From Pemberton to Walpole and the Valley of the Giants.
Our amazing arboreal adventure continued today as we drove further east through more forests of these incredibly tall trees. There are restrictions now on logging but what such hard work it must have been for those early pioneers to clear areas of land for settlements and agriculture. The hotel bar last night was full of old photographs of loggers felling huge trees with by today's standards pretty crude tools.
Just beyond Walpole we entered the Valley of the Giants a forest of massive tingle and karri trees. Yesterday we learned about karri's marri's and jarrah's. Today we are introduced to the mighty tingle. (what a lovely name for a tree) Another type of eucalyptus the tingle is characterised by large holes or hollows at the base some large enough to walk through or from one photo we saw even drive a car through. The hollows are formed by a combination of fungal infections and fire. These onslaughts do not seem to harm the trees which carry on growing regardless.
By early afternoon we pulled up at the world famous Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk a much looked forward to destination on this foray. The Tree Top Walk is an incredibly engineered 600 meter walkway which sways on half a dozen pylons among the tingle tree crowns. We soon found ourselves 40 meters in the air oohing and aahing with our fellow intrepid tree top explorers. Brilliant but definitely not for vertigo sufferers. Just as magical was the walk that winds through the forest floor allowing you to see really close up the huge hollows and burrs that adorn the base of these trees. There is something quite spiritual about a forest and this one seemed to instil a sense of calm and peace. It is possible to come here for guided nighttime walks which would be lovely but we still had a few hours driving to get to Albany our next pit stop so we have to leave in order to arrive before "Roo time".
Just a few miles before Albany we suddenly seem to exit the forest and arrive at the coast and a flat landscape of silver beaches and blue bays.
Now experienced at finding a bed for the night we head for the Albany Tourist Information centre and with Maureen's cheerful guidance get booked in to a small motel in the town centre. Maureen does such a good job of tempting us with all the lovely things to see and do here that by the time we check in to the motel we have added an extra night. Only problem is that we only brought overnight bags and with the unplanned for stop at Pemberton too we now have a bit if a clothes crisis. Please don't look too closely at the photos!