September 30, 2018 - Reading time: 3 minutes

Departed Denmark on a beautiful sunny day and drove West towards Walpole.it was such a gorgeous day we decided to undertake the Valley of the Giants treetop walk. The giants referred to are the ‘Tingle Trees' which grow to a height of 70 metres and live for over 400 years. They are unique to the South West corner of WA and to this particular valley.

They grow tall fairly swiftly as they race to the canopy for the sun but are extremely thin ( as you can see in the photo below)and then begin to thicken around the trunk and then tend to hollow out at the base – normally due to fire.

Our campsite is located 5 kms from Northcliffe and is in a rural setting with surrounding blue gums, kangaroo paws, ferns and beautiful flowering native trees. At a cost of $5 per person it is a bargain and includes, showers, toilets and fire wood.

Twenty seven kilometres to the south is Windy Harbour located in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park and on the Southern ocean. It provided an ideal place to both explore the coast and watch whales (which is one of Maureen’s favourite pastimes). Once again it was spectacular scenery!

Thirty five kilometres to the North West is the town of Pemberton a cute little rural town that is both a gateway to wineries and the Karri forests via the Karri Forest Explorer drive. We focused on the drive rather than the wineries, which will surprise many and it took us over five hours to complete. Our trip began at the Gloucester tree which is a climb of 65 metres using steel pins…. I did not participate! The trip continued to Big Brooke dam when we had an awesome walk, seeing many native birds but got a special treat seeing Australia’s only native water rat the ‘Rakali’. Unfortunately, he was too fast for a photo!

The drive is incredibly scenic so I have included some photos rather than describe everything.

The drive ends at the Bicentennial Tree ( a similar tree climb to the Gloucester) but the real highlight was a huge Karri tree that had come down and wiped out a picnic shelter as well as bring down three smaller trees with it.