We camped near Pemberton in a forested campsite on the Warren River with a huge kitchen. We had it to ourselves on the first night and we were very thankful as it poured with rain as we cooked dinner. We used it as a base to explore the Karri forests in the Pemberton area. We visited the Gloucester tree and it was too windy to climb but that didn’t worry us as the height I got off the ground for the photo was quite enough.
We had some bird encounters with a very tame kookaburra at camp and a grey shrike-thrush that liked itself in our car window.
We visited Beedelup falls and a walk through tree before heading to the eerie Goblin Swamp. This is seriously under publicised as it had one mention on all of the brochures we had and no pictures. Luckily I had seen a picture in a magaine article and wanted to go there. It has amazingly contorted paperbark trees growing in a swamp and my pictures do not do it justice.
We moved on to Walpole and this was a base for exploring the tingle trees – another eucalypt – not as tall as the karri but much wider as they form enormous buttresses. I went on the treetop walk which is similar to the Otway Fly. The rivers were brown with tannin as in Tasmania and forming natural foam as they cascaded down falls into large pools. We also climbed Mt Frankland, another graite boulder but much mossier than our previous ones in the wheat belt. It is also used as a fire watch tower in summer, as are the climbing trees.
Stirling Range is a highlight of the south coast and after turning down the poky NP campsite, we based ourselves at the private Mt Trio campsite which was lovely and even had a paid, guided tour for orchids. We climbed Mt Trio where the track went straight up the side of the hill and then Bluff Knoll which was not quite as steep. Finally a scenic drive through the heart of the range.
The Porongurups are the little brother of the Stirling Range but with their own charm. We only did the one walk up Castle Rock which was a lovely gentle gradient. At the top a lot of effort and money has gone into building a platform on top of the rock accessed by some rock scrambling with the help of aids and then up a ladder. It made for a fantastic experience and view.
While we were in Tasmania we joined with two of our children to revisit the Labyrinth, a trip we had done previously with all the family in 2005. We had limited time so decided to walk into Pine Valley Hut and do day walks from there. Ray and I walked in to Echo Point Hut carrying all the food because the boat was too expensive with only two of us on the afternoon run. As usual it was harder than we remembered but that was because of heavy packs and September snow that had knocked over many trees. We had to go over, under and around them until we finally arrived at the hut in its unique setting, hidden in the trees but opening to a lake view.
Travels with my camera in Oz 