Pemberton and Walpole

Jacob next to a giant tree

Perth is the most isolated city of more than 1 million people on the planet and Western Australia is enormous, with a land mass 71% larger than that of Alaska. With the pandemic restrictions, we haven't been allowed to leave the state in some time, though the interstate borders are beginning to open. There aren't very many populated areas we could visit even if we wanted to. But a few hours south of Perth, there are a number of small towns that attract quite a few tourists, mainly for the wine region, the cooler southern weather, the dramatic south coast, and the forest ecosystem. 

Jacob in a burned out red tingle

The trees in the southern forests are enormous. Some areas are dominated by karri trees, a species of eucalypt endemic to southwestern WA that numbers among the tallest tree species in the world. They reach 85 meters (279 feet) in height. 

Graham-crackerless s'mores

We drove down to the Pemberton region on Friday morning after Thanksgiving. It was about 15F cooler than it was forecasted to be and already spitting rain, so I chickened out of camping and we rented a little cabin in the woods with a wood stove. It turned out to be the right decision, as it rained all night on Friday.

The Warren River, flat and glass-like

Friday afternoon, we explored the Warren River, where Jacob tried to do some freshwater fishing. One of the most bizarro things about Australia is how seemingly lifeless the rivers are. There are many fewer insects and fishes in fresh water here than I'm used to. You can just stare at the surface of the water and not see any darting little minnows or waterstriders or turtles. Jacob fished for maybe a couple of hours and I didn't see any signs of life, apart from plants and mosquitoes. It was pretty, though. 

In the evening we watched my favorite Australian tv show, Bondi Rescue. It's a reality show about the lifeguards at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, which is a hugely popular tourist attraction as well as a beach in the middle of a large metro area. So the show ends up being partly emergency rescue and partially just great people-watching. I only watch it in Australian hotel rooms, it seems.

The Valley of the Giants treetop walk

Saturday we roadtripped a further two hours southeast from where we were in Pemberton, to the Walpole area. The forests around Walpole also have red tingle trees, another eucalypt species that can live up to 400 years. The red tingles have enormous, wide trunks that are usually hollowed out as a result of bushfires. We visited a little tourist spot called the Valley of the Giants, where you can walk a pathway of suspension bridges in the crowns of the red tingle trees, about 40 meters off the ground. Jacob elected to stay on the ground, since he's not fond of heights. When I finished up top, we did a second walk among the bases of the trees. Some of their hollowed out trunks feel big enough to camp in.

Mandalay Beach

In the afternoon, we visited Mandalay Beach, in D'Entrecasteaux National Park. The beach is named after the 1911 shipwreck of the Norwegian Barque Mandalay, whose wreckage is occasionally still visible when not covered by sand. It was truly one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, anywhere. Jacob tried his hand at fishing and lost his bait to a couple of wily fishes. I read a little bit -- Tim Winton's Cloudstreet set in post-WWII Perth -- but mostly stared at the ocean. It was chilly, but warm enough when the sun wasn't behind a cloud, and the wind blew constantly. The Southern Ocean always seems tumultuous and makes me grateful for the much calmer Indian Ocean around Perth.

Mandalay Beach

The Emperor Gum Moth, with a 15 cm wingspan

We roadtripped two hours back to the cabin in Pemberton and settled in for the night with reruns of the X-Files. They showed the episode about Arecibo, when Mulder goes AWOL to check out a story about an alien signal and sees something horrifying and alien that Scully shows up just in time to miss entirely. I thought it was an interesting side note because the next week, the dish at Arecibo was destroyed when a cable snapped and it broke under its own weight. A sad day for science and for X-Files fans.

The dugite, a venomous snake

Sunday, we did some more forest sightseeing and went for hike. I finally saw a snake! After two years with relatively frequent bushwalking and vigilantly looking for snakes, we spotted a dugite, a venomous elapid, sunning itself on a roadside in a forested area.

Karri forest at Big Brook Dam on a cloudy day

In the afternoon, we went to Big Brook Dam, where there's a large reservoir that people use recreationally. Jacob tried some fishing again. I did at least see a couple of fish, though they are a foreign invasive. In general, the freshwater here is just not that great for fishing. There were some beautiful views of karri forest on a cloudy day, though.