Pemberton: Karri trees and Karri forests

After leaving Margaret River we drove to Pemberton via Nannup. Nannup is a very pretty town, on par with Omeo in Victoria, which I still hold in my mind as one of the prettiest town we've seen on our journey. Nannup is quite an historic town, with many of the buildings in the main street built in the 1920s and 1930s. I think I could have stayed a day or two to explore. It's only a small town but there were a few cafes and galleries that I would have liked to look at, but we never do with the kids. The caravan park there looked quite pretty too. But we had it in our heads we were heading to Pemberton and I feel like Greg is in a bit of a rush to head east (probably to get to Kalgoorlie so he can go gold hunting!). It was a Sunday, so not everything was open. After a walk up the main street and back, we headed on.

Tightrope walking (about 110cm off the ground)

I love the stick to help him balance

The drive to Pemberton was so beautiful through the Karri forests. The Karri trees are amazing and oh so majestic. They grow so tall and straight, with smooth white and grey bark, and very few branches lower down. The road, which is a highway, is a narrow, two land road that winds between these awesome trees. Karri trees grow up until they reach 71 years, and then they start to thicken at the base. Some of the trees we drove past were estimated at 400 years old. Karri trees are the 3^rd largest in the world, with the Mountain Ash in Victoria and Tasmania coming in second and the Redwood trees in America being the tallest.

Pemberton is another very pretty town. There is a mill, which is the main function of the town (other than tourism), and a main street with a mix of shops. Most of the houses were all built in the 1920s and are heritage listed. They were built by the timber company and are all identical in shape and size. They timber company discovered they could build 2 of these houses for each good sized Karri tree they harvested! I thought that was pretty amazing and almost 100 years later these houses are still so quaint and cottage-y and so sturdy.

There are 3 giant Karri trees you can climb in the Pemberton region; the Gloucester, Diamond and Bicentennial trees. The Gloucester tree is probably the most famous, and the only one situated in a National Park where you have to pay an entry fee. The Gloucestor Tree stands 61m tall, the Diamond Tree, which is closer to Manjimup, stands 51m and the Bicentennial Tree, which stands 75m. The Gloucester and Diamoond Trees were spiked in the 1930s (I think) as fire watch towers. It was someone's job to climb them every day and keep watch for fires. Not to mention the poor people who originally climbed and pegged the tree, lopped the top off and built a tower at the top! The Bicentennial tree was pegged as part of bicentennial celebrations (but I didn't get to read the information about it at the time). I was pretty keen to climb the Gloucester Tree as it seemed like the thing to do, but when we got there and I looked up at this giant, towering tree with just spikes driven into the trunk, my never wavered. When I started to climb, my nerve failed me completely. The first time I tried to climb I got 5 rungs and felt like I was miles off the ground. It didn't feel very safe, so I climbed back down. After a short while I decided I couldn't be that much of a wuss and to try again. Tilda climbed ahead of me (although the signs do say they don't recommend kids climb). Watching my daughter climb up this tree, with nothing but the rungs and her hands and feet to hold her on, my heart was in my throat and I just couldn't let her climb. I had climbed 10 rungs, while she had climbed 23, but I made her come back down. I did read that over 44,000 people climb it every year, so it must be OK, but it just didn't feel safe. Greg climbed around 20 rungs up but then remembered that he had been having vertigo attacks and wisely decided to come back down.

The base of the tree (Greg stands about 4 rungs high)

The next day as we headed into Manjimup we drove passed the Diamond tree. I was determined to climb this tree. I mean, if others can do it, I should be able to. There were 2 older couples at the bottom and young guy making his way down. We chatted to him at the bottom. It turns out he had been cycling Australia for the past 100 days and has 3 years of acrobatic high wire training, so of course he could do it! Greg climbed a bit. I don't think he counted how many but I think he'd done about 35+ before he decided to come back down. I decided to take my turn. There is no way to pass someone on these rungs, so you have to hope no one is coming down while you go up, or vice versa. I began my climb but I just couldn't silence the voice of reason and fear in my mind. It's funny, I can climb a ladder and have done since I was a kid. I've climbed down the fire ladders at Narrowneck, and it never bothered me, but there is something about climbing up the outside of a massive tree, with just metal poles stuck into the side of the trunk and no form of safety net, rope, cage etc, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

This is what you climb up

The next day we did a drive through the Warren National Park. Gosh it was stunning, filled with Karri forest. This National Park houses the Bicentennial tree. I figured I may as well at least climb 10 rungs on this one, as I had climbed 10 on the other two. It was quite a windy day and as we approached the tree, we could see the tower at the top, all 78m up, swaying and moving quite a long way in the wind. As we got to the bottom of the tree we could hear the wind rushing through the forest, sounding like a train approaching, and as it hit, branches began falling down from the forest around us. Needless to say, we didn't even climb any of the rungs on this one, but hastily made our way back to the car and safety.

There's a platform part way up this tree

Rory climbed 1 rung

We drove the Heartbreak Trail, which is a 4WD track through the Warren NP and takes you to some campgrounds which are suitable for tents and campers only, and are in some of the most stunning bushland I have ever seen. The Warren River runs through the NP and is tannin coloured but so very pretty. I would have loved to camp there and I did think about leaving the van for a night and camping in the tent, but with the strong 40kmh wind gusts, and a forecast for rain the following day, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Part of me wishes we had have taken the opportunity, but it wouldn't have been pleasant with branches falling from trees and rain.