Tree Top Walk and Albany

We are officially out of the bush as of today, as we left the Stirlings this morning for Albany. Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a very long drive, but we took a detour to Walpole which added a bit of distance to the trip, but the pleasurable result was that we were able to see the giant tingle tree forest which is unique to that area of Western Australia.

The bus ride was especially interesting as the scenery changed rather suddenly from bush with low trees and shrubbery to taller and taller trees until we arrived in the tingle forest. There we went on a tree top walk which was very cool. Because the tingle trees have a very shallow root system, the park administrators needed a way to share the beauty of the trees with the public, while not harming the trees. A boardwalk-type trail was constructed through part of the woods, but then to allow people to experience the different levels of the forest, a suspension trail was built that gradually climbed up into the canopy.

I was so excited about the tree top walk that I was the first one from our group in line. And while I wasn’t scared of the height at all, the suspension track would sway as people stepped and signs indicating weight limits of just 10 people and 20 on end platforms added this sense of apprehension and adrenaline. Overall, though, I was most scared that I would drop my camera into the forest and not be able to retrieve it, and I spent most of the trek carefully clutching my camera strap which was also around my wrist.

Not everyone was as comfortable with the height – Carrie, who was right behind me, was very scared and almost got stuck – but everyone went through and was incredibly brave. I don’t think the pictures we took can convey adequately the size of these trees or high off the ground we were or how much the bridges were swaying. I found the experience all together remarkable and a worthy detour!

We had lunch in the town of Walpole and then set off for Albany and our new hotel. We are in apartments at the Frederickstown Motel which is set on a little hill just a few blocks above the bay. The view is absolutely incredible from our front windows and it is so nice to be in a city again!

Once we moved into the hotel we had a free evening, so I set up the internet (the hotel has wireless access which is also incredibly civilizing) and ten of us went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant called Nonna’s. I had this incredible pasta dish with spinach linguine, chunks of pumpkin and cashews – mmm! We walked around the town a little after dinner and stopped at the Tanglehead Brewery for a beer before calling it a night. I can’t wait to explore Albany some more tomorrow, as it is already probably my favorite place in Australia!

Peace,
Jill