A touring day through the karri forests.
And I'm bored of traveling. Well. I haven't been all that interested in updating this journal. I don't know why. The last three days (really, five) in Busselton and Margaret River were mildly interesting, but not all that exciting. Plus, I'm really starting to get ready to go home. Today, I told Chris that I wouldn't mind going home earlier than even November 20th, which is our current flight date.
Maybe it's the weather. Since we left Perth on Wednesday, it's been cool and cloudy... except on the last couple of days, where the wind has howled off-and-on, and it's dumped rain. It's not exactly happy fun sunshine weather. It's off season, which is nice as there are no crowds (except for the Volvo and Land Rover crowds yesterday). But I'm just finding myself more and more wanting to do things around the house, almost to the point of not wanting to see anymore of Australia. Been there, done that, is how I'm rather feeling.
Anyway, today we left our B&B; in Cowaramup and headed south, through Margaret River and then east towards Pemberton, all of a 90 minute drive away. Such a change from other parts of Australia, everything being so close. The sheep paddocks and dairy farms and shiraz vines gave way to open forests of 30 meter tall karri, with a thick understory of grass trees. Even more than the land cover change is the color, though. Pastures are lush and green. The bush is olive and beige.
We stopped briefly at Donnelly River Winery, right at 10:00. The verdict, yet again, is that all their wines are too sweet. We pushed on to Beedelup falls. (http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_parks/previous_parks_month/brockman_beedelup_warren.html) With all the rain, it was flowing heavily... and we got caught out in a hailstorm. Ow!
Then we drove out to the Big Brook Arboretum just outside Pemberton, where the Forestry Department tried out several dozen species of trees in the 1920's. Most of them are still growing; most of them are doing OK. Fun to see coastal redwoods growing here, they're about 50 meters tall and are typically wide, but the branches are somewhat more widely spaced up the trunk.
Nearby, on the other side of Pemberton, was Warren National Park, full of virgin karri forest. We did the forest drive, stopping at the Bicentennial tree, a 75 meter tall tree with a forest fire lookout on the top. You can climb up--but it's a scary climb up long rods sticking out of the tree trunk. Chris made it up about 15 meters before he decided that was enough. I don't blame him; I didn't even try to climb it. Too easy to fall through!
Then... we still had the rest of the afternoon, so we drove south to the coast. I hiked up a mountain, Mount Chudalup... it was a short hike of just a kilometer, but very much worth it. The mountain is a bald granite dome, 187 meters high, and it looks out over the heathlands and sand dunes to the coast, and the treeline of the karri forests to the north. On top were several branched grass trees. It was a wonderful little hike.
On we went to the coast at Windy Bay--where it was windy. We stopped at a lookout on top of limestone cliffs, looking out on the dangerous islands offshore and the squalls passing overhead. It felt very remote, as remote as the western shores of Scotland. No one around for miles and miles.
And we drove back to Pemberton and tucked in for the evening.
Where we stayed
- Best Western Pemberton Hotel
- $95 - triple with breakfast
- Rammed earth building, IKEA doonas, very cool. Good brekkie.