After a few straight weeks of working in the wheatbelt, it was time for a short break. We've decided to explore the work prospects, and the national parks, among the tall tree forests in the south west corner.
In the Stirlings we met a man who believed that WA should secede from the rest of Australia. He felt that WA supports the other states with it's mining and agricultural exports, and gets nothing in return. The corresponding inequity between the rural areas that do the earning, and the urban areas that get the lion's share of the states income did not seem to phase him.
The next stop was Porongurup National Park. Unfortunately, our stop was shorter than expected. The park was closed due to the fire danger of the extreme warm weather. In the Caravan Park outside Porongurup NP we talked to some cockies regarding the secession of WA, and they suggested that instead of breaking up Oz, we should merge with New Zealand.
From there, we headed to Albany, the first permanent settlement in Western Australia. We took full advantage of the excellent bike paths that skirt the superb natural harbour. It is also home to the last whaling station to close in Australia, which is now a museum (who spell flencing as flensing). Torndirrup National Park on the seaward side of the peninsula that forms the main harbour contains assorted unusual rock formations including blowholes and a natural bridge and offers spectacular views of Albany.
Keen to try out some of the locations in our "Free Camping in SW WA" book, we stopped in at Torbay Inlet just west of Albany. The camping area was overrun with feral humans and a bizarre array of vehicles, but we found a patch of ground for our tent. Perhaps the most bizarre of the vehicles was a 6WD Inter with a stainless checkerplate box on the back. (The owner's website is worth a visit, and not just for the pictures of their rig.) The inlet was our first opportunity for a kayak since Perth, and we quickly identified a dozen species of waterbirds including grebes, kingfishers, spoonbills and even a swamp harrier.
From there, our westward trek along the coast moved us into "dole bludger / greenie" territory (a great place to live, but no work to be had - unless you're a logger).
Walpole Nornalup National Park home to the Tingle Trees, is the eastern edge of the tall tree forests.
It is also home to a huge steel structure called The Tree Top Walk, which provides a very different "hike" amongst the trees.
Just down the road a little is Frankland National Park, which offered Helen Mt Frankland to scale, and an excellent campsite at Fernhook Falls (dry at this time of year, but apparently good kayaking in the right season).
The forests are home to hordes of very annoying march flies, which like to feast on us humans. The grey fantails like to eat the march flies, and fly right into our campsite to get them, at times brushing right by our legs. We even had the pleasure of a tawny frog mouth owl visiting our campsite.
From there we explored the Karri forests of Shannon National Park, then headed for the famed mountain bike tracks of Northcliffe for some excellent riding. A camp at Windy Harbour gave us access to the beaches and headlands of D'entrecasteaux National Park, plus of course another hill for Helen (Mt Chudalup).
Warren National Park protects more Karri forests, and is home to The Bicentennial Tree, the tallest of the three tree top fire lookouts in the south west that are open for the public to climb. We camped for the night, and made plans of kayaking on the Warren river the next day. Just moments after the last tent peg was packed into the car, they sky opened up and rained out our kayaking plans.
By now we've moved into the more affluent and tourist oriented part of the south coast. Looking for a place to hide from the rain, we took the chance to explore the galleries and cafes of the area. Some truly beautiful local woodwork, if only we had the money to buy it and a place to put it.
After another quick service on the truck (rural dealers seem to charge significantly less), it was time to head back to work. The ride back to the wheat belt was a gentle progression from forest, to bush, to scrub, to stubble. It's amazing how many grass trees there are in SW WA, even standing alone in the wheat paddocks.
Once again we put the big tent up in Kondinin, being central to the area where our jobs were. The classes that had been cancelled at Hyden were rescheduled, and this time they ran. Other work had us driving all over the place, and we noticed that most of the temporary salt lakes were already dry. After a week it was all done, and time to head back to Perth to effect repairs and restock.