14 July 2014 - Pemberton Caravan Park, Pemberton, Western Australia

We woke to rain and breakfasted to the same. In fact it would have taken little for us to convince each other to stay in all day and consume the weekend newspapers cover to cover; however we resisted the temptation and pursued our original plans to complete the Karri Forest Explorer self-drive tour.

We headed south west of Pemberton to the Warren National Park, one of the very many National Parks in Western Australia’s southern forests. This particular park covering just under 3,400 hectares, was originally gazetted Crown Reserve for the purpose of State forest in 1901. In 1910 it’s status was changed to timber for government purposes, then again in 1915 to “A” Class reserve for National Park, and has remained so ever since with some additions along the way. The picturesque Warren River flows through the park on its way to the Southern Ocean and it is to that and along the river banks the twelve kilometre Heartbreak Trail leads. The karri clad slopes are quite steep, and today with all the rain and the mud, the trail was really only suitable for 4WD vehicles.

The drive starts on the Old Vasse Road, and it was here we found the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, the tallest of the three fire lookout trees open to the public in the Pemberton area. It was pegged in 1988 as part of Australia’s bicentennial celebrations.

Chris high up the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree

My ever intrepid husband, he who has bungee jumped the Kawarau River just out of Queenstown, set off up the seventy five metres to the top of the tree, climbing the one hundred and thirty pegs without any trouble at all. He paused at the halfway platform at twenty five metres to see if I was coming on up, then continued on up. I had set off and climbed perhaps twenty feet, but decided that I really did not need to prove anything to myself or anyone else, so returned to terra firma and photographed the climb for posterity and proof if anyone should doubt my husband’s accomplishment. He confirmed that even in the inclement conditions, the forty kilometre views over farm and forest, were indeed to die for.

The next tourist attraction is the Marianne North Tree, a rather misshapen karri, so named because this intrepid English traveller and artist painted the tree in 1880, then aged about fifty, during her Australian travels and today the completed work hangs in the famous Kew Botanic Gardens. Karri trees are normally so perfect and elegant, and this one does look rather out of place in this lovely forest, but is a good case to prove that you do not need to be beautiful to be famous. Just as well too!

Mist over the Warren River

After descending down the Trail to the river, we stopped firstly at Maiden Bush, followed by Drafty’s Camp and then the Warren Campsite, the three camps all offering access to the river for canoeing and wonderful views of the rain mist rising up through the forest all about. The river is full of submerged logs and various snags, and is only suitable for canoe traffic and the like. Even swimming could be quite hazardous here.

Park ranger notes, of which there are many about the park to inform and entertain, suggested we might see tawny frogmouth and brush-tailed phasogales along the river’s edge. We did see the former one evening when we were at Kununurra however I would have no idea where to begin with the other.

Up above the river we stopped at the Warren Lookout for more expansive views and had to agree that this National Park was very very beautiful and worth visiting even in the rain which continued to fall.

Views down into the Warren Valley

The karri forest covers about 200,000 hectares of which 174,000 hectares are on CALM managed land. Of these, 53,000 hectares are in nature Reserve or National park, including 40,000 hectares of virgin forest. A further 28,000 hectares are in stream and road reserves not harvested for timber.

We headed out of the park and back toward Pemberton, pulling in to The Cascades at the southern end of the Gloucester National Park. Here the Lefroy Brook, the same that flows along the boundary of this camp, tumbles over a series of rocky shelves, today in full flow.

The catchment area of the Lefroy Brook covers almost 360 square kilometres and quite a number of streams flow into it including Big Brook and East Brook, before they all flow on into the Warren River about twenty five kilometres upstream of the river’s mouth.

Roo encounter

While we lunched in the shelter of the landcruiser, the sun came out and the rain clouds moved beyond view. We made the most of the good weather and set off around the Lefroy  Brook Loop Walk, a short walk along the brook and up into the forest. At one point our path was blocked by a grey kangaroo busy sampling the fresh and varied growth at the side of the pathway. We stood still while she carried on, unwilling to move away, until I spoke quietly to her, telling her that we really did need to come on up the hill past her. At that she bounded away and then watched us from the safety of the dense undergrowth as we proceeded on our way.

The last famous spot on this drive was the Gloucester Tree at the northern end of the park of the same name. Chris climbed this about forty three years ago when the access was a dirt track and there was no DEC ranger (wo)manning the entrance to take your money. In fact most of the attractions today fall within pay-parks so we were again glad we had our annual pass to cover us for the entrance to many of these National Parks.

The sixty metre Gloucester Tree was chosen for a fire lookout in 1947, one of the network of lookouts in the karri forest between 1937 and 1952. This tree, named in honour of the Duke of Gloucester who was picnicking in the park many long years ago and who expressed his admiration at the natural beauty of the place, is the most popular with tourists and there was a small queue of those waiting for others still descending, to make their own ascent. 

 
It was interesting to read some of the statistics regarding the tourism history for the tree. In 1963, a total of 3,000 climbed the tree, but by 1990, visitors had increased to 223,000 of whom 44,600 made it to the top.

Chris decided that he had done enough climbing for one day so instead we did an 800 metre loop through the surrounding forest and delighted in the wonderful birds we encountered close up and personally, as well as the more distance chirping and cheeping of the more timid.

On our return, Chris sprayed off the worst of the mud coating the landcruiser and I assembled one of my excellent canned mackerel and potato pies. Cooking two nights in a row is rather irregular for me; I had better not make a habit of it or Chris may delegate chef duties back to me! Heaven forbid!

Footnote: I later learned that the brush-tailed phasogale is a small grey rat-sized marsupial also known as a tuan, a common wambenger or a black-tailed phasogale. Males do not live past the age of one, as they die after mating. That last fact is a tragic one and the name wambenger is a hoot!