After having been to Margaret River in South Western Australia, we continued our trip down south only the six of us; Cisela, me, her parents, aunt and uncle, heading to Walpole and further to Denmark (not the country, but the Aussie town...)
Our first stop on the road was the Shannon National Park which is located south east of Manjimup. In the park we drove on the Great Forest Drive, a scenic drive that gives you the opportunity to drive through big Karri forests. Karries grow up to 90 metres of height, making it one of the tallest species in the world beside the famous Redwoods on the U.S. West Coast. It is truly stunning to stand under such a tree !!
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| Karri tree |
After that, we headed straight to Walpole, to our little house right at the Walpole inlet. Very beautiful but a bit chilly, especially at nighttime when Cisela and I placed an electric heating unit next to our beds to keep warm.
I took the chance to do some fishing in the evening, but as it happens sometimes, I wasn't lucky enough to catch one (or my experience with salt water fishing is too little...). However, it was a very nice place to bathe the bait anyway.
The next day we went on a daytrip to Denmark, not because of the town but because of the beauty of its surroundings. The landscape is just great, green hills and big trees as far as you can see!
And if we thought that the Karri trees are big, it gets even bigger! The Valley of the Giants!
It's a forest of gigantic Tingle trees that can measure up to 24 metres round at the base and grow to the same height as the Karries and live for up to 400 years.
And when we say that the Tingles are big trees, we mean it! It is even possible to stand IN them and still have plenty of space! How great!
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| Giant tingle tree |
In the Valley of the Giants we took an amazing walk through the forest canopy on the Tree Top Walk, a spectacular lightweight bridge (nothing for persons who are afraid of heights) that ascends into the tree tops 40 metres above ground! What a view, what an experience!
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| Tree Top Walk |
On our way back to Walpole we stopped at Elephant Rock, a rock formation at the seaside that resembles a flock of elephants. And we had great weather too, storm and rain. ;-) Cold, but the scenery was amazing. See for yourself:
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| A bit windy... |
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| Elephant rocks |
Just a great day!
On our last day down in the South we visited the Gloucester Tree. It is a giant Karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia. At 72 metres in height, it is the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and Cisela's mom took the chance to climb up to the first platform half the way. But still very high!
In the meantime, the rest of us took the chance to talk to a lady who undertakes the task of looking after joeys (baby kangaroos) when their mothers have been killed by cars. She had seven little ones in the back of her car and had stopped to feed them. Cisela and her parents could not resist to hold some of them! Just cute!
She has already posted the photos in the post
Australian wildlife encounters.
Finally, we made our way back to Perth, where we arrived some hours later with a short stopover in Gnomeville... Not really my thing, so Cisela will write about that shortly.
To put it in a nutshell, South-West Australia is definitely worth a trip! So if you plan to go there one day, have fun and enjoy!!!
