Hooray for WA Day 7. May 27th . Shelley Beach to Mandurah (via Tingle forest)

Although we were completely alone on our little beach with the waves crashing to lull us to sleep the wind had other ideas. Eventually at about 2 am we removed part of our awning, and then the complete awning due to the noise it was making. Eventually we got a bit of sleep, but Trev was awake before the sun was up again and it looked like rain, so we did a quick pack up, vacated the site, and ate our breakfast at the lookout overlooking our beach. Hang gliders use this spot sometimes, and the sunrise over Albany complete with windfarm certainly rewarded us for the early rising.

Shelley Beach from above. This park forms the southernmost tip of WA!

The first of our 600 odd km for today was spent getting us to the treetop walk between Denmark and Walpole. We had to wait for them to open, but enjoyed the fresh view of the huge tingle trees from high up, and then from the forest floor. The Red Tingle trees have hardly any root system and a huge butt at the base which are really sensitive to even walking on the ground around them. Their branches grow in strange eerie curves which make the tree look disformed and unbalanced.  They become hollow when there is a fire, but continue to grow.

They call this one grandma.  She is hollow and would rival the Herbig Tree near Springton for the space inside it. 

The next stop was at Fernhook Falls  where we checked out our original intended campsite from yesterday, and took a walk to admire the falls and the adjoining Rowells's pool where some drop their canoes in the Deep River (which apparently is not usually deep enough until June). The water at the pool was so dark you couldn't see a thing (coloured by tannins) -but you can step down into it!! 

Here there was another excellent camp kitchen and also a campers hut where walkers on the long distance Bibblemun track can rest their weary bodies overnight.

 Two little birds tried to join Trevor in the Prado, but decided not to stay after visiting briefly.

Next we headed through the tall Karri forest (large swatches have been burnt) towards the Margaret River where we visited Denise at the Maiolo winery.  We have long been a fan of their shiraz and it was great to meet her in person and to taste their latest wares (all good) . We blame our friends the Browns for this particular taste for their wines. The 2014 Shiraz is our particular recommendation.

We had a time limit today, so had to be on our way towards Mandurah and finally made it to our home for the next week at about 5.30 pm.  Mandurah feels so much larger than on our past visits. I guess we will get a feel for it again while we are staying here. We look forward to a comfy bed, lots of hot showers and sleeping in.

Footnote:
Today we  noted a high number of significant names amongst those that we saw. Among them were Shelley beach (where we started the day), Sues Rd,  Hay river, Deano's bar, Brittain road, Iffley road, Vasse (Vassi to us) highway and town.