I hired a car for the Australia Day long weekend and on Saturday headed off to the charming town of Denmark set amongst tall timbers and situated on the banks of the river with the same name. On the scenic route west towards Walpole via Scotsdale Road I stopped at the Farmhouse winery and cheese place to get some supplies before continuing onto Parry Beach to camp for the night. When I arrived at the council run camp site the sign said 'camp site full' and although it did look very crowded with families, I managed to find a spot, paid my $10 after pitching my tent, and headed down to the beach for a swim and to see how the fishing was going. I could see others pushing a barrow load of firewood to their camp site but decided against it for just one night.
After cooking my dinner overlooking the beach in the setting sun with a glass of local wine, I headed back to my camp site to play a few tunes on my ukulele and in so doing met Robert, a harmonica player who went back to his campsite to fetch his collection of harmonicas! (all in different keys), and we played some tunes before he was called for dinnDer. He was a great but modest harmonica player. Shortly afterwards my neighbors called out to 'bring that ukulele over here' where they were playing guitar around the fire and we had a great time for the rest of the evening until quiet time.
Headed off on Sunday morning towards Walpole where I stopped at the quaint Bow Bridge roadhouse under the trees to get some local directions and couldn't resist one of the home made sausage rolls before heading up Valley of The Giants Road in the Nornalup–Walpole National Park, to the Red and Yellow Tingle (only found in this area), and Karri forests (all giant eucalypts), the Tree Top Walk and the Ancient Empire Walk.
Unlike other eucalypts, Tingles do not have a tap root, but instead a shallow root system which spreads as they grow older, causing them to buttress. This gives them more stability and allows them to absorb more nutrients. The distinctive feature of the Red Tingle tree is its hollowed out base (large enough to fit a car in). These hollows are caused by fire, fungal and insect attack. However the shallow root system of the tingles makes them vulnerable to compaction by people walking close to the base, hence the Tree Top Walk allowing people to enjoy the forest without having adverse effect on the trees. It does sway a little as you walk, in order to create the sensation of being in the forest canopy. There was a great Discovery Centre there also with details of how the walk was constructed with minimal disruption to the native flora and fauna.
I met 2 German ladies Uli and Susanne when I got to the stunning lookout over Conspicuous Cliffs. We had a discussion regarding the pronunciation of conspicuous and why it wasn't the same as suspicious. The wonders of the English language. I stopped for lunch in the park at Nornalup on the Frankland River then headed off to the Giant Tingle Tree and Circular Pools. The 'Tingle All Over YHA' at Walpole was my home for the night with beds instead of bunks and where I shared a room with a Polish guy touring by motorbike.
On Monday morning I was joined by Ali, a young Canadian girl from the YHA looking for a lift, so we took a drive to the inlet at Walpole, Colemine Beach and the Knoll before I dropped her at the Tree Top Walk and continued on my way. After visiting Peaceful Bay I called in for some cider (not my cup of tea), toffee (yum) and honey mead (yum) tastings at the various place along the way.
At the spectacular Greens pool I ran into Uli and Susanne again so after a few swims and toffee sampling we walked across the rocks to Elephant Rocks, a beautiful little beach nearby with huge granite rocks shaped like elephants. Uli and Susanne headed off towards the Stirling Ranges and I headed home to Albany, agreeing that if we had a 3rd chance meeting we would have a drink together. I returned my hire car after a fabulous weekend.
I still had one rather important problem to solve and that was how to move my caravan (without a car) as I had been advised over the weekend that due to an administrative error, my site had been double booked and I had to move within 3 days! I was a disappointed with that level of customer service so as soon as I got home I rode around to the adjoining caravan park to chat to them. To my great delight, Mike the maintenance man offered to move me on Wednesday. All I had to do was pack up, ride to work in the morning and return to my new caravan park home (Emu Beach Holiday Park) in the evening. This also meant I didn't need to use my backup plan of getting Al's friend Phil to move me. Once again great generosity from good people.
On returning to my existing caravan site I learned that my neighbour Wayne had been quite ill all weekend so, as neither of us had a car, I flew the 7km into town on my bike (not quite the Flying Doctors) to get him something from the only chemist open before cooking dinner and turning in.
