16 July 2013 - Rest Point Holiday Village, Walpole, Western Australia

What a joy it was to lift the blinds to the sunshine this morning! Alas it was fleeting and by the time we were on the road on our way into the national parks, the day had become bleak and we knew that we would have showers during the day.

I had been woken at about 6 am by the hilarious laughing of the kookaburras, then slept again until the crows set up their racket after 7 am, which was just as well because today we were following the self-drive trail as set by the lady in the Information Centre.

We headed firstly out to Coalmine Beach on the peninsula between the Walpole and Nornalup Inlets. The other Walpole caravan park is situated here and while we thought ours was better situated, this one may well receive television reception. Alas, my planning was flawed this time. DVD viewing is no substitute for the excitement of live sport coverage!

We were curious about the naming of the beach, “Coalmine” and a road nearby, “Colliers”, when there is no evidence or even mention of any mining having been carried out in the past in the area. Subsequent research has solved the problem. It seems that an early settler found what he thought was coal in a cave on the banks of the Inlet, however subsequent exploration found the little that was found to be of poor grade and uneconomic.

The Nornalup Estuary from the Knoll

Out at the end of this peninsula is the Knoll, part of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, covered with lovely karri forest. There is also a lovely picnic area at the Channel, from where we could peer through the forest screen and see our own camp across the water. Even on such a dull day, with few out on the water, it still made for a delightful scene, and we repeated what has become almost a mantra over the past week or so; “This really is a lovely part of the world”.

The Nornalup estuary is unique among south coast estuaries in that its sand bar never closes. Consequently, the estuary is tidal, and the continual flushing by ocean waters means the inlets are a healthy environment for marine life.

Fresh water feeds into the inlets from the Frankland, Deep and very modest Walpole Rivers all year around, although 80% of the flow comes in the months of June to October. Didn’t we time that well?

One exception to this was the summer of January 1982 when a huge downpour inland flooded the Frankland River. It was calculated that two and a half times the total volume of the estuary flowed through in a few days.

Opposite Knoll Drive, we took the dirt road up into the red tingle forest, again in the National Park, 
and stopped to visit the Giant Tingle Tree, which is accessed by a short 400 metre pathway to the protective board walk around the tree.

Tingle Tree

The Tingle tree, a species of eucalypt, is one of the tallest trees in the world and can measure up to twenty metres around the base, grow to a height of seventy five metres and can live up to four hundred years old. They often have shallow root systems, hence the boardwalk protection, and grow a buttresses base, although nothing as pronounced as the fig tree and many others we have seen in the north of the country. Climate change over millions of years has caused the distribution to shrink, and now they are found mainly in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park and a few places close by, an area of about 6,000 hectares. 

There are in fact three varieties of tingle tree; the red with the above attributes, the yellow which grows to about thirty five metres and the Rates to just sixty metres. This distinction was deduced by the first District Forester of Walpole, John Rates, who having his theory proved and the third variety given his name, was sadly killed by a falling tree limb in 1969. This is one of those tragic facts that give rise to amusement, albeit quite sick. My apologies to Mrs Rates and all the little tingles, if there were any.

Like so many tingle trees seen today, this featured tree has a hollow tunnel through the base, the result of fire damage over the years, a factor that actually assists their reproduction, but in time causes the tree to collapse. We saw instances where the base of the tree seems to be barely able to support the huge mass above, but the living layer of the tree under the bark has remained intact and the tree has re-shooted and is continuing to grow.

Circular Pool

From here we drove onto Circular Pool, apparently a tranquil pool in the summer, but today, especially after all the rain we have had, a bubbling rushing winter waterfall. The Frankland River, the largest river by volume in the region and the eighth in the state, with a length of 162 kilometres, is the major water source of the Inlets here.

The tannin in the trees all about give the rivers a brackish quality and today the turbulence of the cascades stirred this river up like a pot of boiling coffee. Below in the pools, as we had seen in the Blackwood River, there were large scum-like areas like chicken fat floats when you render a carcass for stock. This is caused by the saponin from the plants as they break down in the water and it is the churning up that causes this effect.

The pools below the cascades are surprisingly deep; the top pool has an average depth of 5.5 metres and the lower pool, 8.5 metres.

Tingles from the Tree Top Walk

I did not fancy a swim in this, nor could ever imagine doing so, even if the temperature were twice or three times what it was today. However the general scene, with the forest surrounds, was indeed very picturesque and worth the effort and the mud already gathering on the landcruiser.

 
We drove west from here and then turned up through the Walpole Valley and then across to the Frankland Valley, passing through lovely farms, the grass lush and plentiful to feed both the dairy and beef cattle everywhere. No doubt it was these farms that were established in 1930 when settlors were brought into the area under the Nornalup Land  Settlement Scheme. Many of these were English immigrants and many of those soon disillusioned, two thirds of then giving up the opportunity. From this end of history, it is hard to see what their problem was because it all looks so prosperous. I did however read that there were terrible wild fires caused by a cyclone storms further west that destroyed hundreds of kilometres of land. This alone would be enough to disillusion the already disheartened.

We soon reached the Valley of the Giants where we did the Tree Top Walk, an iconic tourist attraction of the area. We thought we could sit the rain out, eating our lunch in the landcruiser and then spend some time in the Discovery Centre. Finally it eased off a little, still falling but with less intensity, so we flashed our tickets to the attendant, bought yesterday in Walpole, and set off up into the trees.

The 600 metres loop high up above the tingle trees and a few karris is on a 40 metre high series of lightweight steel trusses built on steel pylons to form a secure ramp. I say secure, and I did not doubt the claim, however this did not stop me feeling somewhat air-sick as we swayed in the wind as did the tops of the tingles. I was very glad I had not attempted to climb the fire lookout trees the other day; this was quite enough.

This marvellous feat of engineering was opened in August 1996 and cost $1.825 million. It would be interesting to learn how much of that has been recouped in ticket sales. Even today in this awful weather, there was a steady stream of tourists.

We held umbrellas as we walked which made photography awkward, however with camera in hand, I always manage. The drenched trunks and canopies were quite beautiful, and while we would have been far more comfortable had the rain ceased, I do believe the experience would have been less. Despite my qualms, we did a second circuit for good measure.

Peaceful Bay

Back on the road, and on down the Frankland Valley, we emerged again onto the South Coast Highway at Bow Bridge, and headed south to Peaceful Bay, where we walked out onto the deserted beach. Around the corner in a more sheltered bay we found a couple of commercial fishing boats, however there was no evidence of activity, recent or on-going.

Conspicuous Beach

Checking out the public facilities, we ran into a couple of motor-homers who were heading in the opposite direction to us, so we swapped travel notes, always a useful exercise. Like so many on the road, they are accompanied by their very cute and small canine companion, a fact which excludes them from more and more camps, and of course the national parks that we so love. This makes us wonder why they bother to travel but then perhaps we are not your average travellers?

We continued on through the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, here coastal flats with low scrubby growth, still adding mud to the now orangey brown coloured vehicle much to Chris’s dismay, and called into Conspicuous Beach. Here we climbed to the top of the cliff and looked out over the beach, wild and deserted and certainly conspicuously lovely. From here one should be able to see migrating whales, however there was no chance of that today. Out to sea and moving closer by the moment, was a dark squall heralded by loud thunder. We hurried back to the vehicle and headed for home, stopping briefly to collect our ordered newspaper.

No sooner did we arrive back at camp did the heavier rain start. The weather forecast offers the same advice as last night; dangerous destructive winds and heavy rain. Our tour today might have included an ascent of Mount Frankland but we chose to leave that for tomorrow. Alas tomorrow maybe no better.