I’ve just returned from my trip to Western Australia, so I’m now able to claim having been to all states and territories in this massive country. As expected, it’s extremely open and hot, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so flat or well forested.
The heat and forest work together to make bushfires and in just a week, I was witness to two separate fires. The first was in a park right next to Tim and Chris’ house. On our way back from the beach one afternoon, we were blocked by police and asked to take a detour. The detour took us past another edge of the park already black and smoking from the fire. As we made our way around the park, a water-carrying helicopter swooped in to help douse the remaining flames.
The second instance was on a trip down the coast south of Perth. I was on my way from Walpole to Denmark when I passed along a section of road with blackened forest and smouldering ground on either side. The flames still seemed to be moving away through the fields to my right. On the left, a burnt truck sat with its nose down in the field and its tail up on the edge of the road and I wondered if this crash was the cause of the fire.
That coastal trip showed a few other interesting sights. Perhaps the most touristy is the Tree Top Walk. The area near Walpole is a forest of Tingle trees and the Red Tingle is the tallest of all the Eucalypts. It stands out for its wide hollow base that gives it the support needed to climb to about 60m. I walked through the hollow of one which was tall enough for me to stand tall (6’1″/185cm) at the lowest point. The tree top walk is a swaying metal walkway that rises to 40m above the forest floor so tourists can feel like the nocturnal creatures that inhabit their heights.
In the same area, on the other side of Walpole, there are a few trees that can be climbed to the full height. The tallest is the Bicentennial Tree which I dared to climb. In fact, I thought it would be a great place to stop and rest, so I took a book up with me. The trees were used in years past as lookout towers for spotting bush fires, and the spotters presumably sat at the top throughout the day. They climbed on metal spikes driven into the tree so that about 2′ remained protuding as rungs of a ladder that spiraled the tree. These days, they’ve added a set of roof spikes and joined them up with chicken wire to create a psychological protection for climbers. As I started up, though, I realised that I’d be far more likely to slip through the spaced rungs than to twist off the side.
By the time I reached the first platform at about 25m, my legs were shaking in fear and my hands wear slick with sweat. It was not pleasant to be greeted with a sign that said ‘That was the easy bit!’ After a rest to wait for a couple on their way down from the higher section, I took a deep breath and forced myself on. I determined not to look down and focused on the rhythm that kept three limbs firmly anchored at all times and suddenly found myself climbing into the bottom platform of the tower. There, I sat carefully with my back to the tree and hands gripping tightly to the metal cage and moved only my eyes across the scenery for a few minutes. It took that long to get up the courage enough to let go, get out the camera and take a few photos of the canopy surrounding me. I’m still not sure where I found the strength of will to climb the next ladder (standard vertical type) to the next platform, and the next, up about six levels, well over the height of the tree, to the top, but I remember standing, looking out across the forest to the white, sandy shore in the distance.
I can only imagine that the lookouts became used to the height, but on those most dangerous bushfire days of high wind, even they must have had stomach problems as the tower swayed 1.5m from side to side. Fearing the descent, I skipped trying to relax enough to read and clamboured down, not stopping until I reached the ground. Somehow, it seemed easier than the climb up, probably because of the focus on the rungs taking attention from the ground blurred in the distance.
The other highlight of the coastal trip was near Albany, where Antarctic rocks make up the coastline of bridges and gaps. Explorers have even found the matching rocks on the Antarctic continent, proving the Gondwanaland theory. Nearby is the windfarm – 12 tall, elegant German windmills catching the southern winds to power 15,000 homes. Sustainable energy for me too, please.
Back in Perth, I had a relaxing weekend of large bushy parkland (in the heart of the city), coffee shops, beach sunsets and family barbecues before catching the red eye special home at 1am.