19th July 2011 Albany, Denmark and almost Walpole. (~240km round trip)

 We had a very lazy start to our day today. (That 3rd Port last night  must have done it for me 🙂 )

We eventually got away around 9:30am and headed west to The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, about 15km east of Walpole. The area is home to maybe the only forest of red Tingle Trees. They are huge gums up to 450 years old and the mature trees exceed 50m tall. They don’t have tap roots, so as they mature they develop a huge buttress base at the bottom of their trunks. The buttress bases can be over 20m in circumference. As a result of bushfires, insects and rot, they eventually finish up having hollow trunks in the buttress area and some have been big enough to park cars in. Other trees there were the Yellow Tingle, huge Sheoaks and Kauri trees.

The forest alone was so impressive and it radiated a peacefulness you could feel. Deb and I had a group hug with one of the large Red Tingle trees, I was surprised at how soft its bark felt. We did a guided tour through the forest for about 1/2hr, we were the only ones on the tour so we got a very personalised tour, which was excellent. After the tour we did the tree top walk. It is made up of steel posts and gantries that gradually climb into the canopy of the trees. There are no steps, it is all a gentle rise and the ground falls away under you into a valley. It was amazing being up in the tree tops and looking so far down to the forest floor.

We then headed back in the general direction of Albany, and started looking for somewhere for lunch. First we called into a farm shop that was selling all sorts of preserves, jams, Olive Oil, toffee, etc. Let’s just say that I think we did our bit for the local economy there! 🙂  We then moved on and eventually finished up at a cheese factory for lunch, well it was a winery and cheese factory all in one. We chose a delicious cheese and meat platter for lunch and sat out on the veranda and ate most of it. It was delicious, and what we didn’t finish they packed in a doggie bag for us. 🙂  On the way back we drove through Denmark, a quaint little village on a bay, it was very tastefully rustic in the way the main shopping area had been preserved. We got back to the caravan park a bit after 4pm and started to think about tomorrow and the adventures that lie ahead.

Tomorrow we are off to New Norcia, about 500km away, so it will be a longish day behind the wheel, but we should be passing through a lot of interesting country side, including a couple of wine areas.