Along the Southern coast to Esperance

Everyday we are faced with the decision: do we stop and chill out for a while, or do we carry on exploring? Hopefully we have achieved a good balance, but there are still big distances planned. So far the wildflowers have been scattered throughout the National Parks. We are looking forward to seeing them en masse when we hit the open country.

Through spectacular Karri Forest, lush green pastures, and rolling vineyards, we arrived in Pemberton, the heart of timber country. And there in the National Park stood the Gloucester tree, sixty metres high or pure grandeur. They call it the 'climbing tree' so here goes.....

Geez, that's a long way up, but the view from the top would be sure to give me a forest fire spotters job. Speaking of big trees, around Walpole we came across the giant Tingles. These 'big mammas' know how to survive. Even after being ravaged by fire they just carry on growing. On our walk through the Valley of the Giants, the trail continued right through the tree!!

After exploring the forest floor we took the Tree Tops Walk suspended forty metres throughout the crowns of the tingle trees.

On to Albany and our opportunity to become grounded for a few days. The CBD offers a mixed-bag of modern waterfront development and old colonial restoration. Albany recently scored an award for the second best tourism destination in WA, behind Exmouth. We were impressed with the artwork in a chainsaw sculpture garden,...... in fact the artist's own garden.

The coastline around Albany and in particular Torndirrup National Park is wildly dramatic. The Gap and the Natural Bridge were two highlights. How is this for a engineering feat? The platform is suspended above a sheer drop into the sea!

In between the rocky cliff faces are beautiful bays of turquoise water and squeaky white sand, including this beautiful  little gem 'Little Bay'.

The lushness of the southwest corner of WA ends at Albany. As we tripped eastward, towns became further apart, the open country more sparse with harsher vegetation. And of course everything is tinged with red dirt, including our van right now! We made a diversion to Porongurup National Park to go on the Granite Skywalk hike. It is 4.5 km long and quite a challenge towards the end......

And so on to Bremer Bay, warmer temperatures and FLIES!! These little suckers spoil the outdoors.

The locals recommended we take their version of "a road with beautiful scenery" through Fitzgerald National Park. In reality it was corrugated red dirt and peppered with dead roos and scrub. The only highlight was the royal supreme of wildflowers,...... Hakea Victoria (I think!!)

We are now in Esperance. More turquoise water and beautiful beaches. Tomorrow we are heading for Lucky Bay where friendly kangaroos are likely to share our beach towels. Kalgoorlie is only a few days away.