We left Augusta on the Saturday morning aiming to get to a town called Manjimup which had advertised a farmer's market that morning. As soon as we left Augusta and headed east the terrain changed completely. We found ourselves in timber country - with narrow roads that wound up and down the hilly countryside, and thick forests of very tall karri trees. On the way we passed through another small town called Nannup (what is it with all these '..up' names? Must mean something in Aboriginal.)

Anyway, as we pulled into Nannup we found they had a farmer's market as well, and hadn't even bothered to advertise. And the first stall we found was selling apricots - sweet and juicy and straight off the tree. He was also selling then for $4 a kilo. In the shops they were $14 a kilo. Stocked up well. Also got some plums and various other fruits. Very happy.

Out of Nannup there was a fork in the road, one going to Manjimup and one to Pemberton. It was still early so we continued to Manjimup to check out their market as well. About 25 kms down the long windy trail we were brought to a sudden halt. One of the huge Karri trees had fallen across the road and blocked it completely. There were people in high vis shirts speaking importantly into walkie talkies, so we were sure it would all be cleared up. But how long would that take? It would need some pretty serious machinery to move that huge trunk. Apparently karri trees are known to do this. They often drop large branches spontaneously and can do a lot of damage. The people we had met the night before in Augusta had been in the forest the night before. They had three young children asleep in a tent when a branch dropped right on top of them. It was a smallish branch and the kids were alright, but the tent got ripped to shreds.

We decided to give up on Manjimup, turn around, and drive back that windy 25 kms and head to Pemberton. Good thing we had found the market at Nannup.

We had been to Pemberton with the kids twelve years earlier. It was famous for the Gloucester Tree - a very tall karri tree that had been used as a lookout for fires in the past. To make it easier to climb, metal stakes had been placed into the trunk to form a spiral 'step-ladder' that circled the tree - all 60 metres of it. This was now open to the public to climb, with a viewing platform at the top. We had had a go last time. George and I piked out after a few metres, but the kids got to the very top. Not keen to try again now.

So we enquired what else there was to do in Pemberton, and found they had an old 'tram' that trundled through the forest on the old railway tracks, and went over several bridges and a waterfall. To see all this without having to drive these narrow roads sounded quite appealing, so we hung around to the afternoon and enjoyed the ride.

We had not planned to spend the night in Pemberton but had read about a campground in a national park about half an hour further up the highway. We set off about 4 pm, and got there soon after 4.30. There were signs to the campground, but when we got there we found there was building and construction work going on, and nowhere obvious to camp. We went up and down a few times, and saw a few other vans doing the same. By this time it was getting close to 5 pm and the sun was starting to sink. (Remember, we are in WA, no daylight savings, and a thick forest.) Kangaroos would soon be a problem.

Rather than going further around in circles, we pushed on to Walpole, the next town, and pulled into the caravan park just before 6pm. It had been a long and exhausting day.

The caravan park at Walpole was very pleasant with lots of shady trees and opening onto a pretty inlet. We were now back on the coast, but the town was not on the open sea. Although it looked very pretty in the morning light, we were assaulted by the drone of a thousand flies as soon as we stepped out of the van. Decided to push on fairly quickly to Denmark, about 60 kms further along.

GeorgeY's Bit

Pemberton was a logging town with a timber mill and all. Transport by rail was abandoned in favour of roads, so they built a replica of the old Freemantle trams and powered it by diesel to chug along the old track. Waiting for the trip the volunteer driver and station personnel talked about the karri trees dropping large branches, and when we told them about this morning they agreed it is common, then added a detailed account of every catastrophic event they knew of. I decided to move the van as it was within reach of an overhanging branch. Paranoia? Maybe, I call it awareness. Too much awareness is scary.

Augusta, Pemberton and Walpole are constantly under attack from marsh flies. They see visitors as home delivered meals on wheels.