Parry's Beach to Augusta

Parry’s Beach to the Tingle Trees ..... and Shannon NP

Wed. Mar 9^th

Another glorious day, so another beautiful beach! Having farewelled Kerrie and Tom, our neighbours from Geraldton who kindly offered us a place to stay when up that way, we set off on a 25km trip to Peaceful Bay ..... a beautiful name and a beautiful beach (but I’ll never adjust to 4WDs parked all over the sand). The morning passed in fishing and reading on the beach, exploring the rocks and little bays and swimming in the beautiful water. The world of Casterbridge in Thomas Hardy’s comic/tragic novel, Far From the Madding Crowd – an apt title to read on our travels, contrasted superbly with the environment in which we travelled. Again we count our blessings that we live in Australia in the present day, despite its inequities and issues.



The giant red tingle
trees grow up to 85m tall!



Heading west after lunch, we enjoyed the magnificent Tingle Tree Tops out of Walpole. These eucalypts are amazing in their height, and as they are without a tap root, they develop a huge girth to balance the tree. 

The largest one, unfortunately almost split by fire and insects, had a girth of 24m.! The tree top walk above the forest set us swinging in the trees; don’t hold on and don’t look down. Fortunately the wind was not too strong and there weren’t many people so the swaying of the 60m spans was not too great.

We spent the evening at the Shannon NP camp area where we camped under the high canopy of the giant tingle, jarrah and casuarinas. Many birds high up in the tree tops that could be heard but not seen.

Thurs. Mar 10^th

A very slow start to the day as the surroundings encouraged us to move slowly and enjoy the forest. This very beautiful camp site was idyllic, with the sun filtering down through the high canopy of the giant trees and hardly a breath of wind.
We were the only campers in our part of the grounds, so the only noise was the birds.

The wood heater for showers had gone out overnight but much to my surprise the water was still hot, so a hot shower was greatly enjoyed ... all 3 minutes of itJ GVS cooked the aubergine for lunch/dinner on the gas BBQ, just in case our next stop does not have these facilities. We have become experts in making the most of any opportunity.

After driving to Snake Gully to see more forest, we travelled on to Northcliffe, from where the road led north west to Pemberton or south to the D’Encastreaux NP on the coast.

Northcliffe was the only town founded as part of the Group Settlement Scheme and once again the prospect of those men clearing karri, marri and jarrah forests with hand saws and axes is amazing. Sadly for so many, the Depression and the conditions led to most walking off their farms in the 1930s.  A small tobacco industry started in the 1950s to give employment to returned servicemen and a timber mill employed people until the 1990s. Now small cottage industries and tourism keep this place alive.

We filled with diesel - $1.60l – and I walked a small section of the 1000km Bibbulmun Track, a walking trail from Perth to Albany through some of the finest scenery in the south. The section at Northcliffe led down to the Gardner River, which was not flowing at this time of year, so was little more than stagnant pools.

Having been lured by the thought of the coast once again, we set off to Windy Harbour, a settlement of fishing shacks in the D’Encastreaux NP. On the way we climbed Mt Chidalup, a granite outcrop from which there were views on this clear day all the way to the coast and across the forest tree line.

We spent the rest of the day at Salmon Beach, a wild and magnificent with huge waves crashing on to orange/yellow cliffs or onto the sand.

GVS tried to entice the fish onto his line while I walked along the beach, enjoying the scenery, avoiding the strong rips and currents and listening to the crashing waves.

The camping ground was surrounded by holiday shacks that are leased on long term leases, are very well maintained and provide a break from the forest for the people in this region. Windy Harbour however had 2-3metre piles of sea grasses rotting on the shore and the smell was not appealing.

Windy Harbour to Karri Gully out of Bridgetown

Fri. Mar 11^th

‘...and the wind came up and it blew and blew and blew....’

Hot showers were greatly appreciated before we set off for the day, pleased that we had experienced the area of a sunny and calm one before the wind came in again.

A day of travelling north and watching the landscape change from lush, green rainforest areas to drought-ridden farmlands.

We travelled to Pemberton, the heart of karri country. Although we still struggle to identify marri, jarrah and other trees, the karri, with its smooth pale bark and enormous trunk, is easy. It is the tallest species in WA and some of the biggest were used as fire lookouts in the 1930s and 40s and can still be climbed ..... by those with stronger constitutions than mine!

We took the Karri Forest Explorer drive around the forests, however it was too much of the same thing and the Beedelup Falls were dry at this time of year, however the magnificent Warren NP with its flowing river, great walks and amazing trees made up for it all! Not to be missed.

The mill workers’ cabins lined the streets and it certainly had its own profile.

Pemberton was a thriving timber town in the early 1900s and a mill is still working there.

Quite pretty but not much to do in town except top up the pantry. Having seen and heard about the food speciality of this area, the marron or fresh-water cray, we decided to try some. As GVS did not want to cook one himself, we went to a trout and marron farm and shared a meal ($45 per serve). It was tasty but cannot match a real crayfish, although at $75 per kilo, crayfish is off our menu!

 We drove on to Bridgetown, another small town trying to create a positive tourist image to bring in other dollars to the economy.  A quick walk around, a cappuccino, then on to spend the night at a free-camp at Karri Gully on the Bibbulmun Track.
Our fellow campers were a young German couple and we introduced ourselves then had an early dinner and settled in to watch a dvd and read as the night in the forest was cold. A loud thumping on the van and the call “Do you have a fire extinguisher?” quickly stirred us and we handed over our extinguisher so that the young man could put out the flames before the forest caught alight! The gas bottle he was using ignited and was burning furiously but he quickly extinguished the flames and we were grateful that no-one was injured and that the car and van did not catch fire either!

My ‘who done it?’ was very tame after that excitement!