Blogs from Walpole, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 2

This Blog entry covers our stay in Walpole from the 16th to 19thDec.2011. We stayed at the Rest Point Holiday Village, a very pretty spot on the banks of the Walpole Inlet. A basic park, but everything worked and the scenery and location were 5 star. Walpole (pop 320) is entirely surrounded by National park and is the only place in the South West (SW) where the forest meets the sea (like in the Otways!). The Walpole wilderness area is known for its ‘striking ocean and forest scenery’ which provides a great setting for outdoor activities such as boating sailing and fishing, and bushwalking. It is a unique region with the coastal heathlands, granite outcrops, magnificent waterways and Karri forests all on the doorstep. The town of Walpole was established in 1930 through the Nornalup Land ... read more

Good things come in small packets, and that is true of Walpole, a small town on the edge of two great national parks. After leaving Pemberton we drove south east and camped in the Shannon National Park. The Dept of Conservation camp here is FANTASTIC. Hot showers, realy good toilets, plenty of big sites and a true nature park atmosphere. We had plenty of visitors to our site - we caught some of the birds on camera, but missed Mrs Roo with Joey who bounded off before I could grab the camera. On driving out of the national park we had to dodge one snake and one large lizard. The Bicentenial Tree is part of the Shannon National Park and is one of the giant Tingle Trees with steps to a fire observation platform. Marg tried ... read more

Wednesday 13th and for a change, our journey today was only some 128 kms but we were still on the road by 9.30am. Just 50 kms away was Denmark where we had stayed for a couple of nights on our previous tour so we pulled in near that same caravan park for our cuppa and cake. What a delightful spot! The park is right on the river estuary and as we strolled on the footpath alongside we saw three Spoonbills, a Black Winged Stilt and a Sea Eagle all within a few minutes. We chatted to a couple from Perth who were sat by their caravan enjoying the beautiful scenery. We happily whiled away an hour there and wondered if we should be staying there again but as we were booked into Walpole today we were ... read more

Australia The internet has been very sparse since we arrived in this country, so I will start by doing a bit of catch up - again. We arrived in Perth around 11 pm and we both fell in love with the place as our taxi drove us to the hotel. The city is so quite, clean, orderly and English speaking that we could feel ourselves start to relax. By daylight, the city is even prettier, but admittedly, a bit busier. We spent the first day wandering around the area, following a walking tour; spent a fair bit of time in the street mall area and by the mouth of the Swan River. Next day we hiked up to Kings Park where we spent most of the day. It overlooked the city and ocean area and had ... read more

Day 217 - Shannon National Park (including a day trip to Walpole) What a great find this campground was, we can hardly believe our luck. Nestled deep in the forest it feels like we have perfect seclusion from the rest of the world! We definitely needed the camp fire to keep us warm last night, it was a cold one and it’s safe to say that the doona will not be leaving our bed any time soon. One great thing to happen before I fell asleep was that I finished my book! The Lace Reader has been a bit of a slog if I’m honest but not a bad read for my first book in years. Now I can get stuck in to ‘We of the Never Never’, an Australian book where much of the story ... read more