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Published: July 21st 2012
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Our New Setup
Some tent lads! Day 8 of the tour and it was all about trees today. We hit the road early from Alexandra Bridge for fear that the caretaker might catch us for $8 dollars a head. We drove about a hundred kilometres to the small town of Pemberton, which is an inland town surrounded by National Parks. Our aim for the day was to climb to the top of Glouster Tree which was only about 5 kilometres outside of Pemberton. We got there and paid the entry fee to the Park, parked up The Seaside Rover and went in search of the 58 metre high tree we were to climb. It was fairly tall looking when we saw it but there was a heap of kids climbing up so confidently we decided to go ahead with it. As the kids were climbing it we went for a quick walk around the area looking at the valley and the trees in the area. When we got back most of the kids were finished but one young girl was being coaxed up the tree by her father so we had to wait another few minutes before ascending. The anticipation was growing and the nerves were showing!
This was to be the lead up for “The Valley of the Giants” which we were heading to later in the evening. Doing our final stretches, Coley made a video of the warm up and then the time had come, up we went! To be fair the climb wasn’t that bad at all, I was expecting it to be a tougher than it was. We were a bit short of breathe by the top alright, could do with a bit of Junior 3 training I suppose! The views from above were spectacular and I don’t think the photos do them justice. The climb down was much harder I thought! The steps were made from re-bar and near the top were quite steep, almost vertical. Cole thought the climb down was easier but to be fair, he had his climbing shoes on and I was stuck in runners! All in all, it took about 2 or 3 minutes to climb up and the same to come down. A nice experience though.
As mentioned above, Valley of the Giants was the next port of call so we took off. First wrong turn of the trip! There was a discussion between us
Glouster Tree
From the ground as to which road we were on and where it would come out but I won’t go into who was wrong and who was right as that’s still up for debate. Long story short, we ended up on a dirt road with came to a river crossing after about 30 kilometres which I wouldn’t chance crossing in a John Deere! About turn and back the way we came, back into Pemberton and followed the main road to Warpol where we stopped for lunch. We arrived at The Valley of the Giants at about 3 in the evening. I was expecting great things from the name of this place alone, and perhaps that was its downfall, the name gave it expectations above what it was. Now, it was good, and I’m glad we stopped there, especially seen as it was only a few kilometres of the route we were taking anyway.
The Valley of the giants is a treetop walkway between Warpol and Denmark on the south coast of WA. It rises 40 metres above the ground and is a 600m loop. It is an impressive structure and it is great to be up that high in the trees but
Valley of the Giants
Colman on the Skywalk you’re not really walking through the treetops, they’re a bit away from them. We were just expecting a bit more.
We left there shortly after and after a quick stop in Denmark so Cole could get a photo with the sign we struck on for Albany. We arrived under the cover of dark and were greeted by a sparkling city which has a mountain for a backdrop and a picturesque dock, at least at night-time anyway. We drove around for an hour looking for a place to camp, we no luck, and after a stop on the side of the road outside Chicken Treat to take a call from Sean (who is back in Australia via Brisbane and Sydney and where ever else he got diverted through), we found a campsite thank God. A 4 star campsite no less! We’re planning to stay here for a couple of days so we’re living in luxury for the time being. I should be able to update day by day now until we hit the Nullarbor, with should be the middle of next week, as we’ll have no reception on the phones or mobile broadband there.
Colman has promised to write
Vallof the Giants
Gaffer on the Skywalk up his version of events, and as soon as he does they’ll be up here. I’ll try and get up a few more videos.
Bonus Reading
Wolf Creek Monemt Numer 2
Driving between Pemberton and Warpol the front right indicator fell out of its holder and was hanging on by the electrical wires. We pulled in to the side of the road and were putting it back in place we a ute stopped in front of us. "Its the same lad from the beech in Yallingup" Cole says ta me! To be fair, he was just stopping to make sure we were alright but watching Wolf Creek just before going on a roadtrip in Australia isn't good for the auld nerves like!
RIP Micheal O’ Donovan from all in Australia
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