A few Days down South, Down Under..

---

I've done a little more this week than last week. On Thursday we went down to Albany to stay for two nights with Ian and Jean and to explore the South, everything is so far apart that it took a couple of hours even from there to get to the places that were 'close by'.
The drive down wasnt the most scenic and mostly involved trees and more trees and yep you guessed it more trees 😊. Nat did spot our first wild Kangaroo and we spotted alot more hopping in fields by the time we got back.
On the Friday we went to The valley of the giants and took the 'Tree Top Walk' the highest point being 40metres and the walkway had a slightly uneasy sway about it when too many people got on it! We walked through the big trees from 40metres up and then walked at floor level and through the trunks of huge trees in the Tingle tree forest, my favourite tree was 'grandmother Tingle' this was one of the biggest trees there and if you looked for long enough she did have a little wrinkly face, that was my favourite tree 😊. They were huge, dont know how long it would take to climb....but i soon found out!
Our next stop, with it being just down the road (an hour and a half away!) was the glouchester (forgive for my poor spelling!) tree, we drove an hour and a half and then when we got there it did look like all the trees we had just passed...excect this had rungs and a wire net swirling up it, all 61 metres of it! Wonder what that was for...yep thats right to climb it! well i was up for it, Nat wasnt sure with her fear of heights slightly hindering her, but we didnt drive for ages just to stand at the bottom! So Nat went up the first few steps to get her photo took and then i went up behind her so she had no way of getting down, the only way was up!! She'll thank me in years to come im sure 😊. We got all the way to the viewing point at the top and then back down in one piece, aching legs but in one piece 😊.
On the Saturday on the way home we went to Castle rock and climbed up there and then scrambled the last bit. The sign said 'to get to the ladder for the viewing point climb up the 2metre high boulders in front of you'!! why they couldnt make the ladder 2m longer i dont know...but it was funny getting our feet wedged in the rocks, my boots are good at gripping as well as walking ive found 😊
After that we headed for the Stirling mountain range and Bluff Knoll, after a quick lunch and a sneeky peak at a wedding that was going on at the base of it (nice setting i thought). We headed up the top...we set off just after 12 (i was thinking isn't that when you are supposed to take shade? but no off we set, even the lizards we saw were more sensible and in the shade). Our legs aching from the climb yesterday were not being helped by this walk either!! We did survive though and got to the top, it was along way up about 4000m i think. The major down point was when Jean said theres a waterfall just up here to wet your hat in and cool off....it was summer and the waterfall was dryer than the sahara desert!! What got me through was knowing i could eat my apple when i got to the top 😊 and i did, it was delicious.
We headed back to Perth after the climb, barely able to move our legs, but we did manage to go on a slide and things designed for adults or 'big kids' on our way back in Katanning. Slides were never that fast when i was younger (thats my excuse for my huge scream as i whizzed down!!).
We had a very nice weekend and now we are back in Perth having to look for a job...back to the real world hey 😊.

---

Photos

But how do we get down??!!
The 61 metre high tree we climbed..

The Bridge
This is at Albany.

Grandmother Tingle
I love that name :)

Bluff Knoll
The Stirling Range Mountain we climbed

Balancing Rock
This rock is at Castle Rock where we climbed, we are trying our best to keep it from falling...

Comments

[Auntie Val]

Love the pics
I loved Grandmother Tingle too.......I wasn't so keen on" hanging out w ith the relatives" at Perth zoo!!Are you trying to tell us something??!The trees etc looked fantastic on your trip ........keep enjoying!Missed you this weekend.Love A.VAL

[Louise]

Good job............
Holding that rock up! Dont want that falling over! haha. Sounds like you both having lots and lots of fun exploring Australia. Much more fun than this very cold place we call England, even snowed the other day, only for a bit then it melted during day! Said to Nat that you will both be fit as anything when you come back with all this walking and hill climbing your both doing! Went to Newcastle last night for mates 21st was a good night considering it was a Tuesday. Just visited a few cheap bars and clubs. £11 return each so wasnt a expensive night out! Mum goes back to USA next week so shes getting reay and finsihing off my washing! Have lots more fun and keep putting pics on! Love Me xxxxxxx