Margaret River

C had booked us a week's holiday at Tarabuco Cottage, deep in the forest to the south of Margaret River. She had discovered it on Air BnB. It is a very spacious home, with a well stocked kitchen, beautiful log fire, a bedroom downstairs for the oldies and a big mezzanine area for the youngies.  There is a high pitched roof and huge windows with views out to the marri trees.

John loves to chop wood!

Growing near our cottage

After a rainy night, the sun came out as we were having breakfast. Our first stop was our nearest beach at Redgate. We walked along the sand southwards and saw two oyster catchers sitting on a rock. We then sat watching the surfers catching their waves.

Then JL wanted to visit his boyhood haunt of Cowaramup Bay, where the family had had days out by horse and cart from their group settlement at Cowaramup. The sea was very clear, but we hadn't brought any swimming gear.

Bibbulmun Track Northbound

A lovely sunny morning greeted us on Thursday, when a group of us did about 11 km on the Bibbulmun from Rates Lookout to Mount Clare Camp, with a car shuffle for those who wanted it.

Tasselflower

Perfect fungus

View from Rates Lookout

From the Mount Clare Campsite, Peter and Lutz were keen to continue on the Bibbulmun, but it proved to be a very steep track down to the Deep River suspension bridge.  Knowing that we would have to walk back up this track, people started dropping out (me included!) and we gradually made our way back to Rates in a leisurely fashion.

Fallen trees on steep track down

Close up of same fallen trees

Count the rings!

In the afternoon, back at Coalmine Beach, I took a couple of shots of the local wildlife:

Tame kangaroos behind our cabin

Kookaburra on our balcony

Every day at 5.30 pm. the Nats would meet for drinks and nibbles for about an hour.  Afterwards, we all retired to our respective cabins to prepare and eat dinner.  These are my menus for the 4 days:

Mon:  Roast chicken, coleslaw, jacket potatoes

Tues:  Spaghetti bolognese

Wed:  Delia's Thai chicken with rice

Thurs:  Osso Buco (in slow cooker all day).

Swarbrick Art Loop

About 8 kms north of Walpole is a 500 meter walk through the Karri Forrest where a number of art installations have been set up.

JL at the reflective wall

Freda, Barbara and Kath

JL and me

Suspended feather

Treetops through a ring

Beautiful karri trees in the afternoon sun

More here

Around Walpole

From Coalmine Beach Caravan Park, the Bibbulmun Track goes westward towards Walpole, about a 3 km walk.  In town, many Bibbulmun hikers rest up for a day or do, and get their shopping and laundry done. On Wednesday morning, I decided to walk into town on my own to see what I could see without distractions.  There were lots more flowers than I would have expected at this time of year.

Red flowering gum

Beaufortia beside the track

Kangaroo paws out of season

Most of the Nats had gone for a boat trip around the inlet, with morning tea on the sand dunes looking out to sea.  I had done this trip a few years previously and didn't want to pay good money to do it a second time.  Instead I had a nice cup of coffee in town and then walked down to the boat ramp to meet everyone coming back.

Wilderness Ecocruise boat returning

We had a picnic lunch near the Visitors Centre and then did a short circular walk behind the Centre, a spot where the local horses were corralled in the early Group Settlement days.

Karri Sheok with lovely bark and lichen. The bark resembles Portuguese cork trees.

Bibbulmun Track Bushwalking

While  most of the Nats set off to climb Mount Frankland, five intrepid bushwalkers embarked on a 16 km hike along the Bibbulmun Track in the direction of Denmark. Our target was to have lunch at the Giant Tingle Tree and then to return the way we had come.  I was keen to do this walk as training for the Camino, which I would be doing in 5 weeks time.

Lutz and Peter spent a long time debating the differences between tingle nuts and other types of gum nuts, but couldn't arrive at a consensus.

Katsu had developed an interest in fungi and was determined to photograph as many as possible.

We stopped for morning tea at Hilltop Lookout and enjoyed a panoramic view over the inlet, though the day was a bit cloudy.  We chatted to 2 local cyclists with splendid mountain bikes.

The giant tingles seemed to get bigger and more ancient as we walked along, some with huge buttress roots, which provided a cave-like shelter and a good photo opportunity.

Red tingle trees (eucalyptus jacksonii) have the broadest trunk of any tree in WA. Their trunks have often split open and have been burnt inside by bushfires. One tree, no longer standing, had a base that was large enough to drive a car into!

Pemberton to Walpole

As we left Karri Valley it started to drizzle. Later this turned into a series of heavy downpours which went on till mid afternoon. First on the agenda was a drive back to Pemberton to stock up on fresh food for the week at the IGA. This filled the car up even more for the last 100 or so kms to Walpole. MB and I also walked up the main street to find the local butcher as IGA was skinned out in the meat department on a Monday morning. JL was waiting patiently at the woodcraft gallery.

After a really nice coffee there, we drove out past the enormous piles of wood at the timber yards waiting to be milled.

The road to Walpole was a scenic drive through forests, the huge trees obviously benefitting from the abundant rainfall. We had lunch in Walpole town centre, under a shelter specially set up for rain challenged picnickers. It was cold and draughty! 

We drove the few kms to Coalmine Beach and our home for 4 nights.

Perth to Pemberton

On the way to the Nats Camp at Walpole, MB, JL and I set off in a fully loaded car at about 10 am from Burswood. It was a bit of a squash with all the bedding and food supplies for 5 days.

We had to modify our route because the freeway was closed for a charity bike ride, and ended up going through Yarloop, scene of the devastating bushfire 3 months ago. It was shocking to see all the old houses with their tin roofs collapsed, with a few modern houses apparently intact. Driving past, MB took photos of the trees, partly burnt but now recovering with some new green growth. There were signs up forbidding people from stopping in the town.

We had a picnic lunch by the river at B . It was a lovely sunny day of 31 degrees, but as we approached Manjimup the sky darkened as smoke billowed up from a forest fire (or maybe a controlled burn?) We kept going, hoping we wouldn't encounter any road closures, and finally arrived at Pemberton for afternoon tea in the town centre.

It was another 17 kms to the Karri Valley Resort where we had booked a chalet for the night. As we relaxed of the balcony with pre-dinner drinks, a kookaburra swooped down to join us. JL gave him some Anzac biscuit, which he ignored, being a meat eater!

View from our chalet.