Day 82 – 83
We drove from Busselton to Pemberton via Nannup where we were lucky to leave the verandah of the Real Estate Agency intact after stopping for coffee. The lovely locals gave directions and prevented cars from parking behind us until we extricated ourselves and drove on out with a backward wave.
We arrived in Pemberton and booked ourselves in to the only caravan park in town. FFR2 were meant to be staying here as well but a strict no dogs policy caused a bit of a hiccup there and they had to free camp out on the road which is fine further up North but no heater down here makes things a little chilly. I think the kids are now ok with us not bringing Daisy!
The rain continued on and off Thursday and started to ease Friday but it didn’t stop us from getting out and about. Pemberton is a lovely timber town. Lots of very tall Karri trees everywhere, very green and historical timber mill houses everywhere.
We started Thursday by driving out to the Bicentennial Tree. This is a fire lookout and is 74m high. Nick climbed to the half way point and the other kids probably made it ¼ of the way. FFR2 husband and youngest daughter made it all the way to the top while wife had heart palpitations on the ground watching them. It was only as we were leaving that we saw the signage that recommended no children climb for safety reasons.
Next we headed for Beedleup Falls where there is a suspension bridge – not quite like Indiana Jones but still good fun. Only 5 at a time are allowed on and the boys took great joy in making it bounce when they were not on the actual bridge. We then walked into the bush to see a “walk thru tree”. Madi ended up quite cranky believing we had misled her as it was quite a hilly walk and further than she thought. The kids reaction when we finally reached the tree was quite anticlimactic – “Is that is? What a rip off? I wouldn’t have walked here if I had known!” Anyway we did it and then Andy and Chris went the long way back with a few of the FFR2 and FFR2 Mum and I got to cajole the rest of them all the way back to the car (which wasn’t that bad – more downhill in that direction).
We had dinner in the pub that night as we got back quite late from the National Park. The pub is a big old pub with lots of pictures from the days when the trees were cut by hand. Food was good and the service was quick which was good. Two Irish girls from County Cork were behind the bar and this prompted Andy to buy a Kilkenny – only one though as they charged $11 for 1 can!
Next day we caught the Tram which takes you behind the mill and into the forest. This is a good trip even though the train driver uses the fact that he has a captive audience for 1 ¾ hours to reiterate every fact he has ever learnt that is connected however distantly to trees. We did learn that Victoria has the 3 tallest trees in Australia and that Healesville has the tallest tree in the world, Mt Baw Baw has the 2nd tallest and Thorpdale has the 6th tallest tree in the world (3rd in Australia) – just a bit of trivia for you. Chris was slightly concerned in the beginning when we stopped every 20 metres or crawled along that we were going to be on the train all day but we picked up a bit of speed occasionally which calmed him down.
Next we drove out to the Yeararup Sand dunes. These are the largest inland sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere. Andy and I tobogganed on them 15 years ago and we wanted to show them to the kids because they are enormous and they just appear in the middle of the National Park. They are surrounded on all sides by National Park and every year they move about 4 more metres inland. We took the boogie boards and the kids had a few turns on the dunes and then we headed back to town.
We checked out the swimming pool which is roughly 200m by 50m. They dammed the river many years ago and have set it up as a swimming pool with decking and stairs, etc. It would be fantastic on a hot summer’s day but freezing just at the moment. After that we did the skate park/cricket nets. There were 2 kids on the skate park riding BMX type bikes and doing a few impressive tricks. Bubba watched them for a while and then decided he would chat with them. He opened with “How old are you?” He was a bit perplexed when they came back with 20 and 17 but he forged on with “Have you seen Grown Ups?” At which they just looked at him blankly so Chris filled the gap with “If you’re that old what are you doing here?” It was about then that we decided to head home.
That night the local birds and ducks came in for a feed. They are obviously used to being fed because they were not shy at all. Madi found it very uncomfortable but the boys thought it was great.
One conversation we had here was about favourite characters from a popular show they watch called Chuck. Chris picked a character called Morgan because he is funny and a little quirky. Nick then asked Mum her favourite and she replied “Casey”. He is a military operations man who happens to be very strong and physically capable but who she likes because he is quick witted and amusing but before she could explain why she liked him Nick followed up with “do you like Casey because he is buffed and Dad isn’t?” Poor Daddy!
Today we are off to Walpole and it isn’t raining! It isn’t hot either but at least it’s not raining.
