Treechange!

When we turned east, we also turned inland – away from the coast for the first time since we had arrived in Derby nearly six weeks before. This was to be only a brief detour, though, to see the famous big trees around Pemberton and to do the Tree Top Walk in Walpole. The “big trees” are the massive karri trees (Aboriginal name for the Eucalyptus diversicolor) which only grow in the South West of WA where the rainfall is high enough (or at least, it has traditionally been high enough). Mature trees are over 60m tall, and can reach up to 90m. A few were selected in the 1930s and 1940s as fire lookouts and these have a “ladder” of 60cm nails hammered into them, which can be climbed by the extremely brave (and foolhardy!). Kendall had been looking forward to this particular challenge since before the trip, while Andrew had already made up his mind not to go anywhere near them (he’s not good with heights). We found the Bicentennial Tree – one of the climbing trees – just west of Pemberton and I have to say it looked a lot scarier than I expected. No safety net of any kind, not much in the way of warnings or restrictions – and no specified age limit for climbing, leaving the decision up to the poor parents (more guilt). On this one, there was a platform about 20m up, so the girls and I climbed up that far without too much trouble. It’s not actually that hard to climb, although the nails are fairly far apart for children, but if you had a bit of a panic up there, you could just freeze up. Also, coming down you have to look down through your legs to see where the next step is, and that’s pretty daunting! Kirralee was all for going right to the top, until she actually started coming back down from the platform (I put my foot down and said that this was only our “practice run” and we would save the big climb for the next big tree and the next day.) The picture probably doesn’t really show it, but it was VERY scary – you just felt so exposed out there, and looking up afterwards and realising that the platform we went up to was barely a third of the way up convinced me that there was no way I was taking the girls any further (much to Kendall and Kirralee’s disgust).

The next day we found the Gloucester Tree – and after Andrew and I had agonised over whether we should allow any of the girls to climb and if so, how high etc – it turned out to be much easier than the Bicentennial Tree, having a sort of net joining the nails together on the outside, as well as more branches on the way up. Not that these would have saved you at all, but they made you feel much more secure, and the nails were a bit closer together, which made it easier. The view from the top viewing platform (about 60m up) was a bonus, but the real thrill was definitely the climb itself. Kendall, Kirralee and I reached the top, while Tahlia and Andrew very sensibly stopped at the point where they felt comfortable (Tahlia about half-way up and Andrew on the bench at the bottom!). The forest itself was just beautiful, and it was a shame we scarcely had time to explore and enjoy it (we’d cut the itinerary to the bone in this last section, having chosen to spend most of our time further north where it was warmer and we were less likely to go back). Instead, we jumped back in the car and headed for Walpole, home of the famous “Tree-top walk”, something I had been particularly looking forward to.

It turned out to be even better than expected – a 600m long steel boardwalk 20 – 35m up in the air through the canopy of a Red Tingle forest, another beautiful big tree confined to high rainfall areas near the south coast of WA. There was a lovely ground level walk around the forest, too, which we all enjoyed. Just as we were leaving, I got a call from the caravan park in Denmark: were we still coming? Yes, we replied – just pushing the envelope as usual. Back in the car, and back to the beach.... for the last time in WA.

Captions for pictures

- The Bicentennial Tree......... and we're barely 10m up!
- Andrew taking bird pictures while waiting at the bottom (this is a Western Rosella)
- View of the forest from about half-way up the Gloucester Tree
- The lovely coral vine, which grows prolifically in the Karri forests
- The Tree-top walk - and this is at least 20m up, so you can see how tall the trees are
- The white clematis growing in the Red Tingle forest
- One of the giant Red Tingle trees - this one looks familiar, somehow...............!
- Feeding the friendly "28" parrots at the Pemberton Caravan Park (yes that's their name - it apparently reflects the call they make)