Entering the forest

Another great day today and we spent it in the land of the Karri and Jarrah trees. But I missed out on the first half of the day. I fell asleep in the car and forgot to jump in Miss W’s backpack. She took off for a river cruise on the Donnelly River down to the mouth on the south coast of W.A. Apparently it was a small group; a couple from Germany, a couple from U.K., a couple from Perth with their aboriginal foster daughters and then Miss W. Lots of chances to hear stories about men and their beer, women and their bathing beach and large basalt rocks from the very informative tour guide, Shaun. Morning tea out at the beach area where Miss W nearly got caught by two waves coming from different directions while she was taking photos. On the way back in the bus, Shaun stopped so the photographers could take some snaps of orchids and other typical W.A. plants.

Once Miss W was back in Pemberton, we headed to Windy Harbour. This was very similar to Trial Harbour or even Catamaran in Tasmania. A coastal beach and behind the dunes were all these shacks with a single lane road winding between them. Out to Point DÉntrecasteaux which is a very tall cliff and then taking snaps of Salmon Beach – where at the right time of year, you can see the salmon running.

All the way back to Pemberton, we pulled over by the side of the road to take more photos of plants – met a couple who were in the same spot as when we went out to Windy Harbour. They had found some great little orchids so we tried to find some as well. Heading off to Walpole tomorrow to see the tree tops walk. Will do the Pemberton train first though, as we were too late for that today after the river cruise.

Climbing trees

Pemberton is our destination today but of course we don’t drive straight there. Oh no, first we head back up the coast to Australind where there is a fantastic little museum and wood gallery. The owner was very talkative and woodturning has been in his family for many years even centuries. A great display of Western Australian wood turned into clocks, coasters, picture frames etc. The museum showcased history including Gallipoli, Bunbury Jetty, local Aboriginal tribes, American Civil War, Indian tribes, Ned Kelly and the Ablett family of wood turners – not sure if they are related to the football player.

I was being pretty observant as we were driving along and said, “Hang a right here” onto a road leading to Wellington Dam. I wonder why so many things are named Wellington like the mountain behind Hobart and the city in New Zealand. The dam was created during the Depression years but still works well. Off the quarry, where the stone was gathered for the dam, you can go abseiling. We didn’t try this.

Next to Collie where coal was found back in the 1800’s. A lot of coal is needed for electricity but the fellow who found the coal didn’t get the reward offered by the government. Instead the owner of the land claimed it.  In the visitor’s centre, they had a beautiful display of native flowers, but Miss W is determined we will find them growing in the wild so we didn’t take any photos.

On through Boyup Brook, Bridgetown and Manjimup and finally heading down the road to Pemberton. But one more stop was the Diamond Tree. I did try to climb up to the fire watch tower on top but it was too tall and the hand holds were too far apart. Miss W did take a photo of me though. Finally in Pemberton and what is it doing – raining!