walking with giants

A short drive today, just some 100 miles or so.  But a big change of scene.

A swim first thing for Anniemay; my job is to hold her camera and watch for sharks, although what I could actually do if I saw one is not discussed.  It’s just before 7.00am and the sea is warm (I have a paddle to check the water temperature before she goes in).  Grey Nomads stroll along the water’s edge while younger folk go for a pre-work dip.  They order breakfast from a nearby cafe and then swim while it’s being prepared.  The aroma of coffee, bacon and fresh bread waft across the beach as we walk past.  How civilised. 

We see a class of school children running along the beach, an elderly couple doing ti chi and countless walkers/joggers.  All before 8.00.

On our way out of Albany we stop at the ANZAC memorial gardens at Mt Adelaide.  Albany is where countless young Australian and New Zealand men set sail for Gallipoli.  From the top of Mt Adelaide, it’s possible to look down into the bay where ships waited for them to embark. An information board shows the name and position of every ship in the convoy, just as they would have appeared all those years ago. It’s hard to imagine the scene.  And heart-breaking.

The road from Albany is still single carriageway but no longer straight and flat.  We stop at the little town of Denmark for a coffee break.  We call in at a gallery next door to the coffee shop and find that it’s run by a Yorkshire woman who emigrated to Australia some 27 years ago.  It turns out she lived in the same part of Perth as G&M before moving down to Denmark. Small world.

From Denmark it’s very clear that we are in a very different world; this is timber country.  Vast forests dot the landscape and the Road Trains are replaced by timber lorries.  We stop for lunch by a river and watch fish swimming below the jetty we’re sat on.  I toss a piece of bread in and the fish go mad, so Glyn, our very own Crocodile Dundee, fetches a hook and line in an attempt to catch our supper.  Bread won’t stay on the hook, so I do as I did when I was a kid - chew some bread to mix with saliva and form into a paste - as described in Mr Crabtree goes Fishing.  It never really worked then and it doesn’t now.

We stop at a butchers and replace a fish supper with sausages.

Our overnight stop is Walpole and just outside the town we divert into the Valley of the Giants, a national park devoted to large and ancient woodland. Here we ‘walk with giants’ on an elevated pathway through the forest canopy.  It’s quite something.

The campsite is a little …… rustic compared with the 5* luxury of Albany.  The May sisters sob and threaten not to shower.  As we sit down to eat our supper a Kookaburra lands on the roof ready to grab an easy meal.  Smiles all round.  

As light falls we wander down to the nearby lake and watch pelicans and Anniemay takes some lovely photos.  Everyone goes to bed happy.