One thing we didn't expect after driving across the treeless plain that was the Nullarbor into Western Australia, was that this state was home to some of the biggest and most beautiful trees we'd seen since Tassie. Seriously massive!
And with the Easter long weekend meaning all holiday accommodation on the coast of WA was booked out some 12 months ago - this from the girl on the phone from one caravan park, "What? A powered site? Honey, is this some kind of joke? We booked out last March. As in 2007." O-kay. No need for the attitude, just trying to get a piece of turf so the Easter Bunny can find us, that's all.
But turning inland away from the beach turned out to be one to the best things we'd done in a while (after cashing in our credit card points for petrol vouchers, that is). The Southern Forests down this way are spectacular and are home to ancient karri, tingle and marri trees that will have you looking at nature in a different way and making you feel very small in the scheme of things.
Highlights of our little forest field trip included:
-Seeing a backpackers in the main street of the town of Walpole (which is surrounded by Tingle trees) with the name Tingle All Over. Nice play on words guys, but people may have taken you a little literally from the look of your empty car park. Ewww...
- Drinking burnt coffee in a diner called De Javu in Manjimup because it was the only place in town open on Good Friday. Warning: This cafe was the only place open on Good Friday in such a small town for a reason.
-Laughing at all the places in a 200km radius that end in 'up'. Nanup, Manjimup, Kojonup, Kendenup, Nornalup, Porongurup, Daranup, Yallingup, Boyup, Quinninnup, Boyanup, Jerramungup, Ongerup, Gnowangerup... and these are but a few. No joke. Someone must have been sick of coming up with names for towns over this way so mixed a few letters around and stuck an 'up' on the end and hey, presto!
-Feeling my legs turn to jelly as Luke and I attempted to make the climb up a 61 metre Karri tree in the Gloucester National Park near Pemberton. There are three climbing trees in the area with dodgy looking metal pikes sticking out of them and a sign that warns people not to attempt the climb if they're unfit or afraid of heights. The trees used to be fire lookouts before the age of the helicopter and are free to climb - actually there's no one around at all except for testosterone infused tourists wanting to conquer the tree, but the brochures say no one has fallen in over 40 years and more than one million visitors have made the climb successfully. I should have been more honest with myself because at half way up, my legs froze and I started to sweat and had to back down to the ground and leave Luke to climb the next 30 metres on his own! But he made it and said the view from the top platform was amazing.
-Feeding the purple-crowned lorikeets and rosellas in the National Parks and at our caravan park as well. These guys were everywhere.
-And finally, being five minutes shy of getting arrested for indecent exposure after deciding to throw caution to the wind and skinny dip at Big Brook Dam. Seemed like a good idea at the time but who knew other travellers would also fancy a swim on a hot autumn afternoon and drive the windy 10km dirt track seemingly into the middle of nowhere to find the perfect spot. Just as we did our nudie dash for the shore, a bunch of people came meandering around the corner. Close. Very Close.
Yours in the great outdoors and wishing you all a very late happy Easter,
Odette
PS The Easter Bunny may have gotten a little confused as to our current address (understandably, of course) but the Easter Bilby decided to jump out of the bush and deliver us more chocolate then we know what to do with! (Okay, we stinged it and went to Coles on Easter Monday and stocked up on the half price stuff. Excellent idea!)
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