Walpole Things to Do

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By law Gary has to demonstrate how to put a life jacket on and inflate it. As he stood on a chair and alternatively flapped his wings and held his nose, I doubt anyone, except Gary, would have survived if we sank. We would still be laughing at his demonstration.
He then explained how the whole world was linked to Walpole. He enunciated on subjects as varied as how the Egyptians discovered the world was round, to Russian nobility, to the America’s Cup, to how his grandfather was shot nearby and how the sailors from the wreck of the Mandalay survived.
It was a 941 ton Norwegian barque that was hit by a not uncommon strong southwest wind in 1911. Fearing for his ship the captain ordered it to be run aground on the beach.
Next day several men were sent to find assistance and, two days later, they returned exhausted and battered by their confrontation with the unfamiliar Australian bush.
They had meat though and, amazingly, it was from a bull that had been wearing a bell. On the third day the residents of Tinglewood found them, no doubt searching for said bull!
The Mandalay never left and some remains today lay covered by the sand.
All that, of course, was before and after he explained how Chekhov, Rudyard Kipling (named after Rudyard Lake where his parents honeymooned) and several other writers of note all had links to Walpole.
Famous names were bandied around like cards at a poker game and our bald headed, barefooted host at times put stuffed woollen animals on his head and under his arms to illustrate certain points.
He showed many pictures, including one of a 10kg feral cat they’d caught nearby and then produced the impressive shark photos and claimed they’d got them 20ft long in the inlet in the old days.
Of course, that was before he got onto the snakes and said their total is up to 40 bites in the area in the last 6 ½ years and then told us about the boy who’d interrupted a pair of mating tiger snakes and was bitten by both of them, one on either leg.
We slowly moved west on the water and I glanced over beyond the gap where the sea breached the inlet and queried its value as a surfing spot.
“It’s one of Tom Curren’s top 10 all time breaks. He paid my old man $50 per tow to surf there, it’s that good. They call it U-turns.” I was impressed.

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I'll quote here from my email at the time:
WOW, WHAT A CIRCUS
I was in the middle of the Nullarbor crossing and the man was clearly in shock, his agitated expression revealed a deep emotion. His voice was non stop as he explained what had happened.
“You have to go on this cruise, it was amazing”, he said.
“What did you see?” I queried.
“See? I don’t remember”, he replied, “it’s that man, he’s incredible. The stories he tells are so fantastic. He knows all the history.”
All the history of a village the size of Walpole isn’t something I normally speed off to hear. Located in the famous southern forests of W.A., Walpole isn’t exactly the sort of place you’d expect a great deal of; but it was the man’s emotion that sold me as he was obviously not someone who normally got excited.
So it was that three days later I booked in for the WOW cruise, Walpole’s piece de resistance on the tourist trail.
I was told to be there early, like everyone else was. The man however turned up ten minutes late, charging down in his 4WD carrying all the provisions for the cruise because, for our $40, we were to get a cup of tea and cake included.
We boarded the fully enclosed flat bottomed boat, started out, and our host, Gary Muir, began. For the next 2 ½ hours he never stopped. I knew know what Nullarbor man had been talking about.

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The drive to Hilltop is along a gravel road about 3km's east of Walpole and from a lookout you get a stunning view of the Frankland River & Nornalup Inlet and also to the Southern Ocean and isles.

The car park is surrounded by towering Karri trees and you can take a short stroll into the forest.

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I decided to travel to the Conspicuous Cliffs by taking a scenic boat trip down the Frankland River first and then walking along a marked walk trail through coastal heathland to the beach.

The Cospicuous Cliffs are a breathtaking backdrop to a beautiful beach of fine golden sands and a gloriously blue-green ocean.

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On the way from Walpole to Denmark there is an Alpaca Farm. Actually it has a lot more than Alpacas - it has Koalas, goats, sheep, Kangaroos, buffalo, horses, rabbits etc. What's really nice about this farm is it's not that busy and you can go in the pens / fields with the animals and feed them.

I'd never been close to a Koala Bear or a Kangaroo and got to feed a baby Roo and have my photo with a Koala. We spent a couple of hours there and loved it.

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The small country town owes a certain importance to its location on Frankland River and the bridge of South Coast Highway, the Highway No. 1. When passing through the town looks tiny but since this is a farming area, its population is distribuited over a much larger area.

The town has a few older farmhouses and the new looking community center. Nornalup Tea House invites for a rest by the road. The restaurant and cafe is really cosy. Blooming rose bushes around the terrace add a romantic flair. We did not have a big meal there but their coffee and cake were excellent. Their assortment of wines, including regional specialties, impressed us.

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This region is rich of water and lush green forests. The wide Frankland River flows down from Mount Frankland and reaches the sea at Nornalup Inlet. South Coast Highway crosses it at Nornalup. The river is popular for boating, canoeing and fishing.

This part of Australia receives enough rainfall to grow dense green forests that can, even through the eye of an European, be considered 'real forests' unlike the shaggy bushland in other regions. The typical gum trees here are species that are endemic in the Southwest: Karri, Jarrah, Red and Yellow Tingle...

Karri trees are the largest among them and belong to the largest tree species in the world. They grow to a height of 90 m. With their long straight trunks they also belong, to me, to the most beautiful trees in the world. They are impressive.

Karris shed their bark every year. This is their way of coping with fires. The potentially burnt outer layer of bark falls of and the 'skin' is renewed. Older bark is grey but the fresh layers present a bright orange. The tree trunks show colourful patterns from orange to brown and grey.