Valley Of The Giants

Driving through the Karri and Tingle forests made one feel incredibly small. These tall towering trees that are only found in a small pocket of South Western Australia were magnificent. We learnt some amazing facts about these trees at Walpole Tree Top walk. For example when the bark of the Karri tree is peeling off it is a good time to catch salmon, and the trunks are hollowed out when a fire comes through because the middle of the tree is softened due to termites and lichen.

We spent the next 2 nights camping amongst these giants at Drafty's campsite in the Warren National Park. It was a small campsite hard to find with a steep narrow dirt road leading to bushy camping areas. At one stage we wondered if we would struggle getting out again as our rear tyres were pretty bald.

Although remote and only a pit toilet as amenities we experienced some very special times here.

The kids enjoyed seeing maron (a type of fresh water lobster) and tried catching them to no avail, and Josh tried fishing for trout and red fin perch in the Warren River while Nick enjoyed a refreshing swim.

From our camp we walked the 8km return track to the Dave Evans Bicentenial Tree. This was a lovely walk along the Warren river then up into the bush. Matt exclaimed "look there's Kangaroo Paw growing in the wild!" he was fascinated as he had only seen it in gardens before never in the bush growing wild; Grandma Alison would be proud of his interest and knowledge of Australian plants.

As we were walking we discussed the Bicentennial tree, wondering what land would be at the top and what character lived in the tree, like in Enid Blyton's Far Away Tree. The most popular land was the land of lollies and we all had character names: I was Dame Washalot, Matt was the Angry Pixie, Josh was moon face, Zach was Saucepan Man, Abbey was Silkie and Nick was Mr Watzisname. It made for a fun and surprisingly quick walk.

When we reached the Bicentennial Tree we had a picnic lunch, and ventured down to the tree. We all climbed the first few metal rungs, but with the tree being 65m high the thought of climbing to the top seemed sickening. Josh however was up for the challenge and up he climbed. I felt absolutely sick and had to walk away, as the rungs are 500mm apart and the thought of an accidental slip or misjudgment made me sick with panic. At the top Josh let out a victorious 'coo-wee' and thought it funny to taunt his mother by refusing to "climb down immediately".

That evening Nick boiled the billy a few times and Abbey had a bath in a bucket, and the boys, Nick and I had warm showers using the solar showers. It was a unique moment showering under the stars in complete darkness in the forest.