The Munda Biddi Trail (which means path
through the forest in the Noongar Aboriginal language) is a 1000 km
off-road, hard out, mountain bike ride that takes you from Perth to Albany in South
Western Australia. The trail has you traveling on coastal paths, forestry roads, rail trails, technical single track and remote four wheel drive tracks.
You will experience surfaces from soft sand to pea gravel and hard packed
dirt. You will pass through towering eucalyptus forests, unspoiled bushland and farmland. You will see emus, kangaroos,
kookaburras, magpies, parakeets, crows, flies, spiders, iguanas, pelicans and
lots more. The weather will deliver every weather pattern known to mankind.
This ride is a true off-road mountain bike touring paradise. It is an incredible wilderness experience and pure bliss to someone who loves mountain biking
and being in the outdoors. I give this trail a 10 out of 10. Put it on your bicycle bucket list for sure.
Here is our account of the trail.
According to a number of blogs and the
official trail website, the recommended number of days for completing this
trail is around 20 or so. Unfortunately, when booking the air tickets I failed
to notice this and decided that we should be able to knock it off in around 9
days. After all, how hard could 1000 kms through the Aussie wilderness be? In my infinite wisdom I also thought that
it would be simple for us to get a ride or catch a bus from where we were staying in Augusta to the trail start in Albany as it looked a short distance on the map. The few kms down the road
turned out to be over 400 kms. To cut a long story short we were extremely
lucky to get a lift and to be dropped off 30 kms short of the Albany and the start of the trail.
Day one: Albany to Denmark
Our first day on the trail started at
4pm with a 30 km reluctant road ride to Albany to the start of the Munda Biddi trail. We tried
hitchhiking with passing motorists by putting our thumb out as they drove past,
but most of them just tooted and waved. In retrospect it was unlikely anyone was going to stop for us. We finally arrived in Albany and had a
quick chat to a guy who had just completed the trail on a fat tyre bike. After
a startline photo we were off following the well-marked Mundabiddi trail and
trying to make it to Denmark for the night so we could keep to our schedule and
make our flight out of Perth 9 days later.
We broke two rules this day – don’t ride
at dusk and don’t ride so fast you fall off. Last time I rode my bike at night
in Aussie I was hit by a Kangaroo and broke my thumb. I made a decision never
to do it again. However, here we were surrounded by massive red kangaroos riding
into the night. I was prettified and found myself constantly scanning left and
right and braking whenever I saw something move. We had also been warned numerous times of the
perils of pea gravel on this trail. It is gravel that is round and acts like
ball bearings. We knew it was risky riding at night as it is harder to see, however there we were hurtling along at
breakneck speed when nex minute Emma was eating the dust. Luckily, she only had
minor bruising and no real damage to the bike so on we peddled at a more sedate
speed respectful of both the wildlife and the track surface. We rolled into
Denmark around 8.30pm with 75kms on the clock and made our way to the YHA. Ah
bliss dinner, a hot shower, and a bed.
Day two Denmark to Walpole
We were anxious to get a good days
riding in so were up at 5am ready to rock and roll. The trail started out along
the coast and our first stop was a beautiful beach called green pools. Here we
met some lovely locals who shared their chilli chocolate with us and tried to
convince us to take a swim in the crystal clear water. Unfortunately, it was a
tad on the cold side so we softed out. The day turned out to be a mega mission as
we headed inland and went up and down every ridge in sight. We were on the road
for 12 hours and 44 mins, climbed 2247
metres and descended 2229 metres, our highest point was 233 metres and we
travelled 149 kms through to Walpole. We had a bit of everything on the trail
from wide gravel roads to narrow single trail and hard packed pea gravel to
soft soft sand. We had a swim in a
freezing river, managed to lose the trail, got attacked my March flies, met
three other people riding the trail in the other direction, saw a snake,
swallowed a fly and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We arrived into
Walpole elated but exhausted and searched for a place to stay. It was just on
dark and everything looked closed. We found a nice restaurant for dinner and
pigged out on a steak pie. We even got the chef to make us lunch for the next
day as all the shops were closed. We then headed towards the information centre
and found a nice warm baby changing room where we set up our beds for the
night. Let’s just say it wasn’t the best sleep we have ever had …
Day three Walpole to Northcliff
Once again we were on the bikes at the
crack of sparrows eager to make the most of the daylight. We were treated to a
variety of trails and scenery and even came across a total of eight others
doing the trail – all in the opposite direction. It was interesting to see the
different gear people had, some had the kitchen sink and trailers others had
the basics, some had gps to navigate by, others like us had maps and three guys
were simply relying on the trail markers to get them to their destination. We
managed 10 hours and a half hours on the go (including breaks) travelled 120
kms saw one vehicle, 1 snake, 1 lizard, 1 wild cat, 1 kangaroo with a joey and
managed to spit two flies out. We rolled into Northcliff around 3pm more than
happy to be off the bikes as we both had some descent chafing. We found a
supermarket to stock up supplies and then headed to the camp-ground to find a
nice hot shower and a comfy bed for the night.
Day four – Northcliff to Manjimup
We started the day with an awesome
breakfast of scrambled eggs made with free range eggs given to us by the
campground owner – delicious. One of the campers had warned us that the wind
was going to pick up and the weather turn for the worse so we were on the road
by 5 am hoping to beat the bad weather. Although
we covered 121 kms and climbed over 1600 metres this day was a relatively easy
day with awesome trails and scenery and lots to stop off and see. We both rated
it as the best day yet. The highlights of the day were finding a café with
sensational coffee, having a delicious lunch of blue cheese, crackers and
salad, climbing a 54 meter tree, spending the day on free flowing single
tracks, passing through a pine plantation and not seeing many flies or
mosquitos. After 10 hours or so on the go we were more than happy to find
ourselves in Manjiup. The last 10 kms were straight into a howling headwind so
we were pretty pleased to be heading indoors for some shelter. We ended up
staying in a motel as the back packers was full and lay in our comfy bed after a
hot shower and a massive dinner listening to the rain on the roof and the wind
howling outside. Ah bliss.
Day five – Manjimup to Donnybrook
This turned out to be a bit of a lonely mega
day, we covered 160 kms and were on the road for 13 hours and didn’t see any
other cyclists. It started off cold and wet which was not pleasant. We were both miserable and struggling a
little with our headspace contemplating a day in the rain and cold. Luckily the
rained eased off and we found ourselves at a quaint little café at Donnelly
Mill, what a bonus as we were simply expecting a dilapidated old mining town.
Whoop whoop we treated ourselves to carrot cake and coffee and left with
caffine in our veins feeling a lot more positive about the day. About an hour
down the trail we discovered we had left the wallet behind at the café – doh –
reluctantly we unpacked our gear, stowed it in the bushes and navigated our way
on roads back to the café. To our relief it was there and back we went to the
bikes. Once back at the bikes we were stunned to see a road train truck
travelling about 100 kms an hour down a narrow gravel road. We counted our
lucky stars we were not on the road at the time. The day was full of ups and downs with soggy
wraps, soggy lollies, a massive gravel road detour due to fires and bikes
creaking due to the mud and grit. However, once the rain cleared we appreciated
things a bit more and enjoyed fly free and cool riding for most of the afternoon. We noticed a real change in vegetation and
trail type today, the forest felt smaller and more dense. We saw lots of
Kangaroos, 5 baby emus and fifteen adults, 1 impressive eagle and one
aggressive iguana. We rolled into
Donnybrook just on dark, found a supermarket then a back packers, had a hot
shower and a meal of fish and chips and called it a night. The full moon was
stunning.
Day six – Donnybrook to Yarri campsite
The way things had fallen for us we had
managed to spend every night in a town and hadn’t yet experience one of the
awesome shelters provided for riders along the trail. Today we were determined
to sleep out so decided to by-pass the town of Collie and set our sights on the
Yarri campsite. We were now confident we would make the trail in 8 to 9 days
and not miss our flight home, so were able to relax a bit and focus more on the
journey rather than the destination. We
woke to a beautiful morning with a full moon and rather chilly temperatures.
Our first mission was to ride to a town called Boysup for a coffee.
Unfortunately, it was average but nothing could dampen our spirits as we were
quite excited about taking a more leisurely approach. We spent the day riding
and chatting and re-capping on highlights of the ride so far. The trail was slightly disappointing as much
of it was overgrown, sandy and messy but we still managed some good climbs and
awesome descents. We travelled 100 kms with1160 meters of climb and 992 meters
of decent. This was our shortest day for a while with only 8 hours on the go.
We arrived at the Yarri shelter mid afternoon, set up camp and prepared dinner.
We spent a very pleasant evening with a 71 year old guy from Aussie called Jim
who was doing the trail on his own.
Day seven – Yarri Campsite to Dandalup
campsite
Wow what a day this was – it was hot hot
hot, hot as hell. We managed to hit the trail early and stopped for morning tea
at the Logue brook dam campsite hoping to gain some relieve from the heat,
however the campsite was full of people and March flies so we didn’t dwell. We
then pushed on to Dwellingup our least favourite town of the ride where we
restocked and tried to escape the soaring temperatures. We met nobody on the trails
and only saw the odd emu, the bush was small and scrappy but at least the
trails were not overgrown. We made a slight boo boo and sent ourselves on a
detour which took us smack bang into a huge mining road 50 or so meters above
us – whoops we were then forced to back track to find the real trail and a
tunnel through the road. For the second time on the ride we learnt not to
disregard signs that send you on a detour. We ended up travelling 140 kms spent
13 hours on the go with 9 of those hours ride time we climbed 1937 metres and
descended 1817 meters. The trails were full of loose pea gravel and sand but we
now considered ourselves pea gravel and sand drifting experts and didn’t get
too phased by this. For the first time on the ride we met two hills we couldn’t
ride but we were rewarded with stunning views of lakes and rivers. We limped
into camp just on dusk and were treated to spectacular panoramic views.
Day 8 Dandalup Campsite to wherever we get
to.
Wow what a night. Hot as hell and pesky
mosquitoes. We awoke to the most incredible electric storm. We could see the
lightening in the valley below and hear the thunder so without hesitation we
shut off the alarm and decided it was a better choice to stay safe and snug in
our sleeping bags. Before long it was
directly above us the thunder cracked and rumbled shaking our shelter and the
lightening lit up the dawn sky, then the heavens opened and the rain teamed
down. After the storm had passed we braved the day and set off on some
incredible single trails only to be hit by another furious storm a few kms from
the next town Jarrahdale. We put head
down and bum up hoping not to be hit by lightening and high tailed it into the
town where we arrived dripping and filfthy. Luckily the café had an outside
area and we soothed our souls with scrambled eggs, a shepherds pie and coffee. Once the weather settled a bit we were back on
the rail aiming for either the Carinyah Campsite or the finish of the trail in
Mundaring. The trails were reasonably fast flowing although the downs were
interspersed with tough climbs and lots of pea gravel. I narrowly avoided a
near fatal accident involving pea gravel, a tree and and a sharp left turn at speed but apart from
the it was pretty uneventful. We didn’t
see anyone on the trail but we did see 15 emus, 10 wallabies, 2 goannas, and 1
short tail lizard. We covered 91 kms in 8 hours 30 mins with 6 hours ride time
and climbed 1348 meters and descended 1285 meters. We cruised into the Carinyah
campsite mid afternoon and debated whether to spend one more night on the trail
or to push on to the finish and get picked up 43 kms down the track. We decided
to spend another night on the trail in order to really appreciate what the
munda biddi is all about. We had an
awesome afternoon washing clothes, chatting and enjoying the surroundings.
Day nine – Carinyah Campsite to
Mundaring
Wow this was our last day on the trail.
We woke up sad to be ending this trip but also grateful to have experienced it.
The trails were awesome nearer the campsite but soon turned into rutty rocky
steep climbs and we were glad we hadn’t pushed on as this section turned out to
be tougher than we thought. After 4 hours of pretty tough riding we cruised
into Mundaring and the end of the trail. True to form we headed for the nearest
café and ordered scrambled eggs and coffee. What a great feeling – we had
pushed ourselves to our limits and achieved the goals we set. We felt calm and
quiet and at peace. However, we then had to ride 40 kms to Perth to the place
we were staying at. Arrrgggh cars, people pollution … at least it was pretty
much all dowm hill.
Tips
Plan according to your fitness level
Allow plenty of time
Invest in the maps
Never ignore a detour
Travel as light as you can without
compromising safety
Make sure you are self sufficient
Take water purification
Take a fly net
Take a mosquito net or coils if sleeping
out
Don’t forget your camera
.
