The Three Tree Challenge

Harvey Dickson's Country Music Centre

We packed up and left the caravan in situ while we drove 5kms out of town to the bizarre and unique Harvey Dickson's Country Music Centre. He has developed part of his farm into a rodeo ground and music arena. He runs his Country Music Show in September and then has a rodeo in October. The whole area is full of amazing home-made buildings and sculptures. He uses trees and turns them upside down to create his incredible figurines. Ella loved his horse!

If I can just reach the bridle ...

After we hitched up we drove to Bridgetown and then on to Manjimup where we had a very chilly morning tea before finding the Giant Jarrah Tree. This magnificent tree, which we could just reach around by joining fingertips, whetted the boys' appetites for the 3 karri climbing trees in the area.

A series of fire lookouts were constructed in the top of karri trees, mainly during the 1930s and 1940s. There are still 3 trees in the Pemberton area that you can climb and the boys were desperate to climb the Blue Diamond Lookout Tree - all 52 metres of it.  I think one of the many challenges of parenting is not passing on your own anxieties to your children. I am not great with heights. Dave is terrible. So it was not easy watching the boys as they started to climb up the sparse metal rods towards the platform in the canopy far, far away.

Note the reassuring safety gear!

Almost back to terra firma, Els!

Ella of course wanted to climb too, so started merrily on her way following the boys. I couldn't let her go alone, so I climbed behind her. She got scared at about 10 metres and I was more than pleased to help her come back down!

The Gloucester Tree, at 61 metres, was the next karri tree stop and the boys were up the tree like monkeys. Ella was happy feeding the parrots, but I was determined to get further up this one, so I climbed about 15m before my courage failed. Dave climbed 4 rungs before deciding that climbing trees was just not his idea of holiday fun. He went to join Ella feeding the parrots!

"The Ringneck Parrot eyeing me down"
-Ella

After lunch, we drove out to the last, and biggest, climbing tree for the boys to complete their Three Tree Challenge. The Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree is a staggering 75m straight up. The boys charged off again and were at the top in no time. Ella wanted another go and climbed up quite a lot further before freezing. Dave was lying down feeling sick at the thought of the tree, so I climbed up again to help her down. I decided that I would make a final attempt to get up a reasonable distance and managed to get to the first platform, about half way up. I knew I could get up the rest of the way, but I also knew that I would not be able to get down from way up there, so after admiring the view (impressive, even from half-way!) I tackled the downwards journey. It was VERY scary! Marcus took these photos from the top of the Bicentennial Tree, just before he started his descent face-forwards. My rather strangled instructions to come down facing the rungs reached him, and he made it down safely. Would have been a shame to lose such great photos!

On a fine day, you can see more than 40kms from the lookout tower!

How anyone could be smiling up there
is beyond me!

And here is another crazy smile
at about 73 metres!

Tree Climbing Comments:

Lachlan: It was hard work getting up there but it was worth it. You could feel the tree swaying.
Marcus: Now I know what it feels like to be a bird - maybe an eagle. We could have seen the ocean if it wasn't such a cloudy day.
Jackson: It was so much fun climbing those trees. The view was amazing. It was a fantastic experience, one of my highlights.
Ella: Scary!
Dave: I was nearly vomiting standing on the ground!
Kerrie: I nearly had heart failure when Marcus started coming down from the 75m platform face forwards!

Having finished the adrenaline taxing tree climbing, we enjoyed the sedate and lovely drive to Walpole via Northcliff, with rolling farmland and a mixture of plantation forest and National Park forests of huge trees. I took the wheel as Dave was exhausted from his vertigo and in the space of about 5 minutes saw a fox, 6 emus (they tripped over some wire running away from the road and had us all laughing at the tangle of feet and feathers!) and a whopping kangaroo, which meant the trip into Walpole was slower than expected. We finally arrived, found a site in the National Park and set up just before dark and more torrential rain.

Stay tuned ...