Walpole

The rest of the week in Pemberton was spent walking in the karri forest, Rob climbing halfway up the Glouster tree, visiting a rather lovely woodwork gallery and having a lunch of marron. We also took a cruise down the Donnelly River to its mouth into the Southern Ocean. This is a pristine river with very little human access. The surrounding forest is very dense as there has been no burn off and consists of marri trees and paper barks. The beach at the mouth is the roosting place for fairy terns and all you could see for about 100 sq yards were little heads. A very realxing afternoon.

The drive to Walpole on Friday was pleasant if overcast and the road was certainly narrowish in places when you think that it is classkfked as a highway. The Top Tourist park at Coalmine Beach is a delight. The sites are all separated by trees and the view out of our annexe window is of brilliant red bottlebrush which attracts honeyeaters. The beach itself if 50 steps down from the caravan park and is in the Nornalup inlet. The weather here has been rather overcast but we did drive out to the Giant Tingle Tree which was enormous (see photograph). The forest area around it is pretty, the trees are not as tall as the karri but their girth is certainly much wider.