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Published: April 12th 2007
Serpentine Falls
Not the most impressive at this time of year, but after heavy rains I'm sure it's quite nice. April 9-13, 2007. Sarah had her week off from studies, and I took a week off work. So where to? Back down south, to an even more beautiful region, one that is still sheltered from the tourism of Margaret River region.
We visited Pemberton, Walpole and Denmark.
We left Perth Monday morning. It hadn't hit me that we'd be going on a trip, and I had gone to bed without packing. It wasn't that I forgot...I was actually not in much of a traveling mood! But off we went!
Our first stop was Serpentine Dam. I hadn't seen this much water inland in Oz, and the area was really pretty. We also visited Serpentine Falls...which must be much more impressive in winter when there's more water to make the falls...but it was relaxing to sit and listen to the sound of water falling anyways.
We then continued onto Pinjarra, same as our last trip down south. It's a good town to stop for coffee, especially if you've left Perth sans having had a "cuppa" We chose the Historic Tea Rooms, which turned out to be quite a lovely place to have some coffee, with tables on
Tall Trees
In Pemberton, WA the porch and picnic tables in the yard.
Then it was onto Pemberton, where we had a bit of a walk along the
Bibbulmun Trail before meeting with a friend and her family. The movie of the evening was Elizabethtown, and it wasn't until during the movie that I finally was in a full traveling mood (a road trip is part of the plot for those who haven't seen it)!
Yay road trips!
The next morning we walked the 3km to the Gloucester Tree, a 61-metre karri tree that you can climb. The tree was once used for fire-spotting; now it is open to the public to climb. Note that this type of tree climb would never, ever be found in the US as it would be a major liability issue. I was actually a bit relieved to see the tree, with its steel pegs spiraling up the tree (yes, that's how it was climbed!) and the simple sign warning people with heart conditions and fear of heights to stay on the ground. Climb at your own risk. Simple.
It took me quite a while to work up the nerve to climb it...should my foot slip from one
Bibbulmun Track
These little signs showed you were on the Bibbulmun. of those pegs, there wasn't anything to stop me from falling a long way down!! But Sarah went up first, and once she got about 10 metres up I figured I should follow...and it was absolutely terrifying and thrilling and awesome! I did make it all 61 metres (200 ft), and the threat of rain made the climb down even more terrifying. My knees shook the entire way back to Pemberton, so we relaxed at the Coffee Connection Cafe and wandered around the Fine Woodcraft Gallery, where saw some absolutely stunning woodcrafts from local Aussie woods such as jarrah, karri, sheoke and banskia.
After "Pembie", we headed south towards
Walpole. Our afternoon included walking in the canopy of the tall red tingle trees (at 40 metres) at the
Tree Top Walk. Afterwards, we checked into the Walpole Lodge, a nice home-style backpackers where we met some interesting people. There were two guys from California who were biking across Australia. There was also a group of older hikers from Victoria, Oz, who were doing parts of the Bibbulmun. Sarah was beat and went to bed early, but I stayed up and chatted with the hikers and got my first taste of "pudding",
Banksia
One of the beloved Aussie plants, unfortunately threatened by dieback. which is more like a hot upside-down cake than the North American definition of pudding, but it was chocolate and it was yummy. Quote of the night: "The Eskimos have 50 words for 'snow', the Aussies have 100 words for 'wanker'".
The next morning, we headed out on the Walpole inlet with
WOW Wilderness EcoCruises. Our guide Gary Muir was funny, clever and a great speaker, and the tour was one of the most interesting and educational tours I've ever had. We learned about the ever-changing Walpole inlet, the unique biodiversity of the area, and about
dieback, the disease threatening the area's plantlife (think Dutch Elm disease but on a much larger scale). And the inlet was breath-takingly gorgeous. Just beautiful. I highly recommend the tour!
That afternoon, we made our way towards Denmark, via the Valley of the Giants, stopping at the Giant Tingle Tree, which has a massive girth of 24 metres (that's a diameter of 25 feet). Red tingle trees have such huge bases because the base spreads as the tree grows older; they also grow up to 75 metres tall. So they're pretty big. Actually, 'big' doesn't even begin to describe these trees. They're just massive.
The Gloucester Tree
A 61 metre climb up steel pegs, in Pemberton, WA. We then headed towards the coast, but on our way stopped at the Valley of the Giants Cafe, hidden in the valley but totally worth the stop; we sat on the back porch soaking the sun and looking out over the land, with a friendly dog at our feet. We also made a quick stop for me to attempt to take photos of the red flowering gum blossums (it was rather windy, so good photos did not result). The entire south-west has impressed me with its unique biodiversity; the tingle trees and the red gums are just some of the plants unique to the
Walpole area. This area is truly special.
My breath was taken away as we hit the coast...we stopped at Waterfall Beach, Elephant Rocks, Madfish Bay and Green's Pool before heading into Denmark. I couldn't get over the beauty of Waterfall Beach...and the Rocks actually looked like the backs of elephants! Dinner was at the Denmark Tavern, where a family friend of Sarah's worked. We stayed the night with him on the farm outside of Denmark. The next day was dedicated to attempting to drive a tractor, feeding the cows, and surfing at Lowlands Beach
Tassel Flower
This flower unique to the area reminded me of bamboo. (the 'private' beach was 'crowded' according to Matt, as there were 3 other cars parked there). My surfing didn't go so well (more underwater 360s), but I had heaps of fun. We also ended up meeting the hikers from Walpole Lodge again, as the Bibbulmun passed by the beach.
That night we stayed with Matt again, and I got to see a newborn calf...we had just missed its birth by a few minutes. It was sooo cute! I also had never seen a night sky quite like that night...not a cloud in sight and no sources of light pollution. At some odd hour in the morning, I even got to see a
cheshire moon rise above the trees.
The next morning, it was back to Perth. We stopped in Mt Barker to get a look at the Stirling Ranges, but only from a distance as we simply hadn't the time to go explore the area.
The Southwest is absolutely beautiful. One of the guys at Walpole Lodge had asked me what my favourite part of Australia is, and while at that moment I couldn't pick one area...for now it's the
South West region of West Australia.
The Tree Top Walk
At 40 metres above the ground, the walk through the Tingle canopy was great!
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