After our short stay in Albany it was time to hit the road again continuing the journey west, first stop of the day was to be in Denmark about an hour from Albany. The town looks very nice with the river running through it and was still quite busy with the holiday crowds, after having some lunch we continued on.
From here on you are in tree territory and they have some fun tourist attractions to try out, the first is just before Walpole at the Valley Of The Giants tree top walk. This is a National Parks site so no dogs, others seem to ignore that, and there is an entry fee but certainly worth the money. You walk along elevated walkways up in the tree top canopy and at its highest point you are 40m above the ground. Back on the forest floor you walk amongst the giant Tingle trees and in some places walk through and stand within these massive trees, we really enjoyed it and gave you an idea of how high they grow within the safe confines of the walkways.
Back on the road we stopped briefly in Walpole to find out the caravan parks were full still this being the last week of school holidays, we asked about forest camping and were advised Shannon National Park 80km north would suit our needs so off we went.
Arriving at Shannon we found the place to be fairly quiet with a large group of cyclists in for the night and just a few other campers, driving around the campsite we found a large concrete pad from some of the previous machinery to be perfect of the caravan and there was also a picnic table and fire pit, which woud be our first since Tasmania. We decided we would stay here for four nights over the ANZAC weekend thus avoiding the crowds but also being able to explore the region from this base camp.
About Shannon, it used to be a logging town created in the mid 1940’s and was made up of over 90 homes with its own school, golf course and tennis courts. The town basically disappeared in 1967 after the logging closed and the houses were all transplanted to other local towns in the area. The area was gazetted a National Park in 1988 and now only the old golf clubhouse remains, used now as a lodge for groups to hire. You can take a walk from the campground to Shannon Dam which was the source of water for the township.
Our first daytrip took us out to Windy Harbour via Northcliffe, the settlement at Windy Harbour is quite interesting with only the caravan park shop with any form of supplies, you can take a drive to the headland overlooking the houses and north to Salmon Beach. Returning to camp we took a detour through the forest and took in the site of the Boorara Tree, this is one of the old fire tower look out trees which someone would have to climb in during the fire season to keep those on the ground notified of fire activity in the area, this tree you could not climb like others but a hut on the ground gave you an idea of how much space the lookout had up in the canopy of the tree.
The next day out would prove to be on of the more adventurous for one member of the family, destination for the day was to be Pemberton and the surrounding forest which included the fire tower lookout trees. We first stopped at the Gloucester Tree, this is on of the more popular trees you can climb in the area and the lookout platform is approx 60m above the ground. They have metal spikes hammered into the tree going up in a corkscrew fashion with some wires at the end of each rung creating a semi safety net incase you go too far out on the rung. Kellie was the brave one here and took off up the tree before we finally could see her at the top, after having a breather and a picture taken at the top it was the slow climb back down also having to make room for climbers going up to get past, well done Kel.
We had lunch in Pemberton and then had a wander around town, a surprise was to be found in the visitor centre where they had five Kangaroo Joey orphans which we could get close too and pat. The rest of the day was taken driving the Karri Forest Loop Road which meanders through these huge trees and offers a number of points of interest and historical information from those that first came to settle the area. The final stop of the day was another climbing tree, the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree is the tallest you can climb at around 75m with a platform 25m up where you can take a rest, a few people were taking the challenge but not me (Liam), I prefer ground level.
Leaving Shannon behind we made our way to Manjimup to grab a few supplies and continued on to a rest stop at one tree bridge, the photo might explain why it was named so.
The weather had also turned for the worse and we were now driving through some heavy rain, destination was to be somewhere around Augusta on the coast but with the weather being not so good beachside camping would be no fun. Checking the map the area around Margaret River had some good options and we made a few calls before settling on Big Valley Campsite, so back on the road we arrived at our destination for the next week.
Big Valley Campsite www.bigvalleymargaretriver.com.au is a farm based caravan and camping option, they mainly run sheep on the property but also have some goats, rabbits, chickens and quail to keep the kids amused. Mischief the orphaned lamb was especially entertaining when walking towards you in a flock of sheep, might have had something to do with the hand feeding it received that made it so human friendly. The owners Shirley, Kevin and Megan were great and gave some excellent advice about places to visit around the region, well worth checking the place out if in the area.
That week we spent our mornings getting the kids back into schooling whilst making use of the excellent library in Margaret River to focus the kids minds. Our afternoons were spent taking in some of the local attractions such as the Berry Farm with beautiful scones, Cheeky Monkey Brewery for some beer and cider samples and the highlight for us the Giants Cave. This cave is what they call an adventure cave, before entry you are given a hardhat and torch, once inside there are no lights and in some sections you have to crawl through tight holes in the rock and climb ladders to complete the 500m cave with two sections reaching 88m below the surface.
Travelling a little further out from the area we visited Augusta and the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse which is on the edge of Flinders Bay, also the name of the ship I was on when I met Kellie, we finished that day having fish and chips in Augusta before turning to the van.
We had planned one day to use to head north to Busselton about 55km away, on the way you pass through Cowaramup which is a small town covered in cow statues, including a large gold version high above the ground in an interesting pose. We thing this must have been a bit of fun as nearby there was a winery with a similar statue of a human figure in the same pose.
Busselton had a surprise which I had not known about in that the jetty in town is very long, 1.8km long in fact, arriving just as the little train left meant we had no option but to walk it, an hour later we were back on land having lunch.
After having a browse around the town and refuelling we took the road west towards the town of Dunsborough which is obviously very popular with the Perth holiday crowd as it had some great holiday properties. Next stop was Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, here they have a small museum and you can walk around the grounds, for a small fee you can walk up to the lighthouse and enjoy the view over the surrounding ocean.
Margaret River has so much to see and do it was unfortunate that whilst we were there the weather was not favourable and so the beaches and walks did not hold the appeal they might have on a sunny day, never the less we enjoyed our stay here but it was time to move on.
We passed through Bunbury heading north and continued on to Mandurah where we stopped for a couple of nights to visit Kellie’s cousin and family, we also got to check out the local markets and the kids even hooked up with some mates they had first found in Esperance.
And now we sit in Perth, getting some jobs done on the car and the kids getting up to date with school work has been the priority, next week we will stay with a friend and hope to see more of the city and surrounds before continuing on into warmer weather.
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