In and around Walpole part 1

After the treetop walk I visited Walpole calling in at the visitor centre before doing a few different walks and drives in the area. First walk was directly behind the visitor centre, a 2km walk around over a swamp and then through some forest. 

There were some interesting things to see on the walk around Horse hill, a variety of bush ranging from swampy areas through to tall karri and tingle trees. Plaques along the walk help you to  discover the different plants local to the area.

After the horse hill walk I headed to the Giant Tingle Tree a couple of kilometers east of the town. This is about a 6km drive, almost all on a one way track through the bush and it’s a spectacular drive. Check out this view at one point along the road, they have cut a strip through the forest so that you can see out to the coast.

The picture hardly does the view justice, it was very impressive and enough to make me realize that I have to come back and explore more around the area tomorrow. Now onto the walk down to the giant tingle. This is very similar country to the treetop walk except in my opinion it’s far better simply because it’s not quite as touristy, in fact while I walked the circuit which is about 800 m I was the only person there.

Very hard to get an idea of how big the burnt out base of this tree is, but it’s huge. The whole area is filled with enormous trees and the walk has placards on your way around comparing the forest here to how it may have been back when there were dinosaurs.

Trees, trees, trees, everywhere.

 

After this walk the road continues onto Circular pool, part of the Franklin river where the currents tend to swirl in a circular motion hence it’s name. There are some nice small rock falls and then large open still pools nestled in among the forest.

It was the right time of year to visit as the water was flowing well from all the recent rainfall we’ve been having.

The froth creates some beautiful patterns on the surface of the water, it takes away the forest reflections you would normally see on the water but it adds an interesting extra dimension.