We drove on to Walpole on the southern coast. This is where you find one of the few remaining groves of the large Tingle tree. It can grow higher than the Karri and has the fiber skin of the Jarrah. We were in awe by the magnitude of these trees. They are so old that many have burnt out trunks but still kept on living. An impressive sight.

We camped a bit further down the coast close to the sea on a huge windy grass field.

First thing we did today was going to the Tree top walk in Valley of the giants park. Luckily it was not so busy at all. We did the walk twice (over a steel swing bridge) to enjoy the view of tree tops and the ground below. We also did the Ancient Empire walk to admire the trees at ground level.

Leaving the forest, we drove to Elephant rocks in Green pool at a beach between Peaceful Bay and Denmark. Again an impressive sight. Massive granite rocks and green color sea water in the bay. We didn’t swim there as the wind was pretty cold (for us anyway).

In Albany we first stopped at a dumps station for the toilet and a water refill. Unfortunately we could not find the right connection for the hose to the tap. Some weeks ago we had bought a full set. Somehow they are lost. Later in the afternoon we even drove back to see if the bag had dropped on the ground. Nothing. In town we visited the “museum of the great southern” showing the development history of Albany. There is a well established aboriginal presence in the area. All went well in the 19th century but once more and more settlers arrived and restrictive laws were in place, the aborigines were marginalized and suppressed. The relationship has improved a lot in the last 50 years.

From here we went to the Anzac memorial. The location is on top of a hill in the town center where there was a defensive fort built in 1893. The museum concentrates on the war involvement of the Australian and New Zealand troops in WW 1. The whaling history we had seen before and also in many other countries so we skipped that. Instead it was up the mountains again to Porongurup NP.