My trip to Walpole or "the vally of the giants" as its called due to some of the worlds largest trees being in the surounding forests..

Left Nannup on the EasyRider bus, got picked up around 10, Bobby who I met in Dunsbourgh over xmas was on the bus heading to Walpole with me which was cool !

The bus took us into a Winery on the way, I tasted a few wines, and felt a bit ropey right away, think it was to close to breakfast time !!

Me and Bobby at the winery...to early !

Another stop of on the way was the Gloucester Tree, the world largest climing tree at over 60 meters, the driver told us only 2% of people who intend to climb the tree actually do it...I wasnt letting that stop me, even though about half way up the tree starts to sway as the weather was pretty grim, very windy, had to pass a few people fozen with fear about 3/4 of the way up...anyway worth it when I got to the top, amazing views of the forrest. it used to be used as a fire lookout, so its the tallest one for miles.

Gloucester tree

Gloucester tree

View from the top

Had a tee-total night the evening, couldnt even look at a bottle of wine without feeling sick :-(

the next day, went on an eco cruise, which everyone was raving about, even lonley planet gave said it cant be missed, so we gave it a shot.

The guy running it was a total comedian, it was like a comedy show and eco tour at the same time !

another bloody beach

at the Beach

Saw the Walpole inlet, which is amzing and untouched by the logging industry.

the inlet

The boat took us the most stunning beach, (im running out of superaltives here) unreachable by foot, not a sole on it, the waves were some of largest ive seen, and the forrest came down to meet the cliffs !

Amazing Beach

The Beach

After the cruise, spent the afternoon at the beach topping up my amazing tan (yeah right)

The tan or lack of it...what a joke, 8 weeks in Australia and I still look like the milky bar kid !
at least I havnt burnt though..unlike some people, Ive seen a few people who needed hospitalising...grim...

The River

Me and Bob on the tour !

tried to stay up for the football, Liverpool Vs Arseanl, swapped the wine for the coffee at about 2.30am, waited for ages for it to start, then must have passed out, woke up to see them go 2-0 down, then must have passed out again, woke up in the morning to find out they lost 3-1, not the best !

anyway the next day rolled on to Denmark.

written by  tomrendell on January 8, 2007 from Walpole, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!
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On the way from Walpole to Denmark we visited the Valley of the giants Tree Top Walk, which was pretty cool, but not so good with a hangover from last night,

Tree top walk

its tough at the top

up top

up at the top

Next stop the best beach so far…Greens Pool, for a quick swim…and diving off the rocks, then look at Elephant Rocks.

Greens Pool

Elephant Rocks

Elephant Rocks

Greens Pool

After that the bus rolled on into Denmark where I was the only one jumping off, which was fine as I wanted a few days to chill out and rest up again.

Ate fish and chips by the river as I was far too tired to cook !

The next day relaxed by the beautiful Denmark river a minute away from the hostel, and did a little chilled out river walk.

At the River

Up the creek

Got a call from some friends I met in Dunsbourgh that they were coming over to Denmark for a night, so that evening met them in the pub, Adam Heather, Debs and Jo.

The next day was pretty ropey, dark and gloomy, hammered it down with rain in the morning, we went out in their car to Greens Pool for a swim, and were the only people there as the weather kept changing warm and sunny one minute, cold and grim the next.

Greens pool/ Elephant rocks

The Sea

At one point had to dash back to the car during a torrential downpour, see the three drowned rats in the car

the gang

3 drowned rats

Escaped the English style rain with a cup of tea in a random café that seemed to pop out of the bushes when we needed it most, even if a weird guy was running the place trying to sell us the contents of 5 years worth of car boot sales junk as well as a pot if tea !

get the kettle on

Denmark River

After that in the howling wind, we walked up the track to Monkey rock ! With some stunning views, well worth it

Adam, Heather, Jo, Debs & Me @ Monkey Rock

View from Monkey Rock

then we found some horses, in a random Field !

Debs with new pal

Jo & Heather

Drove back through to Denmark and with that the gang had to move on to Albany, I could have gone with them but wanted to stay and explore Denmark and to find time to relax for at least 5 minutes..which is proving harder than I’d thought !!

The next day awoke to find Bobby and his girlfriend had arrived and had hired a car and wanted to go out for the day…so no rest for the wicked! Off out on another day trip….

Went to some feeble zoo with them both, now wouldn’t have chosen to do this on my own, but felt I might as well, it was pretty lame, and couldn’t get out of the place quick enough…feeding muesli to donkeys not quite what I had mind when I set off travelling!

But …got to see a Koala…albeit asleep….so not all bad…that’s another box ticked !

Felt I needed some exercise after seeing those caged donkeys…So got Bobby to drop me off near the beach and I ran the 6k back to the hostel…running the only thing that comes close to fill the big void of playing football, I’m really missing that (Dan cant wait to set up our new team when I’m back)

The next day explored some more beaches, Waterfall beach…with the most pathetic waterfalls I’ve ever seen, but a really nice beach, water was a bit rough for swimming though!

Next morning shot through to Albany.

written by  tomrendell on January 9, 2007 from Denmark, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!
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Struck gold as I checked into my room, met a girl from Scotland who had a car and was about to go out on a mission exploring the area…so I rolled out for the day with her and saw some pretty amazing places,

The Blow Holes, a Geezer style thing that blew water out of a hole on the cliffs.

The Gap !

Albany

The Bridge

Mind the Gap

All good…then drove quite a way to Two Peoples national park to find a “Little Beach” probably the most amazing beach ive seen to date.

Little Beach

Little Beach - Amazing !!

Little Beach - Albany

...and then on the way back some sort of feeble thing called Dog rock, see for your self !

Dog Rock

Went for a walk yesterday with Bobby & Miko a 15K round trip in preparation for the hike up we have in store in Stirling Ranges national park in a couple of days… walked to the top of Mt Adelaide great views of Albany!

Spent an hour trailing the pubs trying to get one to put the Liverpool v Watford game on Fox Sports, no one was interested….nightmare, ended up just watching a movie at the hostel!

written by  tomrendell on January 14, 2007 from Albany, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!
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Moving on from Albany on the bus, Bobby, myself and a few randoms headed to Stirling Ranges National Park to climb the infamous Buff Knoll, the highest peak in Western Australia,

It’s quite a drive to the National Park, so we get there early afternoon and head on up the peak, its not such a hot day, which makes the climb pretty good fun.

On the way !

Bluff Knol

Although 20 minutes later everyone’s roasting as we start to warm up on the steep climb!

Greg our ever-dependable guide is lagging behind, we can see him haling his fat ass up the Montanan so we keep going!

The views are amazing, really enjoying the hike, gives me a taste for potential hikes in New Zealand.

View from Bluff Knol

Stirling Ranges from Bluff Knol

As we start to get to the top the clouds start coming in, and rapidly cools down
so its on with the fleece, and keep pounding away until we reach the top.

Feels really good to be out hiking again, makers me realise this sort of stuff is why im here.

At the top we chill out (literally) get some food, and catch some more awesome photos of the National Park…and wait for Greg to meet us up at the top!

at the top

Me and Bobby at the top

On the way down, its worth taking your time to appreciate the view…don’t think I’ve seen anything like this before of my any of my other hikes from the past!

As we gat back to the bus, we roll a mile or so down the road to a café and have a well earned Jim Beam and Coke! Bliss!

Then we check into the hostel across the road, have a swim to cool down, and then cook and eat…and watch the best sunset yet…over the mountains!!

Stirling Ranges at night

What a great day!

written by  tomrendell on January 15, 2007 from Wooganup, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!
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A quick trip to this place called “Wave Rock” in my opinion a massive pointless detour, but it’s on the lientery, so we stuck to it,

Basically a huge rock shaped like a wave formed over thousands of years over water running over the edge and running down. Not sure where this running water is, this place is dryer than your mouth on a Sunday morning after a massive night out.

There was a dam, which held a massive amount of water for the local inland, totally arid area! Aparantly back in the day little kids used to swim in it, now its all fenced off and secure! Water seems more valuable the gold around here.

Wave Rock

Precious water @ the Wave rock dam

Anyway quick photo op, and a quick shufty around and were back on the bus headed for Esperance…

Me & Bobby @ Wave Rock

Greg showing us the way

The Diving Board

Stuck in a moment

Arrived in Esperance and we immediately went to Twilight cove, a popular beach in the town area, but was deserted at 4pm when we arrived, maybe thats because of the alleged sharks..

Swam straight out to the huge rock a couple of hundred meters off shore, climbed up and jumped off a few times, slowly at first, but the three of us we were doing triple jumps from the top, really good fun especially id you land in a wave as it passes by…

Managed to get a action shot, see the 3 figures caught in mid flight, see above.

Spent the evening eating the biggest portion of fish and chips, with a few beers & playing pool.

Easy Rider Bus

Frenchmans Peak

Greg climbing Frenchmans peak

View from Frenchmans peak (Cape Le Grande Nt Park)

Next morning at 7am we shot out to Cape Le Grande National park about 30km out of town, climbed Frenchman’s peak, a steep climb, but not as tough or as long as the hike the other day up Bluff Knoll…but not before I set fire to my socks first thing trying to dry them out in the microwave...DOH

Lucky Bay

Hellfire Beach

Learning to body surf

Awsome Waves - Hellfire Beach

After that we hit Lucky bay for a look at this sunning beach, but choose to spent our time at Hellfire beach had lunch, and Greg taught a few of how to body surf…the next best thing when you don’t have a body board!

After that the Easy Rider Bus rolled on, but as I was staying in Esperance I had 5 days to my self until the next bus…

Beach side bike ride with Helen.

Beach

During which I did the great ocean drive, but on a mountain bike with a Helen a French Canadian girl from the Hostel, brilliant cycle track right along the coast, 20k return, went all the way back to twilight cove for a swim…and a dive.

Woddy island cruise

Woddy island cruise

Did a cruise to Woody Island one of over a hundred islands that form the Recherche Archipelago, basically these islands helped two French ships shelter from a storm back in the day, and then allowed them to discover Esperance! Saw sea eagles and sea lions and heaps of other stuff on this cruise and did a short walk on Woody island.

Went running in the evenings along the coast, chilled out, watch Liverpool Beat Chelsea 2-0…basically had a great time !

Esperance at dusk

Kalgoorlie, Australia

Kalgoorlie at dusk...cool at last

Money talks in Kal, the gold mine is the biggest open cut goldmine in the southern hemisphere, and makes almost $5 billion dollars year so the workers who work in this red hot inland desert heat trap are paid very well.

In the wild West

Kalgoorlie

Looks miles wide, impossible to photograph in one shot !!
All the equipment is massive, bigger than anything ive seen before…

All the pubs in Kal have topless barmaids, and later in the evening are simmering bar room brawls waiting to happen, and look like something out of the Wild West!

On the Scoop @ the goldmine

"The Super Pit" Gold Mine