Jonnymoon SW - Day 3 AM - Valley of the Giants

JP was up at 6am, camera in hand ..... but he didn't get to see the kangaroo with the joey in the pouch. We packed up the tents and headed for the Valley of the Giants (we had went yesterday, but Laura and JP are learning the Western Australia rule of everything closes by 4 or 5pm, so we did not get in). The Valley of the Giants in Walpole is a forest with giant eucalyptus trees. There is a walkway you can go up that is above the trees and reaches a maximum height of 40 metres. Growing up in British Columbia, I didn't think I'd be too impressed by the forest, but when you are actually above the trees, watching birds in the top canopy, it's pretty spectacular.

Laura and JP on the walkway

Looking down the tree
The Lost Croc 2
You get way up there!

There was also some Ancient walk, that wasn't as good as it was just walking on the ground. However, there were some massive Tingle Trees (we started to use the word tingle as code for taking a pee) that you could walk into and sometimes through!

Inside a Tingle Tree

Enough of Walpole, destination Augusta, but lots of driving inbetween. Due to the long drive, we decided to stop in Pemberton and check out one of the local tourist spots; the Gloucester Tree (pronounced Glowster with an Ow sound not Glow). Since we were entering a "National Park", there was a guy at the entrance to the parking lot that came up for the $10 admission charge. Before we paid, we wanted to know what this Gloucester Tree was. "It's a tree, you climb it, there also some trails to walk on". Laura and JP were not sold on the description, but I the whole "climbing a tree" part intrigued me, so I threw out the $10 bill.

Turns out the the Gloucester Tree is a 61 metre tall tree with metal climbing bars that rotate around the tree, allowing you to climb it. It only goes one full rotation around the tree, so you are still climbing vertically (which means, you still fall vertically). Since I put down the 10 spot, I felt I had to go up this thing, and I'm not overreacting when I say this was one of the least Safe things I've done in my life.... especially wearing Crocs. They should actually have someone there supervising.

JP and I both succeeded in reaching the top and had a beautiful view of the Pemberton valley. Laura decided to stay at the bottom. She probably made the wise decision as going down was a lot more nerveracking than climbing up.

JP atop the Gloucester Tree

Jon atop the tree
The view from atop
JP started the slow descent
What you saw looking up
The Gloucester Tree is the second from the left ... it was a big climb

I feel bad about this, but for lunch i suggest a Chicken and Chips fast food place (all small australian towns have Chicken and Chips). JP got his first experience with Aussie Bacon in his chicken burger, Laura just got some strange chicken sandwich, and I ended up with a nicely cook chicken breast [Experience ;)] I also got a large thing of gravy for us to share. They should replace the word large with TUB. We barely even made a dent in this thing. It was probably 3kg of gravy. Ewwwwwww.

Back on the Road, where I caught up on some much needed Zzzzzzzz's. Next up: Augusta and its Birds (that's about as exciting as August got)

More Valley of Giants and Gloucester Tree photos Click Here