Day 28 - Pemberton to Albany

Continue along the tourist South West to the its end at Albany. Some more big trees, another swim (I was wrong yesterday) and a sunset over King George Sound.

Quick Stats

• 3.5 hours on bike
• 259 km
• 9835 km total

Up fairly late again today, I pack up and ride into town for a 9 am breakfast. The sun is out, the wind is gone, today is looking good.

Pemberton was, unsurpisingly, and somewhat still is a timber town. An old steam tourist train runs on the old railway originally used to haul giant Karri timber away.

I leave on the northern route out of town heading toward Walpole. There's a lot of old growth Karri groves along here mixed with younger regrowth of Karri and occassionally other Eucalypt I don't immediately recognise. I later learn its Tasmanian blue gum plantations, the tallest known trees in Australia.

The forest also randomly gives way to pastures with cows, sheep, goats, deer, alpaca, and emus, a quite eclectic mix. As I get closer to the coast, and enter Mt Franklin National Park, the white Karri ceases to be a near monoculture as a red-barked and yellow-barked gums start to mix in.

These are known as "Tingle" trees. Another eucalypt species endemic only to South West Australia. While they may not grow as tall as the Karri, or as straight, they make up for it in sheer girth. Some growing to as much as 30 metres around.

Walpole-Nornalup National Park has many to preserve a lot of the old growth of these beasts. Before heading in to checkout the Giant Tingle though, I pass through the little town of Walpole and go for a look down at the water.

Positioned on a pair of enormous inlets, it's sheltered from vicious Southern Ocean. The inlets are connected by a rocky knoll, but I couldn't find a good vantage point. The estuaries are the only of their kind in the South West, so another biodiversity hotspot. Animals as diverse as quokkas and New Zealand fur seals come here.

Heading off to the Giant Tingle, a detour up a rather rutted and slippery dirt road.

It immediately pays off, with a view back over the inlets.

And another two minutes down the road I'm at a short walk to take in the Tingles.

This guy is alive. A fairly normal process for tingles - bugs eat out the inside and fire removes it entirely. Apparently they used to drive cars through them - before realising compressing the soil of these shallow rooted trees quickly kills them.

I'm not quite done with the tingles, I'm headed to the nearby skywalk to walk alongside them. My last attempt at doing this ended up being an extremely depressing affair.

The Tahune Skywalk in Tasmania weaved through the treetops of the colossal blue gums. Alas, bushfires in 2019 ripped through Geeveston and killed most of the oldest and tallest trees in the world, leaving scarred husks. One of the tallest still stands, but who knows for how long.

It seems my fears are unfounded as the Valley of the Giants is thriving.

I struggle to grasp my surroundings from the skywalk, I feel disconnected. Oh well, still some monster trees.

Onward as I'm getting hungry, I head for the nearest food on my way to Denmark. Denmark Good Food and Ice Creamery it is.

Can't eat the peacocks, I get a burger.

Also just outside Denmark is the Green Pools and Elephant Rock.

Another biodiversity hotspot, the rock formations here create shallow protected water known as the Green Pools - a sanctuary for fish, corals and crabs.

The sun is out, there's no wind, the water is cold, but not icey, naturally I have to take a dip.

I waste a lot of time on the water, it's getting to mid Afternoon and I want to check out a bit of Albany before dark. An hour down the road along some more spectacular tarmac and I arrive.

I check-in, get changed and take a glimpse out the window at King George Sound. The enormous inlet nestled between Albany and the Torndirrip peninsula.

I go for a run up to Mt Clarence, atop which sits the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial, a tribute to the mounted forces in WWI. Albany and King George's Sound was the final Australian anchorage for the fleet taking the first Australian troops to participate in the war.

The first dawn service in Australia took place on Mt Clarence in 1930.

The view is spectacular from up here, Albany is a truly special place.

Tomorrow is a big day as I want to climb a couple of mountains.