Linda Stanley

It’s time to be honest.

It’s time to be honest. On 29th May last year when I was walking the Bibbulmun Track I was coming down from the top of Mt Cooke and I lost my footing and tumbled down the track a way. I lay there shaken for a few minutes. With an 18kg pack on my back the result was not a good one. My back hurt. I undid my pack and slid my arms out of the pack. Then after a few minutes once I had caught my breath and could think a little clearer over the pain, I manoeuvred into a sitting position. Then probed my spine at the sore area. A vertebrae was a long way away from where it should be. It was afternoon. Nobody would be coming past me now, so there was no way I could ask anyone to get me help. I had no phone reception on this side of the mount. I had to go on. After several more minutes I struggled to my feet. Then slowly hoisted the pack back on my back.
 It hurt too much when the pack touched my spine. I had to keep it away from my spine somehow. I took the pack off again and took my sweater out of the pack. Wrapping the sweater around my waist, I put the pack back on again. The sweater was enough to hold the pack away from my spine.. just. I carried on slowly down the slope carefully picking my footholds.
 I decided it was best not to blog about it next time I got phone reception as my family would be out of their minds with worry. 
It was two more days before I reached the point where the pain was so great that agony forced me to stop. I sat down on a boulder and cried in pain. Two wonderful Samaritans came along and carried my pack for me in to the last camp site. The next morning I rang John and asked him to meet me at the Forest Hills Discovery centre to take all the weight out of my pack so I could carry on. I didn’t tell John about the fall.
 Once I got home I went to the doctor. I had fractured one vertebrae, pushed a vertebrae out of alignment by 30% and damaged a disc in my neck. We had to wait for the facture to heal before we could do anything about it. Then we went to Europe North America and China. For the past year it has been hard to focus on anything as the pain has dominated my life and limited everything I can do. I think I have been in denial... I wanted it all to go away. It didn’t . In fact it has got worse. Now I have to have a spinal fusion. Date still to be set. I see the specialists next month. The thought of anyone operating on my spine had always been something I dreaded. Now I want it to happen as soon as possible. I need to be able to resume my life fully again. 
 I have to post this blog as my way of admitting to myself that it is time to get it sorted, have the operation and move on with my life again.

Panic attack

I am only a few hundred metres now fr the finish and I am having a mild panic attack!
When I started the walk I was enormously relieved to leave behind me all the worries, stresses, deadlines and dramas of managing multiple projects both at work and in the community .
Now I am almost at the finish line of the walk and I feel anxiety rising in my belly at the thought that once over that line it means a return to the hustle bustle of working life. A return to deadlines, agendas and the pressure of managing multiple projects once again.
So I am sitting on a log on the edge of the forest listening to the warbling of magpies, delaying the inevitable .
To settle my anxiety at the thought of a return to city life, I must focus on the positives.
I must focus on my love for my husband and my family and allow that to expand and overide all other concerns.
I have missed my family deeply and long to be back with them now.
So I must say goodbye to this log and the magpies and go and see my family.
Bye log.
Hello family and city and all that those labels mean in my life.

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Linda Stanley

Sunrise in the Kalamunda National Park

Almost at the Northern Terminus of the Bibbuun Track.
The magpies dawn chorus greets the rising sun as it kissed the full moon farewell.
The day I have longed for , the day this walk ends , has arrived, but somehow I feel the walk has been a beginning . Something has changed. Many things have changed. I look around at this wondrous environment now with different eyes.
I have a new appreciation and respect for the amazing flora and fauna of this state.
I have a renewed appreciation for the souls need to reconnect with nature, to reaffirm the need to get back to our roots occasionally and re-experience life as it once was - perhaps as it was intended.
The pull of the campfire and the bliss of the silence with only song birds to lift your heart and refresh your spirit is a primordial need of the human race that we risk losing touch with.
Other walkers on the Bibbulmun Track said to me "once you start walking the Bibbulmun Track you never stop walking it"
I see now the truth in those words.
It answers a need deep in the soul.
I already feel somewhat sad that this walk is almost over.
But I know I will be back.
Thank you Kellee aka Tinkerbell for entertaining me when I felt too exhausted to continue.
Thankyou Rod for guiding me and showing me the way.
Thankyou to everyone who has sponsored this walk for Cancer Research.
Let's hope an answer is found as to why young people like Kellee are today succumbing in increasing numbers to dreadful diseases like cancer.

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Linda Stanley

Time for second breakfast

Golden View.
Spent almost an hour at the Weir trying to find the Track. :(
On track again now. This section needs more Waugal markers.

Now if only Tinkerbell would sit still I could enjoy my snack and the view.

Rod's waiting to lead the way though (in his army boots ;) )

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Linda Stanley

Weir In early morning low cloud

Lots of Western Grey Roos out grazing this morning.
Lovely cool morning for a walk on the forest .
Noisy black cockatoos are dropping
honky nuts from the trees.

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Linda Stanley

Ball Creek

Am totally done in!
Not sure I can make the last 20 kilometres.
Exhausted.
Can I stay here?

Kellee has been playing Tinkerbell - floating along in front of me - to keep me entertained!

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Linda Stanley

View from

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Linda Stanley

Sunrise at Waalegh

Above the clouds hanging in the valleys below.

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Linda Stanley

Beraking

Thanks Kelle for arranging a cool day for the walk today. The sweat was pouring off my nose and chin this morning! I could not have coped if it was a warm day.
Thanks for organising the weather for the whole trip - it has been quite perfect - you are a shining star!
On days when my feet have been excruciatingly painful you sent a rain cloud to follow me and cool my burning feet so that I could continue to walk.
On easier days when my feet were okay you sent glorious sunshine so I could enjoy the views.
I know you said you would pull me along when I got too tired to continue -Kellee I think you're going to have to pull me this afternoon - I am exhausted!
Thanks Kells
'Aunty' Linda

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Linda Stanley

Brookton

At Brookton even the dunny has a verandah

So cute!

Thoughts so far on this walk:
The Track passes through spectacular scenery, amazing and unique flora, past incredible unusual animals - all of which cam really only be appreciated fully by walking the Bibbulmun Track.

A walker a few weeks back commented to me that once you start walking the Bibbulmun Track you never stop.

At the time With another 800 kilometres dtill to go, thought "yeah right ! Not likely!"
I was still in destination mode back then, I just wanted to 'get there'.
Now I have left behind the city's urge for "just getting there", focusing on targets, goals and measurements.
Now each day is a journey of wonder and amazement as I discover another hidden treasure in this spectacular state that I did not know existed.

I am ashamed of myself ! And ashamed that I represent the majority of Aussies who are able from an early age identify badgers, raccoons, grizzly bears and tigers. And roses, carnations and Jacaranda. Yet we are unable to identify a Mardoo, Dunnart or a woylie. And unable to name more than one or two of the thousands of outstanding flora species on our back doorstep.
It is a sin! And one that needs to be rectified.
We are still hanging on to our European roots when we should be respecting and appreciating the uniqueness this incredible state has to offer.

Sent from my iPhone
Linda Stanley