I've seen Winnie the Pooh, why do you think you're carrying the honey?

DAY 1

We woke up this morning to NO RAIN! We packed our bags, filled our water bottles and headed for the trail.
We made one last stop before we started and that was to weigh our bags at the registration booth.
Willy's bag: 46 lbs.

Jenna's bag: 40 lbs.
Guess we added a few pounds after filling 4.5L of water prior to leaving.
We started the trail with what we thought was the beach route, however we started inland and had to conquer some serious ladders right away. That definitely gets the heart rate going. About 7 ladders later, we get to the end of what was the beach trail so we decided to go down and have a look. Someone had left a message in the sand saying:
"SAW BEAR 9AM".

I looked at my watch and it read 9:08AM! We didn't see him anywhere so we continued on. We put our gaiters on right away (they protect your shin and shoes from getting mud and sand in them). We also started with our walking poles as recommended by previous hikers. We weren't sure if we needed both of these items, but later realized why they were so necessary. 
The first 9km were all through the trees. They were massive, tall and covered in moss. It truly feels like a rainforest. Big trees also come with big tree roots to hike over. They were an ongoing challenge. Some of the fallen trees had massive root systems that stood straight up, it was amazing how those root were ripped from the ground.
There were a few lookouts along the way, but one in particular was pretty cool. There were a bunch of sea lions just off shore, sunbathing and barking on a huge rock shelf. The cliff went straight down to the water. It would really hurt if you fell.
We continued on and our next stop was the Pachena Lighthouse. It's still a working lighthouse with people living there. Seems like it would be a very isolated place to live. We signed the guestbook and continued trekking. The next few km's were really muddy, until we hit the beach for the last 2km's to Darling River Campground (on the beach). We met a lot of other hikers today on the trail going the opposite direction. They were on the tail end of their trek. Some said it was one of their best life experiences. We met people from the US, Germany and South America. We picked out an amazing site up by the trees right on the beach, less than 50ft from the water. Willy built a fire from driftwood, including some cedar pieces that smelled amazing. We cooked dinner on the fire, made tea and watched the whales surfacing over and over again. We also collected water from the river near the base of a waterfall, and tested out our new water filtration system.

Total km's today: 14
Pachena Bay to Darling River
Hours: 5 hours, 57 minutes

Day 1 completed successfully with no injuries, apparently the hardest part is yet to come.