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| Erin's Western Australia Journals - 11-28-02 We woke up early and showered to get out by 9. The free breakfast advertised with the hostel price turned out to be old dry bread you could toast and tea or instant coffee. We took a small bit to eat, then took off for some local scenery. There were some great photos on the desk of the hostel, and we headed out to Fisherman's Bay to see them for ourselves. The first stop was The Bridge and The Gap. These were natural formations in the rock where Australia had broken off from Antarctica 55 million years ago, and the waves crashing around these two are fabulous! We stopped off next at the Blowholes, which would have shot geysers of water during rough seas, but on this morning were simply making alarming noises unexpectedly. Beautiful rugged coastline surrounded it though! We had to get on our way before too long, though, as the plan for today involved stopping off at the Treetop Walk and then continuing back northward to Bunbury for the night so we could see the dolphins there in the morning. So we hit the road to Walpole, where we turned off at the Valley of the Giants and the Treetop Walk. This old forest is home to some huge specimens of eucalypts and karri trees, and the Treetop Walk is a metal construction of walkways that goes up to the canopy level of these trees. At its highest point, it's 40 meters high, just as high as our South African zipline tour! This time, we just walked up and around, though, with spectacular views of the forest giants and the valley. Following this, we did the ancient heritage walk, which followed a wooden walkway through the forest floor beneath and some of the more impressive trunks. It was a very worthwhile stop! After this, we got back in the car and drove on to Bunbury. This was a long drive, and we stopped about halfway for lunch. It was crap though, and the flies were driving me insane, so we quickly got back on the road. By the time we arrived, it was late afternoon, and the hostels were booked out. We found a hotel, but it too was full due to a golf tournament and a cricket game this weekend. So we headed on, and on a whim stopped at a roadside hotel, where we managed to get a reasonable room for cheaper than the hostel! Score! We went out for dinner in town, and enjoyed a dinner in the window seats along the main drag so we could watch the celebrating students in their going out gear and a couple of local surfers dressed as santa. Already!!! After that, we returned to the hotel and watched an episode of Survivor - Thailand, then hit the sack. |
| The scenic Pemberton steam train took us on a tour of the eucalypt forests |