Pemberton

PEMBERTON 14^TH – 17^TH MARCH

People come to Pemberton to climb trees and test themselves if they can put mind over matter when it comes to heights, we gave it a fair crack !



A good picture of what you climb up on!



Proof we all had a go!!



My  first effort, that was high enough for me.




Pete with Tom in front itching to go all the way!
The platform you see is not even half way!




A close up of what the fire tower looks like if you make it! There are 4 towers
to climb and it all sways in the wind! 



This tree above is called the Bicentennial Tree and is over 60 metres tall. This is the highest tree to climb out of the three in and around Pemberton. This tree is a little off the beaten track so it doesn’t get as many visitors. That so called ladder is how you climb it with not very much protection, O.H & S eat your heart out!! This was our first try at a climb and standing on the ground you feel OK looking up, but once you start climbing and that ground gets further away that feeling very soon diminished for us. Not bragging but I managed to get a bit higher than Pete on this one. Pete’s brain went into work safe mode and was so busy worrying about how it was built and what could happen if you fell! He did also have Tom in front of him pushing him on! It is not recommended children climb and we truly understood this, but Tom didn’t. He so badly wanted to keep climbing to the top and I have no doubt if we would have let him he would have done it easily. Charlie wasn’t so keen. We told him he can come back when he is 18 and do it then! We stayed and watched 2 men climb right to the top without much hesitation, good on them!

 These trees were what men and women used to climb daily to check for fires around the area. The photo’s displayed in the information shelters are amazing, showing how they built the fire towers up on top of the tree. They actually stripped the tree of all its branches but a few just right at the top that they would use to place a few planks of wood around so a man could then stand on these and swing an axe and cut the top 15 metres or so off the tree. So then they had a flat area to start building the actual fire tower! Yes they have now been replaced with metal towers.

The other two trees are the Gloucester Tree, which is the most famous for it is closest to Pemberton and the Diamond Tree. We went and had a look at the Gloucester Tree but there were so many people around we didn’t bother to have a climb.




The Gloucester Tree.



Tom took this laying on the floor looking up.



THE DIAMOND TREE


The day we left Pemberton we stopped in and had a look at The Diamond Tree. There was know one else around and this tree is only 51 metres tall which is a huge difference when you are looking up at them. I decided to have another go at climbing and I felt much better going steady and slow  until  I stopped and looked down to talk to Pete on the ground, bad mistake! I was very close to a platform you can stand on half way up but I had to get down. Mad at myself for being so close I eventually talked Pete into doing it with me and we both managed to get to this platform, yeah! We took photo’s of each other with trembling hands!! Wow what a great feeling to push yourself out of that comfort zone!

Tom was not happy to be the one taking the photo’s from the ground!!!




The Diamond Tree, my first effort, I am up on the left.
You can just make out the platform up to the right!





Pete climbing onto the platform, me not far behind!




We made it! ( well half way was good enough for us!)



See if you can spot us we are about half way up you can just see the top half of us
sticking out above some leaves.



Looking down from the platform we were standing on.

 

BIG BROOK DAM

We went and had a look at The Brook Dam. This was  dammed  in 1986 to increase water supply to the town then later they added the sand to create the beach feel. It is a very popular swimming spot as you can see why. Tom and Charlie both had a swim here.





Standing on the dam wall at Big Brook Dam.




Looking out from the dam, the beach area is up on the right.



BEEDELUP FALLS N.P.

We also went and had a look at Beedelup N.P. This would have been beautiful in spring with the falls flowing and everything in flower. Even still it is a nice area and the suspended bridge was fun to go over.



The suspended bridge




The boys hanging on because Pete was swinging it!




The dry Beedelup Falls.



Another visit to the D’Entrecasteaux N.P.

We were by told people to go for a drive down to YEAGARUP DUNES and see the moving dunes, we are glad we did. It is only a short drive from Pemberton, you enter the D’Entrecasteaux N.P.  and go down a well used unsealed main road. Then you come to picnic area and a sign saying to let your tyres down to 11psi before going on. Pete decided with that the usual 22 in back and 16 in front would be fine, we can always let more out, so off we went. You start by going through a lovely forest area on a lovely sandy based track then all of a sudden you see this huge dune through the trees. On a closer look it actually looks  like it is swallowing them up the trees as it goes, hence the name “moving dunes”.



This is what the drive through the forest looks like.



The first sight of the dune entering the forest.

 Not far from here you round a corner and next thing you are climbing the dune. Guess what! You need 11psi in your tyres to get up the dune! It is a huge area once on top, the boys said it was like looking at a snow field and it was.





This is that same dune, just taken from the other side.







views on top of the dune above and below



 There are markers to follow to find your way across the dunes where you end up coming off them and find yourself driving back through the forest for about another 3km. At last you come to one last dune and from the top you get your first glimpse of the ocean. We drove out onto the beach and headed East to find where the Warren River  meets the sea. This has a  natural sand bar preventing it from joining up at the moment so we could drive across it but not for long, the river is slowly pushing its way out to sea.



We had driven over the sand bar where the Warren River is trying to get
to the sea this is looking back on it.



It was a great day out and really interesting to see these dunes slowly making their way inland. When we were playing on them your foot print very quickly disappeared, they were very steep and slippery to climb and the sand was very fine, not at all like on the beach.





This is the Yeagarup Lake looking back towards the
moving sand dunes. it is near here that you air up and down your tyres.




I just love the contrast of the water, trees, sand and sky!





The Pemberton C.P. is very nice and the wildlife very friendly, especially the parrots, ( called 28’s) and the ducks.

The friendly 28's in the C.P.