Dwellingup section at the northern end is the longest section between towns. Most people do this section in 10 days or so which makes it a long food carry. I did it in 9 days knowing that’s about the maximum amount of food I could possibly carry. Most hikers arrange a trail angel through the Bibbulmun Track Foundation to drop a box off for them at Brookton Highway, or you can also stash one yourself at a place like Sullivan Rock Carpark. Looking back, I should’ve done this!

Read more: How to Plan Your Food for Hiking

CHECK OUT: Amble Outdoors Hiking Pants Made For Women From Recycled Polyester

48 Day Bibbulmun Track Itinerary

Here’s my actual itinerary that I ended up walking with stats taken from my Garmin watch, plus the places I had food boxes and other resupply options along the way. Scroll across to see more info.

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