Greetings!
We’re in a farm caravan park.
The highlight of this evening was the 5pm feeding of the
animals.
We passed in favor of
sitting by our RV, drinking beer in our fold-out chairs, and reading.
The attraction wasn’t the RV park, but
it’s location at the coast after a long day in the forests.
In the past two days, we’ve seen lots of tall trees.
Specifically, we’ve found the Tingle,
Marri, and the Karri forests.
The
first grows only in a 6,000 acre section of one forest, through which a treetop
walkway has been constructed to view them.
It’s actually only about a third of the way up the trees,
and doesn’t connect to them in any way.
Like a child’s erector set designed to mimic a unique local flower
(tassle) and a long sharp leaf (sawgrass), the walkway was built of metal
pieces that were no longer than three meters, could be lifted by two men, using
a trail through them no wider than one truck’s width.
It’s a marvel to see and imagine, and even more to use.
The Karri and Marri grow over a wider area, but not much
more.
There is a popular back road
which can be taken (better with four-wheel drive) to the national parks which
contain them.
These hardwood trees
are sought after for exquisite furniture and home remodeling.
I saw one yesterday in a gallery for
$11,000 that came from one of the last old-growth Karri.
Those we saw today were from seeds from
the remaining trees in a logging frenzy in 1880’s, when an accidental fire took
the rest.
And speaking of fire, we have seen the impact of a huge fire
last year in this area.
Australian
fires were well-publicized over the past decade, but it becomes real when you
seem the destruction of already endangered trees.
Elsewhere, we visited other sites where parks were saved from
logging, power plants, and development to become accessible, educational
resources in the 1990’s.
Australians seem to have taken up the challenge to protect their floral
environment in a decade of fervor.
You may have noticed a kukaburra sitting on a park sign in
the photos today.
Famous for a
children’s rhyme, he wasn’t laughing but did seem to be protecting his “old gum
trees”.
He stayed there for enough
time for me to turn around a mile up the road, drive back, and park just across
from him.
Originally introduced
into Tasmania in the mid-1800’s, they were re-released in 1900 from the Perth
Zoo to rid the city of snakes.
Now
their range is just abut the area of Western Australia we’ve just traveled.
Glad to have seen one befre we head
east this weekend.
Before we do, however, I get one more look at some surf
spots.
The coast north of Margaret
River has some of the best breaks in Western Australia.
The warm Indian Ocean current and
storm-generated swells add to the experience.
We’re checking them out tomorrow, and then heading on to our
last caravan park before turning in the RV on Sunday.
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