4 Stray Katz: HUGE Trees and Jumping Joeys

We found a wonderful camp area in the Warren National Park set amongst picturesque Karri forest that we used as our base to explore the Pemberton region and see the huge trees the area is famous for. We camped right next to the Warren River where we could swim and kayak and which is abundant with Marron, a local delicacy (like crayfish). The kids loved helping Daniel check the nets and were always pleased to come back to camp and report that they had caught one.

We had a great Australia Day there where we spent the morning enjoying the camp area and river then went to the Bicentennial Tree in the afternoon. It is a 75m Karri tree that was pegged (165 pegs) for the Bicentennial to allow visitors to climb to the top and enjoy 360deg views of the surrounding Karri forest. Both kids were super keen to climb a bit and we had agreed that Daniel would climb behind them for a little way to allow them to experience it. Emilia went up about 15metres then decided that was enough and came down - a great effort. Jackson went next and got to about the same spot that Emilia stopped at, when Daniel told him it was far enough (as he was freaking out about the high chance of Jackson falling) and said it was time to come down. Jackson totally cracked it and said 'I can do it, I am going to the top'. Well it was a standoff as Jackson refused to come down, and Daniel and I refused to let Jackson go any further. Eventually he agreed to come down but only if Daniel climbed down and let him get down himself. So I ended up standing under the pegs ready to catch Jackson if he fell, but even that annoyed him so I had to just pretend I was taking photos and finally he climbed down. He is so ridiculously stubborn and does not like being told he can't do something. He spent the rest of the afternoon telling us how he could have climbed it, 'I could easily have climbed to the top' said he of too much confidence. Daniel and I took turns climbing to the top. The height didn't effect us but I was just so worried about slipping (as I am so uncoordinated) that I must have tensed the whole way as I could hardly walk the next day! It was incredible up there though and felt like a really achievement to make it to the top. We celebrated with beers and lamb chops for Australia Day.

We stayed for 5 nights and explored these other local attractions:

- Big Brook Dam and Arboretum

- King Jarrah Tree - a 500 year old tree, 47 m high with a 2.6m diameter

- One Tree Bridge (literally an old bridge made out of one of the huge local trees)

- Fonty's Pool - a freshwater swimming hole set in gorgeous gardens.

- Manjimup Timber and Heritage Park - where the kids enjoyed the awesome playground. I was even tempted to have a go on the huge flying fox and thankfully I didn't injure myself (I had a traumatic past incident with a flying fox!). While watching how easily Jackson and Emilia used the flying fox it did occur to me how very uncoordinated I must have been as child as I sure I had my fall when I was about 10 years old (can you verify Mum??).

- Diamond Tree- a 51m tree turned into a fire lookout in the 1930's. Daniel and I took turns to climb the 130 steel pegs to the top and enjoy the wonderful view. I was not as nervous this time, having already climbed the Bicentennial Tree but some of the climb was VERY steep!

- Beedelup Falls - a gradually cascading rocky waterfall with a suspension bridge over it. Daniel enjoyed shaking the bridge and watching the kids quickly get onto all fours.

- The Pemberton Fine Woodcraft Gallery - we looked at the amazing woodwork (and salivated at some of the divine handcrafted tables) whilst the wonderful lady running the shop made friends with the kids and took them frog spotting in the garden pond, egg collecting in the chicken coop (she let them keep an egg each which they were very pleased about) and then taught them about the various plants and flowers in the garden. She was lovely and that night Emilia said 'I think she was the nicest lady I have even met'. We didn't even get her name but she gave the kids a wonderful experience and allowed Daniel and I to explore the gallery without any fiddling fingers!

One of the most memorable experiences we had during this time was at the Pemberton Visitor Centre. A local lady, Lesley, who rescues orphaned joeys, had brought her current crew in for the day. We got to spend about an hour with 10 joeys ranging from 9 - 14 months old. They were still all bottle fed but some were also eating solids (a special soft bush Lesley brought in). The kids were in their element feeding and petting the Joey's who randomly went bounding throughout the room (including one who bounced right over Emilia's head - much to her delight). Lesley has been doing this for 30 years and has released over 200 kangaroos back into the National Park. She buys formula in 25kg packs as she is often bottle feeding around 12 joeys, who, depending on their age, can be on any of three different formulas - can you imagine how long she spends feeding them all!! She is certainly a unique person who clearly loves animals. We were so lucky to have met her, learnt from her and been able to get so close to the joeys.

We were having a wonderful time in the area but the weather was turning against us with rain predicted. We have learnt from past experiences that bad weather is best endured in a caravan park where we have power and hot showers so we packed up on Saturday morning (in the rain) and headed to Walpole.