In Search Of The Giant Tingle
Busselton Jetty, Western Australia
It’s a 2km walk out here, if you add in the extra few steps from the car park. And of course, the same distance back. As the sign says, it’s the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Exploding gold stars from the fitbit that night. A little train runs along the length of the jetty, should the fierce summer heat prove too much. The signpost was also bittersweet, in particular the directional arrow top left. This was to be our last week in Australia, before the very long journey home.
At the end of the jetty we paid our dues and descended the three flights of steps through a series of viewing galleries down to the level of the sea floor. Shoals of fish mill around the wooden pilings, idly cruising the gentle current. Somehow they all know which direction to move in, as if they were one unit.
Who is watching who?
It’s the closest I’ll probably ever get to being underwater and I found it quite mesmerising.
It’s fair to say that as this final week approached we had begun to wonder if we’d planned wisely. We’d chosen the Margaret River region, Western Australia, for a spell of relaxation and indulgent food and wine. What’s not to love there? But would that be enough. Would it provide a memorable finale after seven glorious weeks in Oz? Enough wildlife, scenery, drama?
Injidup Bay, Margaret River
There were a number of alternative scenarios, albeit limited by the not insignificant matter of two non refundable airline tickets out from Perth at the end of the week. So, the northern end of Western Australia perhaps? To the Kimberley and the remote outback? Seriously tempting, apart from the fact that it’s monsoon season up there at this time of year. A trip up to the Northern Territory on the Ghan? Nope. The train takes a break in early January, quite possibly because it’s raining in Darwin as well. So if not a North South rail journey, what about East West? The Indian Pacific. I’ve always had a hankering to cross the Nullarbor Plain, the 77,000 square miles of semi arid nothingness between South and Western Australia. Four times the size of Belgium. But there’s only one train a week and the timetable didn’t play ball.
Rocky shoreline near Conto Beach, Margaret River
As an interesting aside, if you’ll forgive the continued digression, it’s also possible to drive across the Nullarbor. All 781 miles of it. Null-arbor. No trees. Just low scrub and red earth as far as the eye can see. The route includes the longest stretch of straight road in Australia, the imaginatively named 90 Mile Straight. At the end of it, allegedly, there’s a helpfully positioned traffic sign indicating an upcoming bend in the road. And then, assuming you hadn’t forgotten how the steering wheel works, you continue on exactly as before. In another dead straight line.
Taking it at a sensible few hours a day and avoiding the hours of darkness when the wildlife reigns supreme, most travellers complete the journey in six days. Assuming they don’t die of boredom first. It’s one of those things that has to be done just because it’s there. Unless of course you’re going for the golf. At 848 miles long the Nullarbor Links is the world’s longest golf course with a hole at each town and roadhouse along the way. In 1979 the Skylab space laboratory crashed to earth near here.. hole 3 is named after it.
Conto Beach, Margaret River
But however much the Nullarbor may tick all my boxes for remoteness and outback I couldn’t see Mike agreeing to spend the last week of his holiday staying in roadhouses. Besides, he sold his golf clubs years ago. We opted to continue with Plan A and flew from Adelaide to Perth, with a three hour drive onwards to Margaret River. And did we regret it? Not even slightly.
The region is at its best in Spring when wildflowers carpet the landscape. We were a little late for the blooms but the follow on is impressive too.
It’s easy to fall into a routine here. The main decision of the day, best pondered over a leisurely breakfast, is a simple one. Or maybe not. Which of the 187 wineries in the Margaret River region would we visit for lunch? One then rolls up with sufficient time to visit the Cellar Door for a tasting to determine a). which vintage to partake of with lunch and b). how many bottles would find their way back to the boot of the car? There are chauffeured day tours of selected wineries too, lest you are worried that all this partaking is unfair on the principal driver.
The antidote for such indulgence is of course to walk. And walk we did. For miles and miles and miles, such is the beauty of the landscape.
The Cape to Cape Track runs from the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste in the north of the region to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin in the south. End to end it would take five or six days to complete but it can also be picked off in manageable sections, driving to a convenient spot to park nearby.
The sometimes rocky path hugs the coastline for glorious cove after glorious cove.
Bob’s Hollow
Even in peak holiday season many of these beaches were deserted.
The area around Margaret River is renowned for its subterranean caverns. At Bob’s Hollow this one, partially collapsed, is now open to the air.
One day kangaroos joined us on our walk, bouncing through landscape like this alongside the beach.
And then appearing, unbelievably, right beside the car..
I’ve never been this close to an emu before. Not even in a wildlife reserve. Normally they are so skittish, it’s enough just to look at them and they run away.
But not here. Whatever those shrubby plants are they must be extraordinarily tasty and this one wasn’t letting go of the prize.
Even if it did mean suffering the persistent attention of a strange woman with a lens.
Magic, no?
Boranup Karri Forest, Margaret River
But what of the tingle I hear you ask? Well, there are some impressive trees in Margaret River and walking through the karri forests is an absolute delight. But to really get a tingle we need to drive another three hours farther south.
The Red Tingle forest of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park.
How tall are those trees?
This tall.
And as you can see, we didn’t just get to view them from the ground..
The Valley Of The Giants Treetop Walk gently climbs to a eye watering 40 metres above the ground, right up into the tingle tree canopy.
Oh-er..
There are gaps between those metal slats on the floor. So, if you choose to, you can look straight down. All the way to the ground. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the whole structure moves. It sways in the breeze and positively undulates when someone else walks on the same section as you. A steadying hand goes an awful long way.
Try as I might I couldn’t get a shot that included both the walkway and the ground.
Grandma Tingle.
See the face? The years haven’t been kind to her, poor dear.
The King Tingle
Tingles are the largest girthed eucalypt known in the world.
But I promised you a Giant Tingle and here it is. At 22.3 metres in circumference it’s currently the largest there is. The conveniently passing blogger, having recovered her land legs and her composure, once again serves to provide scale.
Thought to be 400 years old it is truly enormous. But things are rarely as straightforward as they might appear.
Forest fires of the past have destroyed the heartwood and created a hollow. Apparently 100 people can fit in there. The tingle survives because the living and growing parts of the tree are located just below the outer bark. Looks precarious though doesn’t it. The boardwalk enables people to get close up to the tree without damaging the shallow roots.
From the nearby Hilltop Lookout, the view back over the forest and out to sea.
One of our last days in Australia. (For this time.) But you can’t have gone too far wrong if you leave it with a tingle.
Wow. I would say you made a great choice an area to spend your last week in Australia. Absolutely wonderful photos–your header shot, the coves, the emu, the walk in the air, the Tingles–yep, I got tingles just looking at the photos. What a marvelous trip. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
It was my pleasure. There is one more post, a stopover, and then I’ll really have to get back down to earth!
I’m sad if this really is your last post about Oz. I’ve enjoyed every minute. You made the right choice for me.
Yes, it was lovely on the west coast. I could have happily stayed two weeks!
I must look at this over and over again. I felt like I too was in Oz. The emu was amazing. Those Tingle trees were magnificent from top to bottom.
The emu was amazing, especially as it didn’t run away. I had the car window open but no doubt if I’d tried to get out he (or she) would have been off.
That’s as near as I would get to underwater too and I’m not sure that I couldn’t brave that walkway, The ancient trees are fabulous.
Heights don’t usually bother me but this was so very high and with the swaying as well… !!
Breathtakingly beautiful!!
So much of Australia is!
A fond farewell
I’ll be back given half a chance.
Every post of yours shows me again how little I know about Australia. Constant amazement. What a great finale for you (and us) to your trip.
There is so much to know that’s the problem, the country is just so huge and diverse. I do believe I could spend years there and still have only scratched the surface.
Thanks for sharing the tingles! 😉
I can’t imagine much better than that coastline: desert-scape plus ocean… How beautiful! And emus and kangaroos! It looks like the right kind of grand finale to me!
One more finale to come, somewhere between Australia and here. No tingles though 🙁
Your trip has more joyous surprises than any other travel post I’ve ever read. I’ve no particular fear of heights but I think that treetop walk would have given me a moment or two pause. Your description reminded me of a 72-story building in downtown LA I once worked in – it swayed gently for a good week following a moderate earthquake. My boss, whose office was on the 72nd floor, spent an inordinate amount of time on my (7th) floor that week.
I’m the same, no real fear of heights. But then that walkway is quite testing. Also it doesn’t help when you have a group of lads on it taking a perverse pleasure in making it rock even more. Rather insensitive when there were people up there who clearly were finding it difficult.
I worked briefly in a tall building in London many years ago. When the wind was strong enough the water in the loos sloshed about. Most disconcerting!
What a wonderful end to your trip and how brave of you to walk the treetop walk, worth it though. Love the tingles and the emu. Your trip has been enthralling and what amazing photos.
Thanks Chloris. Photography is a particular pleasure out there because the light is so good. And the colours!
What a fabulous place to end your trip, and WOW, what a magnificent trip!!!xxx
They say you should never go back to places you’ve been before but hey, Australia is big enough. And there’s still one more itinerary forming in my mind. At least one..
Tingle seems a little name for such tall trees? Enticing scenery and awesome photography!
We have a rippling tree canopy walk at Kirstenbosch – a shortish stretch designed to move like a boomslang, the structure inspired by a snake’s skeleton.
Eucalyptus jacksonii. Is that better?!
Ooh, I’d love to try the ripple at Kirstenbosch, it sounds wonderful.
wondrous… it has been wonderful to vicariously share this trip
Thanks Penny, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I got very behind with the posts but it’s lovely to now have them, full of happy memories to look back on.
We’ve been thinking about visiting the Margaret River area for some time, so I enjoyed getting an idea of what’s in store. Those trees are amazing, but I don’t think I’d be able to go on that walkway having developed a dislike of heights in my later years. What a strange name for a tree is tingle…I had never heard of them before.
‘Tingle’ is apparently derived from an indigenous (Noongar) name for the trees. I don’t think you’d regret time spent in Margaret River. It has a very comfortable feel to it, as well as having so many great places to visit. If you do decide to go let me know and I’ll send a more detailed list.
Great post.. what a pity you had to go! I loved the Nullarbor golf course I hadn’t heard of that…The coastal scenery looks lovely.. there is nothing more pleasant than a long walk along a beach on a warm day, so I hope you did plenty of that too. I’ve never heard of Tingle trees either but they look amazing. Great photos of the emu… they can be sticky beaks sometimes!
I had to look up sticky beaks, but what a great turn of phrase! Perhaps even more applicable to cockatoos? 🙂
It was a real wrench to go, just as much as last time. I shall start saving my pennies for next time.
Glad to hear that your final week was as fabulous as it should have been in Margaret River and surrounds. Luckily I live in Perth and can make the short jaunt down as often as I like!
Did you make it to the squeaky sands of Esperance?
We were thinking about breaking up the week and spending some of it around Esperance/Albany. That will have to be for next time, after the Nullarbor!
Golly! I would’ve been doing more than a tingle up on that walkway! And as for looking down! Thanks for taking us with you on an amazing journey.
I did look down, it was.. a long way down! The walkway climbed gradually on a slope (no steps) so it was a shock to realise quite how high we actually were.
Stunning. And fascinating. And beautifully photographed. Thank you, Jessica!
Stunning. And fascinating. And beautifully photographed. Thank you, Jessica! Not sure I could cope on the walkway, though – it’s all I can do to change a light bulb.
It was the wobble that got me. I have yet to go across the Millennium Bridge which I guess would be similar, maybe not quite so much wobble. But it would still be far worse for me given the water underneath!
Decisions over breakfast and no chance of a bad one. I think it’s the bright colours that strike me. The ability to capture every photographic detail with that light. Enjoy your last days in paradise.
The light is wonderful, quite different from the UK. Sadly we’re back already and it’s all gone grey. Ah well, at least there are snowdrops to brighten the gloom!
Amazing. Thanks for sharing your fabulous adventure. Would that I could look so good at the age of 400.
Yes indeed!
Just found your blog … we’re heading to the SW of WA in September and I just can’t wait to see the wild flowers! It’ll be my third trip to Oz; I just can’t get enough of the place; is utterly amazing! Great blog by the way 🤗
Hi Vicki, thanks and welcome.
I feel exactly the same way about Australia. I’m keeping myself going by planning for the next trip which will probably be a return to WA and NT, aiming for a Spring visit as well, although sadly not this year. Have fun.. as if you needed any encouragement!
Thankyou for showing me so much of my own country. I’ve been to Tassie and Qld and last year flew to Darwin and after five days there we caught the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide. I highly recommend this. We stopped at Katherine ,Alice Springs and Coober Pedy along the way.
This gives you a great idea of central Australia. Also Katherine Gorge, Litchfield, Tiwi Islands out of Darwin. Darwin wasn’t on my bucket list but I’ll be going back. Typo: Kakadu.
Hi Jenny and welcome!
The Ghan is most definitely on my list, Darwin and the north west. It will be pretty much the only area of the country we haven’t yet visited so will form the itinerary for the next trip. We did get as far as Alice Springs two years ago and I do love the red centre. Can’t wait to come back.
Margaret River is lovely, I still have my souvenir polo shirt I bought from Vasse Felix. It also has a lovely climate and micro breweries as well as vineyards. The tingle does put the forestry commission into perspective.
I could happily live in Margaret River, although my liver may not thank me for it. It was busy with it being high season but even so we didn’t have to go very far to escape the crowds. A week wasn’t long enough!
So interesting to read this – and I told the Golfer about the golf course but I don’t think he is tempted!
You’d need to be pretty crazy to do it. But there probably aren’t that many water hazards to tee into. Just kangaroo and emu hazards.