Day 132 3rd September 2014 Wednesday. My 2 pet kangaroos were again camped on my door step looking for food . It had been so cold during the night that when I put the air conditioner on the temperature was zero. After breakfast we headed to Northcliffe which is surrounded by magnificent national parks. We drove through towering karri, marri and jarrah, the signature trees of the southern forests, and we kept looking up all day. We stopped at the visitor centre and I decided to do the Understory walk which is a 1.2 km walk trail through pristine native forest that takes you past about 50 unique art works among the forest. We then headed to the Pioneer Museum and this was interesting as mum kept saying “I remember that …”. We then drove toward the coastal town of Windy Harbour which is in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park. We stopped at Mt Chudalup which is a huge granite rock outcrop that rises sharply from the surrounding forest and is 187m above sea level. It was like a mini Ayres Rock. Mum and I started the 1.5km Summit Walk and it led us through karri and marri forest with peppermints, grass trees, snottygobbles, banksias and sheoaks in abundance. Mum was not able to go all the way as the granite was slippery and very steep with no handholds. I went to the summit and found stunning 360 degree views over the national park and coast. We drove around the small settlement of Windy Harbour which is made up of shacks. We took the scenic drive to Point D’Entrecasteaux lighthouse and had lunch. We took some of the walks to various lookouts and we saw some whales off shore. The cliffs are made of limestone and one particular format known as Natures Window is where the natural limestone bridge forms a window that hugs the cliff side and offers a spectacular and truly unique perspective of the ocean below. We headed toward Pemberton and stopped at the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree which is 68 m high and can be climbed. It was magnificent. Mum and I did a small loop walk through the karri forest and were again amazed at the height of the trees. We then went to the Cascades, where the Lefroy Brook tumbles over a series of rocky shelves. We met a couple of chaps who were going to try their luck at trout fishing. Their get-up was unique, rubber boots, flies and nets. We drove through Pemberton and then onto the Gloucester Tree, probably WA’s most famous Karri Tree which is 61m tall and can also be climbed. We were disappointed as we felt both the Dave Evans and the Diamond Karri trees were much better. Mum and I did a quick trail loop as a consolation as I wanted to go to the suspension bridge at Beedelup Falls but mum and dad had had enough for the day and were exhausted. Headed back to our friendly kangaroos.
