Travelling Oz

28th May.
Headed for Walpole and The Valley Of The Giants Tree Top Walk, Denmark then onto the forests at Pemberton.

It was pouring with rain as we hitched up the caravan in Albany and headed towards Walpole. We were wondering what to do as there was no way we could take all the gear in and film the Valley of the Giants in those conditions. Voila, as we pulled into the car park, it suddenly stopped raining. It was still very cold, damp with the odd drissle, but we decided to stop and get the job done.

The Tree Top Walk is an unforgettable experience in more ways than one.
The National Park covers nearly 20,000 hectares of towering karri and tingle forests. The walkway rises up to 38m above the forest and gives you a totally different perspective of the forest below.

The second part of the tour is the boardwalk at ground level, which winds its way through a maize of tingle trees and is known as the Ancient Empire.

Remember I said it was unforgettable in more ways than one, well I have to admit to my biggest phobia, I'm absolutely terrified of heights. The floating structure sways as you walk on it and I have a few disadvantages to make it even worse. I can't hold onto the side rails for support coz I have the stills Nikon camera hanging around my neck, the tripod tucked under my left arm and the XDcam in my right hand, so I'm woddling along the walkway like I've just drunk a bottle of wine, and the more it sways, the more I waddle and so it goes, getting worse and worse. Marlene says I'm a sook and it's just my imagination, but I sure could have done with a few changes of under wear up there:

Arrived at Denmark in time for a lunchbreak, then straight through to Pemberton for our first bush camp of the trip. What an experience. No offices, no lights, no facilities and no neighbours. Only the stars and the sounds of the kookabara's, possums and noises of the night to keep us company. As the trees were so tall, couldn't even get tv reception with the satelite dish, so it was just us and the karri forest. We really enjoyed the isolation away from the organised structure of caravan parks. Rained most of the night but stopped as we were having breakfast. Did a few walks in the forest, enjoyed a stroll around Big Brook Dam, the Cascades and the amazing undulating luscious green farm landscapes and viewing the livestock.

Been down here a few times now over the past few years, but have missed so much in the past. A long weekend away puts the pressure on and you just miss so much. It's nice to have the time to explore every nook and crany:

Life On The Road:

One major thing we have noticed on our Travelling Oz tour is that, as we don't have a timetable and schedule to stick to, we are seeing so much more and enjoying every nook and crany of each stop and we're enjoying the time to be able to slow down and smell the roses.

The price of diesel is really blowing our weekly budget. We've already had a blowout of over a 30% increase in the price of diesel which is going to reduce our time on the road quite dramatically. Every time we fill up, it's costing an extra $50 per tank full and considering we fill up 2 to 3 times a week, you can imaging what it's doing to the hip pocket. 5 months ago we were paying $1.35 per litre and now we're averaging between $ 1.89 to $ 1.95 per litre.Furthermore, food and general shopping has increased by over 20% since we did our initial budget late in 2007, so we need to start reducing costs somehow.

Bush camping a few days a week can save us $25 to $30 a day on caravan park fees, but most of the recommended bush sites are so far out of town, they are proving a bit impractical and expensive on fuel and travel time, so need to look at other alternatives to save money.