Walpole - Southern Forests


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April 12th 2012
Saved: September 20th 2017
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Today was the day for the Great Southern forests. We drove west towards Walpole and turned onto the Valley of the Giants scenic drive. One sees the occasional kangaroo or emu grazing in the paddocks, just as one might see a deer in a cattle field at home. Our destination was the Tree Top Walk, a 600 meter Stroll at the level of the canopy through a Tingle or 'red gum'forest. 44,000 people a year come to this site. In order to disturb the forest as little as possible, the 200 m. poles, the guy wires, the swaying metal bridges were all installed without the use of cranes or heavy equipment! And the footings were tamped down but not cemented in. You can see the many silvery dead branches at the tops of the trees, which are from a forest fire in 1957, a crown fire that stopped the growth of those particular branches, but didn't kill the trees. The blackened areas inside the 'buttresses' are also from fire- ground fires. These giants live for about 400 years ( if let to). They have no tap root, but depend on shallow surface roots no deeper than 1/2 meter. As they mature they get hollow at the base and their trunk begins to buttress, and then they are literally crouching on the ground, yet they are alive...fascinating. They deal with many insect and fungal attacks by forming burls. Following our walk amongst the tree tops we took a guided tour on the Ancient Empire boardwalk. After yet another yummy picnic lunch, we did a two hour hike along the Bibbulman track to see the Giant Tingle tree. Driving home we detoured onto the Scotsdale road which accesses wineries, craft shops etc. But it was dusk, and our purpose was not to shop, but to drive slowly along and watch the kangaroos emerge from the bush and settle down to graze in mobs of 10 - 20 in the farmer's paddocks.


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17th April 2012

Wow - those are big trees. There was a tree with a hole inside it. You can even hide in them. The kangaroos on the movie were funny! What was coming when the kangaroo was on the road? When I (Rachel) was in Walpole I went on a free tour put on by the company building the treetop walk to show all the things they were doing to protect the trees amidst a lot of controversy about the construction. I guess that was a long time ago! It was an amazing forest.
19th April 2012

Why don't the trees fall over without a tap root?

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