Finally the weather looks like it is getting better, well for a couple of days anyway. Travelling on from Augusta my first stop was the Giant Gloucester Tree. This tree was used as a fire lookout point as it is the highest tree in the area.
Climbing this tree is a must. Spirling up the tree are metal spikes sticking out of the trunk fashioning a very rough looking ladder. With no ropes, harnesses or anything else to hold you to the tree is really gives you the incentive to hold on tight. Did I also mention that this tree is 250 feet tall!! Moving on from this little baby I went to the Bicentennial tree which is a whopping 260 feet and not only that but they have built a tower perched on top of it. Just before I started to climb this old man and his wife said to me "its not the falling that hurts, its hitting the ground" With those thoughts in mind I set upon making my way up the trunk. I did happen to notice that the silly old bastard was good at giving out advice but was to damn old to climb it himself.
On from the trees and a few walks in the forest (dodging a few storms) I made it to Walpole. I read on a sign that Walpole was first settled in 1930 by a few men in tents and tin sheds. Well they haven’t been very busy since then. The tents may have gone but the tin sheds are still here and not much else. Oh well it did for a stop over.