We moved from Busselton to Pemberton last Wednesday. Pemberton is 335km south of Perth in the south west corner of WA. It is surrounded by Karri, Marri and Jarrah forests and has a huge sawmill in town. There are lots of art and craft shops, wineries, lots of farming, marron farms and trout farms as well as beautiful tourist drives.
Pemberton was mostly settled in the 1920's when "free" land was offered to British ex servicemen who had returned from the First World War to face unemployment. They were called groupies and in return for their free land were expected to set up dairy farms. Life was very tough as the land had to be cleared of the huge trees and the settlers also had to survive the depression. A lot of them succeeded and the area is now quite prosperous.
We have set up at Pemberton Caravan Park, surrounded by forest and visited daily by ducks, 28's (a type of mallee ringneck parrot), magpies and blue fairy wrens.
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| This is a 28 parrot |
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| Ray called this photo "2 Birds eating pretzels" |
As I am writing this Blog I can hear the black cockatoos screeching in the tree tops.
The first drive we did was on Thursday and we headed out to Point D'Entrecasteaux which is about 50km south of Pemberton. There were some lovely lookouts to the Southern Ocean and we saw some whales frolicking. We went to a little fishing village called Windy Harbour and were lucky that it didn't live up to its name.
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| View out to the Southern Ocean from Point D'Entrecasteaux |
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| Ray and Maura with Tookilup behind them |
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| Looking north along Salmon Beach |
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| Curly leaf Banksia |
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| Cathedral Rock, Windy Harbour |
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| Grass tree in flower |
The next day we drove out to the Bicentennial Tree. In the 1930's and 40's fire lookouts were constructed in giant Karri trees. Now people can climb these trees and have a look at the view from about 60 to 75 metres up. The problem is that you have to climb up steps made from steel spikes which circle around the tree like a stairway. Only the brave do this. We preferred to look although our friend Terry climbed the Gloucester Tree.
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| The Bicentennial Tree. You can see the steel spikes which are the steps to climb the tree |
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| In the bottom third of the photot you can see the lady climbing the tree. She had reached the first platform and was on her way up to the top platform. |
The Bicentennial Tree is 75 metres high and we did see a lady start to climb up it.
Next stop was a chocolate distillery and I tasted some but ended up buying some coffee liquor as the chocolate was a bit rich even for me. We then went to The Lavender and Berry farm for lunch which was a delight for both taste buds and sense of smell.
Next day we decided to go on a longer trip - The Karri Forest Explorer. This is a self drive tour through the beautiful Karri forests for about 86km around Pemberton.We went through the Big Brook Forest, The Beedelup National Park and the Warren National Park. We saw waterfalls, huge trees, wildflowers and magnificent scenery.
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| Big Brook Dam |
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| Looking down the forest trail from the top of the road. These are mainly Karri trees. |
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| Beedelup Falls |
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| Canoeists paddling on the Warren River |
On Sunday we went on the Donnelly River Cruise. We didn't know what it would be like as it had rained all night but when we woke up in the morning it was a little clearer so off we went. Terry and Sue went with us as we had caught up again at Pemberton. The bus picked us up at the caravan park and drove us to the river where we got on the boat for a leisurely cruise down the river to its entrnce, had morning tea and a walk on the beach and then cruised back to our start point.
It was a great morning. There is no road access to this area so the river is pristine. There are some shacks??? on the river down near the entrance and the only way they can be reached is by boat. The southern ocean near the entrance to the river was wild as it was quite windy.
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| This is the boat we cruised the Donnelly River on. Just as well it was enclosed as it was quite cool. |
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| The banks of the Donnelly River |
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| Fishing shacks on the banks of the river. |
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| Looking out to the Southern Ocean from the sand hills near the entrance of the Donnelly River |
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| Reflections of the Melaleuca Trees in the river |
Then back to camp and Ray cooked a piece of beef in the Cobb cooker, and Sue did lovely baked vegies and we all had dinner together. It was quite delicious.
We are having a quiet Monday as the weather is a bit funny and we will see what it is like tomorrow as we still have a couple of things to look at before we leave for Walpole on Wednesday.
Well it is now Tuesday and we decided to go for a run out to the Gloucester Tree. It is only about 3km from Pemberton and is another of those fire look out trees. It was in a lovely area with wildflowers around. A man and his 2 children had actually climbed to the platform at the top which is about 61 metres off the ground.
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| Looking up the Gloucester Tree from ground level |
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| Maura pretending to climb The Gloucester Tree |
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| Ray on The Gloucester Tree |
The weather is not so good today. Threatening rain and thunderstorms, so we took down the awning ready for our departure tomorrow as it is better to pack it up when it is dry.
That is enough blogging for now. I will Blog again from Walpole.
