Valley of the Giants

Second stop on day 1 of our holiday to the South West Coast of WA:

Treetop walk in the valley of the giants, located west of Denmark (WA). The suspension bridges hang between tall posts, a bit like lamposts, just bigger. The bridges are linked together at the posts. You ascend gradually through the trees to the highest point at 40m and back down again. The posts sway and the suspended sections bounce and sway, particularly in the middle. Delia and Chloe feared for their lives once we got above 10m, which is about the height of a two story house.


Whatever you do, don't look down! This photo was taken about half way up (you can't see all the way down through the branches at the highest point).


The Red Tingles (Eucalyptus Jacksonii) are huge and specific to the South West of Australia and the Walpole area in particular. They have shallow root systems and very wide bases to make up for this and give them stability. They can measure as much as 16m round the base, grow up to 60m tall and live for around 400 years. Forest fires and insect infestations over the centuries cause the hollowed centres common amongst older trees. Want to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_jacksonii


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This rocked up in the car park while we were there.

Delia (or white knuckles as we called her during the tree top walk) managed to unclench one hand long enough to take this photo.

Hey Mum, you could turn this into a house if you put 2 doors on it.

Almost bought a T-shirt for Delia!

Chloe sitting in front of a small toppled tree. You can see the shallow root system quite clearly.

Bolle's Barometer

First stop on day 1 of the holidays was the Denmark (WA) Tourist Information centre.

The Bert Bolle Barometer. This was designed and build by a Dutchman called Bert Bolle and resided in The Netherlands until Bert and his wife migrated to Australia (Denmark) in 1999. It is the largest Barometer in the World as recorded in the Guiness book of records. For more info http://www.bertbolle.com/

York Visit

Our visit to York, 1-1/2 hours from Perth was very interesting. First stop was the town hall, one of the most photographed buildings in York and home to the tourist information office. At the tourist information office we met a friendly old gentleman and his wife, who we soon found out had family ties to Rosehearty. Small World, isn't it? His story was a bit hard to follow at times and I didn't realise the significance of it until I got home and did some research but from what I could tell his great grandfather was Rev James Murdoch, Minister at Rosehearty. He also had family ties to Sir Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch, whom the Murdoch University in Perth was named after.

He also mentioned that he visited The Cliff View Hotel (previously occupied by his great grandfather) in 2001 (approx) and considered making an offer with the intention of returning to the place of his ancestral roots.

I made a mental note to try and meet up with this elderly gentleman again after putting 2 and 2 together.


The Masonic Hall:

This handsome building was built for the Independent Order of Oddfellows in 1887. In 1925 it was sold to a similar society, the Freemasons, and became Lodge No.5 of the Grand Lodge of Western Australia. Meetings of the Brethren are held on the first floor and the large hall below is used for a variety of social and community purposes.

York Motor Museum. 150 originals. Good to see in the flesh.

1925 Rolls Royce (twenty)

Old Fire-engine

Austin Vanden Plas Princess (1963)

Lotus Eleven

1903 Oldsmobile

K and Penny Farthing

Old, Red, wooden phonebox

De Dion Bouton 1904

No Shit Sherlock. Who's going to swim in there?

Suspension Bridge......Over the Amoebic Meningitis infected water!

Daisy Hill Farm:

A fantastic selection of farmyard animals. We have only noted a small percentage below.

K with guinea pig. They had quite a few. In each hutch they had a block of ice and the guinea pigs and rabbits huddled round them to keep cool. It was over 40°C when we were there and exhausting even in the shade, so must have been difficult for the little, furry critters.

Australia Day

Australia Day, celebrated annually on 26th January, is the official National day of Australia, commemorating the establishment of the first European settlement on the continent of Australia. The date is that of the foundation of a British penal colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson, New South Wales, by Captain Arthur Phillip (26th January 1788), who was to become the first Governor.

It is BIG in Perth. People drive around the streets shouting out the windows, honking horns and waving Australian flags. A bit fanatical really. I tried to think of an event back home to compare and the closest I can think of is New Year and the Bells in Scotland.


Perth has one of the best firework displays in Australia. We were warned about trying to drive near to the event and walking was out of the question so we watched from the confines of the garden, some 9km from the event (as the crow flies). I managed to take some reasonable photos considering the distance and the use of a fairly basic digital camera. In order to give you an idea of the scale I have added arrows in the first (twilight shot) and second fireworks shot indicating points on buildings with noticable illuminated signs, which are easily recognisable in the dark. The large building on the left is the Raffles hotel and Yuppie apartment block. The buildings in the distance are all within the city central business district. The fireworks were set off on the Northern foreshore of the Swan River, some 500m from the CBD buildings.
The display was so popular that despite the distance from the event our street was lined with cars and people were camping and sat on deck chairs along the banks of the river in front of our house.

Fun at Home

The only way to keep cool is to jump in the pool. C & K doing handstands....of a sort!

Adventure World (WATER)

On Friday we visited Adventure World again. This time we took the swimming attire. The Shotgun was a good ride. A flumes type ride on figure-of-eight inflatable tubes.

New Norcia

On Tuesday we went to New Norcia. It's the only Monastic town in Australia and the only Benedictine Monastery in WA. A sleepy little town with a long history (at least by Australian standards); http://www.newnorcia.wa.edu.au/monastery_history.htm . We visited the Art Gallery and Museum, which was by far the highlight of the day but use of cameras and video cameras was banned. Much of the art work was very old European works donated by supportive organisations in Italy and Spain. The buildings were a pleasant break from the standard Perth house.

The local hotel.


St. Gertrudes (a boarding school up to 1991).


St. Ildephonsus' (previously a boarding school also).

Kings Park

We visited Kings Park on Sunday afternoon. A lovely walk and fantastic views over the river and south Perth.

K standing by a Boab tree.


C & K standing on the arched bridge in the middle of Kings Park.


There she blows!