L0p3z and Neno's Upside-Down Adventure: Around Walpole..not getting any roo pics

In Pemberton we had a few hours waiting for another bus, using the time to catch up on some reading, the TV was broken in the hostel which turned out to be a good thing as it stopped us watching crap all day. The Walpole YHA was our next stop and in many ways is like stepping back into the 70's. The patterned carpet and Motel style accommodation. This being said its clean warm and well equipped with a lovely manager who also offers car hire.

So the next day we signed up to hire a little old Suzuki Swift, of course Janine was the driver for the day. First off we headed to the Giant Tingle Tree which is the largest tree in the area, you can walk through the middle as the core wood has been burnt out over the years of bush fire. This is natural for the tingle trees as the living part is a thin layer just beneath the outer bark. It can lead to some spectacular sights, there used to be a tree that you could drive a car through. Next stop was the Valley Of the Giants tree top walk which is a man made 600m long walkway 40m up in the canopy of the forest. It's definitely worth the price of admission on a good weather day. We got luck and could see blue skies and only a few clouds.

We headed for a fish and chip lunch on the beach in Peaceful Bay. The WA flies were out in force but they only had eyes for us, not the food. Peaceful Bay is as the name describes and it was a great spot for lunch. We took a quick stop off on the road back to see Boyd rock, but it's not that impressive, it's just a rock in the sea, sorry Boyd! As the rains came we took the longest journey 60km up the road of the day up the Mount Frankland. Half of it on unsealed road, something we are not used to too much at home, although the potholes reminded us of home. The car was filthy when we arrived and we were glad we wouldn't have to clean it.

Mount Frankland is only 410m high but gives anyone willing to climb the 200 steps some amazing views of the area. On one side it was blue skies with some white fluffy clouds on the other we could see the rain hammering down from dark stormy clouds. You had no indication of any civilisation, except the weather station next to us in the rocks and the odd straight line through the forest where roads were. We had beaten the rain and watched it sweep over the roads we had just been driving up. As we walked back down the rain caught us for a couple of minutes but really the rain coats were not needed.

As we drove to our final planned stop we realised we hadn't seen another car or person for over an hour. It gave us an amazing sense of the sparseness of population there is in this part of Australia. I saw two wild kangaroos worryingly Janine didn't see them despite them bouncing on the road where she was driving. maybe I should have driven. The final place we hoped to visit were Fernhook falls which were some waterfalls and a rock pool that people swim in during summer. It's not summer yet so we didn't swim, also the water is stained with tannin here which gives it a dark red colour. It's clean to swim and drink but still a little unsettling, especially when the falls causes the water to foam up like Fairy liquid has been poured in.

We were finally on the route home and decided that we still had some light to take another unsealed road detour off the highway. Turns out this was the best decision as we ended up at Mandalay Beach. Named after a Norwegian ship that was wrecked on 15th May 1911, we noted the date was my birthday although a few years before, I'm not that old! This is the first beach we have found in WA with the real wow factor. Clean white sand, amazing views and a small island off the coast. The pictures don't fully do it justice although this might be because my camera was out of battery so we were using Janine's point and shoot. On the way back, as the sun was setting and as the manager of the hostel had warned, Janine's saw two kangaroos chilling by the side of the road. I failed to get a picture as I fumbled with her camera even though she was pointing and shouting Roo, Roo, Roo get the camera.