It was easy to fill in the day yesterday as we droive south to Albany from Manjimup. The first part of our drive was though forest and as we approached Albany, the soil became more sandy and we travelled through coatal heathland.
Some parts of the road were quite narrow and we needed to be careful when passing large vehicles coming the other way. We had one alarming moment when a caravan being towed by a 4WD strayed across the double lines onto our side of the road and missed us by inches.
After an hour, or slo, we rsached the tiny town of Walpole where we stopped at the information centre as well as the bakery to pick up some bread rolls for lunch. Thre isn’t much of the town – just a few shops along the road but the park on the other side with its information cemtre is very enticing.
Walople was the start of our real sightseeing for the day.
Just near the town is a narrow gravel road that took us about five kilometres into the hills to see a giant Tingle Tree.
Tingle trees are massive, long-living eucalyptus trees found only in this small, damp corner here in southwestern Western Australia. They grow up to 75 metres (246 feet) tall with huge, flared bases wider than 20 meters (66 feet) around. Fire, insects, and fungi often hollow out the soft center of the tree over the centuries, but the tough outer shell keeps the giant standing. They can live for more than 400 years.
I was jokingly calling these trees ‘Twinkle Trees’and I do have to admit that at a secluded spot, I did have a ‘Twinkle on a Tingle’.
This giant Tingle was the focus of a short walk through the forest.
Somewhere along the highway. we came to a sign pointing to Coal Mine Beach. We turned down and a few kilomtres later, we came to a narrow beach with cliffs at one end. The beach got its name from a shallow seam of low-grade coal found at the base of these cliffs. People attempted to mine the coal, but stopped because the quality was very low and not useful for fuel.
The big attraction near Denmark is the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk . This 600 mette walk through the tree tops gives you a very different impression of the Tingle forest. It is an interesting expereince to look down on the forest, rather than up to it. The walkway way is positioned 40 metres above the ground in the spectacular heights of the Tingle forest canopy.
Some of the forest plants, there including the ancient giant tingle trees, have origins that can be traced back 65 million years to the supercontinent of Gondwana when Australia was then joined with what are now Africa, India, Antarctic and South America.
Just before arriving at Denmark (named after a resident surgeon and nothing to do with Copenhagen), we came to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks.
Green’s Pool is surrounded by gradually sloping granite rock formations cut with small crevasses and pools. On days when the wind is up, the rocks make a perfect shelter for enjoying a wind-free day at the beach. To the east, the sloping rocks increase in size and height as they move towards Elephant Rocks and Elephant Cove just a short walk across the headland. At the moment, the paths are being renovated so some are closed. As a result it was a long walk to get to to the beach.
Elephant Rocks are just around the headland from greens Pool. They look more like elephants in the water when photographed from above but the best I could do wa to take several photos from the shore, squint and imagine the elephants lolllng in the water.
There are still a number of wildflowers around this area, but they are different species. Banksias have started to appear as well as everlastings.
