Day 84 – Day 86
We drove from Pemberton to Walpole. This is only about a 2 hour drive with the van on so we were there by lunch time. FFR2 have a dog so we stayed at the only park in town that allowed dogs – Rest Point Caravan Park. When we first pulled in we (that would be Kate) were a little dubious. First appearances showed what appeared to be a dilapidated office/house, some old cabins and a big lake type thing. We booked in anyway (though only for 1 night just in case) and as we drove to our site we passed a man sitting on the deck of one of the cabins playing the banjo – the tune was similar to the song in “Deliverance” – and wondered just what we had got ourselves into. It turned out to be a lovely place. Probably in it’s hey day (think early 1900’s) it would have been spectacular. There were hand painted murals on the old cabins of the various fish you could catch in the area and an old gazebo on the lake were the tour boat used to leave from (unfortunately during their centenary celebrations the gazebo was hit by the old boat and is now undergoing repairs!). Now the place is clean, they hire out boats, kayaks and canoes and the family who run the place are very nice (Mum went to primary school in Glen Waverley).
The day we arrived it was still cool so we went for a drive after we set up camp and had some lunch. We drove around the inlet (Walpole sits on two inlets) and then up into the park to see the Giant Tingle Tree and Circular Pond. Tingle trees only grow in this region of WA and come in three varieties – Red, Yellow and Rates. The Red ones grow the largest and they end up with very wide lower trunks that generally hollow out due to their susceptibility to disease. The kids had a good time running in and out of the trunk. Circular pool is a natural pool at the bottom of a set of rapids in the Frankland River. The kids ran around on the rocks. Naturally Bubba fell over and alas this spelt the death of the shorts he was wearing (they were pretty holey before the fall but not redeemable afterwards) so he had to get around in his jocks for the rest of the trip (only half an hour). Nick and Chris decided they would swim in the pool area which involved sliding down the rocks, swimming a bit, crawling over some more rocks and then swimming again. They thought it was great I thought they would freeze but there were no complaints then or later when I suggested a hot shower!
Next day we hung around the campground. Kids rode bikes, played with the owners kids and we hired a canoe for an hour.
Monday we packed up and headed to the boat ramp for the “Inlet Tour”. This was the first available tour since we arrived and the reason we had stayed the extra day. Chris (naturally) was not longing forward to it and determined to have a terrible time but that was before he met Gary who takes the tour. Gary’s family have been in the area since it was settled, he is passionate about the area and loves to tell a story. He had the whole boat in fits of laughter and managed to be educational while he was at it. When we moored the boat and went for a walk over the hill to another beach Chris was one step behind him the whole way. The kids loved it and I am glad we stayed the extra day to do the trip.
We had some lunch in the van and then headed towards Albany. On the way we stopped at the “Valley of the Giants” to do the treetop walk and see the Red Tingles. This was fun, although the kids made the treetop platforms sway the entire way so it felt good to be back on firm land at the end.
We should make it to Albany around 4.30pm. It looks like better weather later in the week so we might stay there a few days.
