Sleeping was not as cold last night. When I woke up, Lynn was cooking scones.

I went outside to try to find the Red Headed Parrots (I think they are called Rosella) that have been all over the lawn outside our place. They are very skittish so it was hard to get a photo.

We drove to Walpole and went to the visitor center to buy tickets to the Tree Top Walk.

Lynn drove us on a 2 km scenic drive to see the Walpole and Norolup Inlet, but we didn’t get out of the car.

We stopped along the way by the Norolup River to have morning tea.

Lyn brought out the scones she had wrapped in a tea towel, so we had a treat again.

The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk was very interesting. This is the first time I have seen Red Tingle . They are unique to a small area around Walpole and Norolup. One of the characteristics is their huge buttressed bases which can have a circumference of up to 20 meters. Some of the larger trees have hollowed out bases caused by insect and fungal attack and then fire burning out the dead wood.

The buttress provides stability to these shallow rooted trees.

The name “tingle’ is believed to be derived from a Noongar word for these trees.

We walked on a steel structure that went high above the ground. It was an amazing suspended walkway. It was 40 meters at the highest point. Although we were not nearly as high as I was when I climbed the Gloucester Tree, it was wonderful to be so close these beautiful trees.

Jan and I met a women when we were walking along the top. She and her husband were traveling around Australia and doing a lot of bird watching. She pointed out a couple of parrots in a far off tree. Because her camera had an 80 times optical zoom lens, she was able to get several amazing photos. I would love to get the kind of photos she takes, but I am not willing to carry the camera. I did get one photo.

After we walked the all around the top, we took a trail on the bottom. It was called, “Ancient Empire.” On of the buttresses is called, “Grandma tingle.” It was so named because of her gnarled and wrinkled appearance and her distinct, ‘face’ which gives her an almost human character. In the past she was called the Gatekeeper as though she was keeping watch over the forest.

This matriarch of the forest measures over 12 meters in circumference, 94 metres in height, and she is estimated to be over 400 years old.

I loved the hollowed out trees that we found along the trail.

We could actually stand in the hollow of some of the trees.

You can see the trees through this small hole in one of the trees.

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The irregular bulges on the trunks of some of the tingle trees are caused by insect, mite, bacterial, or fungus attack. This damage initiates the production of plant growth hormones and the tree forms a protective growth around the wound like a scab or a scar on human skin.

It is fascinating how these burls give each tree a unique character.

These three young forest trees can be identified by their distinctive bark. The smooth-barked tree on the left is a Karri tree with the corky bark in the middle is a Karri She-oak. The string-barked tree on the right is a Red Tingle.

We went to Parry Beach by way of Peaceful Bay where we stopped to have lunch. We got back into our car just before the rains came.

The house where we are staying at Parry Beach is fabulous. We have a view of the ocean that we will see more clearly as soon as it stops pouring. We have heard that this is the worst spring weather this area has seen in the last 60 years. But we are hunkered down with a wood stove burning (Jan is our fire maker) and very, very comfortable.

Everybody else went to sleep about 2  hours ago.  I had to finish my post.  Now I am caught up and on the right day.