Walpole - Valley of the Giants
Giant Tingle tree
Thurlby Herb Farm Soap workshop
the Karri, Marri and Tingle trees are found all along the south west coast in the area of Walploe-Nornalup. We went for a scenic drive to see the hilltop lookout and the giant tingle tree. This particular one has a girth of 24 m and - despite it's looks - is still alive. therefore it's the largest girthed living eucalyptus known in the world.
Further up the road we stopped at a herb farm that also produces a large amount of hand made soap. through a window in the workshop we could watch part of the process, the cutting of a big soap block into the final shape blocks. Sarah got a little piece of still fresh soap and is now watching how it changes while drying out. It smells beautiful!
ground level walk, sarah playing elefant, tree top walk, Sarah driving the car
Wilderness Discovery Centre and Tree Top Walk with Sarah
One of the main attraction of the area is the Wilderness Discovery Centre with the 40 m high Tree Top Walk. We all did the short walk on the ground level, the Ancient Empire walk, which leads around big, old tingle trees. Than Sarah and I did the Tree Top Walk. It's a short walk up onto a metal construction that - at it's highest point - is 40 m above ground, right in the middle of the tree tops. It looks very stable but swings a bit when more than one person walks on it and it's fairly narrow. The views are amazing and it's a great experience. Sarah just ran through it, enjoying the hight and the movement but wasn't too impressed by the trees.
The last picture is a feature in the discovery park. In the former times people used to take a 'famous' picture, driving their cars through the hollow tingle trees. To protect the trees (the root system is very sensitive to the compacting of the surrounding soil) you can take your picture in this fake old car. A lot of fun for Sarah, stirring the car and pretending to park the caravan. We played for half an hour...
As a treat we drove to Peaceful Bay, a beautiful little beach with nothing much there, which is said to have the best fish & chips in the whole area. It was good but it also was the most expensive fish & chips we ever had. Sarah enjoyed the beach, building and destroying sand castles and having her first go at long jumps. she go to about a meter, quite impressive, regarding the fact that she's only a meter tall. I can't jump as far as I'm tall...