road trip in the forests

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We set out on the road with a vague notion that there are forests worth visiting to the east. At the end of of 200 mile drive we arrived at the famous "tree top walk" in Wallpole. This is a forest of red tingle trees. They can be up to forty feet in circumference at the base! People have been visiting the forest for many years and the soil was getting compacted and the trees were suffering. 10 years ago they built a giant walkway through the tops of the trees that lets you experience the forst and environment from a birds perspective whlie not hurting the soil. It was really worth the stop. The trees dont get as high as some of the giant trees like redwoods as the tops tend to break off after about 200 feet but that doesnt stop the tree from growing thicker and thicker. The bark and outher layers are very strong while the ineer wood gets soft. It is very common to see hollow trees bigger than real teepees inside. Fire is a big part of the ecology so the trees are burned out in the middle but they still grow and grow. Amazing really.

We drove into the town of denmark that night and lucked into finding a little community of cottages where there was a vacancy. After new years is summer high season so we really lucked out! Not only was it a fun place but there were loads of other kids and an onsight playground to boot!

Our big adventure the following day was a trip tp Greenes Pool. we didn't really understand what this was, but everyone said it is a must see... As I said in the last post, most of OZ is granite. In this case there is a beach near the tow of denmark where the giant waves of the southern ocean bash on to the hard rock shore. Very dramatic to be sure. The coolest part is the 3+ acres of protected water inside the granite reef. A perfect and humongus natural swimming pool full fof clean salt water, fish, crabs and other exotic marine life. lots of fun rocks to climb on and from which to jump into the pool.

On our last day on the road trip we stopped in Albany to see the old whaling station. This was the center for whaling vessels and the place where they would bring the whale carcases to process them for sperm whale oil, an important industrial lubricant and fuel for the past several hundred years. The whaling center was very interesting to see. Hard to imagine dissassembling those exotic bohemoths. Nice facilty and worth a visit.