Gotcha Australia: 7. – 9. December

I’m walking, yes I’m walking

We left Albany and took the scenic route to Denmark. On the way we could have stopped at a blueberry plantation but it was closed so we continued to Denmark. Our fist stop was the barometer exhibition. There are around 20 barometer on display and it was possible to play around – create a vacuum and see what happens, ring a “bell” with a barometer. The tallest barometer was 12m high and water went up and down the pipe. We raced it to the top of the pipe and we were fit but the water was boiling… quite fascinating. Next to information centre was a little showroom of wood turners – we watched them for some minutes.

Then it was time to stretch our legs. We drove to the point where the inlet/river reaches the ocean which only happens at high tide as we only saw a sandbar between them. After that walk we explored the loop walk in Denmark which was nice although it turned out to be a return walk as the last bit was flooded.

Elephant Rock was the next stop which you could only spot from the right angle. We arrived and had a look at the beach first. Then my dad and I started to explore the elephants. We had to go around one big rock and down some slope before we were standing before the herd of elephants.

Now it was time to pitch the tent and we drove to a community run camping place close to the beach. We managed to get the spot furthest away from the beach (the beach was our morning exercise) which was nice and quiet. It was allowed to have a camp-fire but we didn’t have any wood nor wanted to buy a complete wheelbarrow so no camp-fire.

The Tree Top Walk was fantastic and one of the places my mum was really keen to see. The walk is approx. 700m long and up to 45m high up in the trees. Sometimes the pathway swung in the wind! They had some informative signage which explained that the trees survive fires well and just establish a new canopy beneath the old one. We did the walk twice – we had to get the pictures from all angles.

Adjacent is the Ancient Empire Forest – several tall and old trees (mainly red and yellow tingle trees). These trees roots don’t grow into the depth they cover a lot of ground so we walked on boardwalks. Sometimes we had to walk through the trees – there was no other way to continue the path.

We had a quick picnic at the Coalmine Beach and headed to the Swarbrick Sculpture Walk within the Walpole Nature park. To enter that park you nearly had to open a dunny-door but luckily it was just standing next to the pathway. But then we came to a mirror which was nearly 20m long and we had to find the gab. To see all sculpture we had to keep our eyes wide open and the head swirling around as they were high up in the trees, on the ground or in the bushes.

This night we camped at the Fernhook Falls and had the first camp-fire for my parents! The fire was used to re-heat our rissoles. This camp-area is managed by the DEC and offered several tent/campervan sites plus two huts. Unfortunately I don’t know how the huts look like as they were already occupied when we arrived. We walked to the falls but not much water was running. I’m not sure if the level should be higher or not. From May/June till October/November you could launch your canoe and paddle downstream… But of course it’s already December we didn’t launch anything.

We continued to drive the tourist drive “Great Forest Tree Drive” and stopped at a little cove. After a little driving experience for my dad we stopped in Northcliffe and walked the Twin-Karri Walk. This tree looked like a Siamese twins – the trunk was connected. On the other side the walk led through Karri and Marri forest. It was a bit like walking in a jungle. If a tree fells down it will not be moved away. They just made a little gab or some steps into the trunk so the crossing was not too difficult.

There is also the option to walk nearly 1,000km from Perth to Albany. It’s the 8-week adventure track called Bibbulmun Track. Of course we didn’t walk the whole track we just crossed it several time and walked some paths which used the same track.