The Giants

The SW of Western Australia, especially around Walpole and Manjimup is known for its tall trees. I've seen lots of trees before, some of them quite tall, but I wasn't prepared for the size of these!
This tree is the Diamond Tree Lookout near Manjimup. Towers were built at the top of these trees for fire lookouts. You can kind of see the lookout in the second picture.
There is a ladder of spikes running all the way up.

Here are some crazy people climbing it! I wasn't game. Nor did I have the energy.

Amos looking thrilled at the prospect of another bumpy road

The pictures really don't do justice to the size of these trees!

New Blog

I have started a new blog called 'Strangeness'. This will be filled with strange pictures of strange things I have come across in my travel and include some attempt at humour.
If you have any strangeness pics, feel free to send them to me!

uvobs.blogspot.com

Mandalay Beach

This is Mandalay Beach, also near Walpole. Named after the ship that was wrecked there (last photo). No, I didn't bother climbing down the stairs...

What's in a name?

This is 'Peaceful Bay' near Walpole. With winds gusting to 30kts, it was definitely not peaceful. There weren't any people there though, so in that way it was peaceful. I was the only one stupid enough to go to the beach on such a windy day. Wasn't raining though.

Lookout at Conspicuous Cliffs.

I think this is the 'Conspicuous cliff' but I could be wrong

I've just been reading about how cyclones are named. The practice was introduced by a 'colourful' Qld forecaster in the late 19th Century but lapsed in 1902 when he retired. It was reintroduced in 1963. Originally they were only given female names, but according to "Drought, Dust and Deluge", this changed in 1975 with the emerging "spirit of "equal opportunities"".

Walpole

Sandy Beach

Coalmine Beach

Coalmine Beach

??

Path at Conspicuous Cliffs. Winds were a steady 30kt at the lookout. Almost stepped on a snake here.

Che Sara Sara

Che Sara Sara is a pet-friendly retreat outside of Walpole. Above is my riverfront cabin which had a pot belly stove already stoked for my arival.

Amos loved running around the place and meeting the families staying there. There was actually a dog that was scared of him (a blue heelerX) which is rare, and a number of kids he decided to adopt.

View from balcony:
rough road in

Franklin River

greeness

The one thing I really noticed and appreciated on my SW trip was how green it was. Unbelievable green. Almost fluro.The clouds and the fact it rained every day of my trip might explain why

Bridgetown: not known for it's bridges

Saying that, they do have a pretty impressive bridge. Longest wooden one or some other claim to fame.

I ended up spending the final night of my Southwest trip in Bridgetown. Actually, I was meant to be back in Perth that night but I'd only started to relax on my short holiday that I felt I needed to extend it and also do some more exploring.

I asked at the Walpole visitors centre if they knew of any pet-friendly accommodation between Walpole and Perth. The lady said she recalled seeing an advert or sign for somewhere in Bridgetown that accepted pets. She gave me the town brochure (freshly published that week) and I was fortunate to find the place in there.

I searched for other bridges, but alas found none. The ladies in the visitors centre ignored me (huge contrast to those lovely ladies at Kojonup who sold me scones and had free hot drinks. No wonder they win awards!), so I headed to this park to let the dog have a run. I found a mural on the wall of the public amenities which explained that Bridgetown is in fact the town that bridges the towns of Manjimup, and somewhere else.

As you can see from the floating bin, the river here was very high. There were some interesting folks in the carpark taking their ducks for a walk.

But Bridgetown got better. I located my cabin at the Farmstay a good 25km from town. Picturesque countryside. The owners weren't home, but I was greeted by their dog and my name on the cabin door. When they drove into the property, the dog promptly took off back home, knowing it wasn't supposed to pester the visitors.

The homestead was beautiful, surrounded by stunning gardens for me to explore and lots of flowers I couldn't identify

To the farm

<--Hamish the hairy coow

This last stop on my trip was pretty memorable as it was a farm stay. I was looking forward to showing Amos some things he had never seen before (particularly the cows, geese and ducks. He had met a pony in Denmark (he enjoyed rolling in its poo), chooks at our first house in Gero and Alpacas in Perth).

Fortunately a family with young kids arrived, so the farmer took us all on a tour and I listened in on the things he explained to the kids. Upon seeing the bulls and horses, Amos began his embarrassing crying/whining excited/scared sound. He makes the same noise with cats - he's too scared to go close and he doesn't know what to do with them, but he wants to have a sniff.

After a few minutes of this, he began barking, challenging the bulls and horses to a fight.

"you want a piece of me??"

Next came the ducks and geese.

No photos exist of Amos meeting the geese because he took off after them so quickly that they all became a blur. Amos, who has never run so fast, chased the flapping, squarking geese in circles around the farm and I chased him, flapping and yelling. It took a while to catch him and he spent the rest of the stay tied up.

pendants

Here are some pendants and earings I'm trying to sell (at an outdoor/camping shop, so wish me luck!)The pendants are washi (origami) paper on shell, card or papier mache. The small ones are wire and worn glass found at the beach in Broome.My hastily made display.