Esperance to Caiguna

Traveling East from Esperance,it is first necessary to leave the coast behind and head North toward Norseman, "The Gateway to the East". Here we turned right, and into the desert proper. Just prior to the longest stretch of straight road in Australia (all 146.6 kms of it) we refueled in Balladonia.

Balladonia, like many "towns" in the desert is really just a roadhouse with attached accomodation. Balladonia's particular claim to qurky fame is that a large piece of Skylab crashed to Earth in 1979, after streaking spectacularly across the Western Australian sky above Esperance. The recovered junk (and yes, it os fairly large) is on display in the lovely little museum that is part of the Balladonia roadhouse complex (free to enter).

My favourite part is that apparently then President Jimmy Carter rang the manager of the roadhouse to apologise for the near miss and the inconvenience. Balladonia it should be stressed is in the middle of nowhere. Here in 2009 there is no mobile phone signal, no internet connectivity (the internet booth, which kind of looked like a computer built into a Space Invaders game console, was broken), and runs on diesel powered generators. What it would have been like in 1979 boggles the mind.

The image of President Carter sitting in the Oval Office talking to the manager of the roadhouse kept me amused for quite a while as I headed down the straight stretch of road heading toward our destination for the evening; Caiguna. I could only begin to imagine how All the President's Men even managed to obtain the number for the roadhouse, let alone get patched through - 1979 obviously being before the days of the globally accessible information sources we now rely upon ubiquitously.

Ah....and then we have Caiguna.

*LANGUAGE WARNING FOR MINORS*

Caiguna is a shithole.

Caiguna, like Balladonia, consist of no more than a petrol station with attached few rooms and a take-away style eatery. However, whilst Balladonia has capitalised on its 1979 brush with disaster and fame by building a quaint museum, Caiguna roadhouse looks like it hasn't even been dusted off let alone painted since 1979.

Gee, I wish we had stayed back in Balladonia for the night (did I mention they have a swimming pool at the Balladonia roadhouse?). It was so bad it was sorely tempting to drive the 146 kms back along the road to Balladonia again on the off chance they'd have a room for the night. Caiguna roadhouse has to be the worst place I have ever paid large amounts of money to stay at and eat crappy food at. Just to cap off what was a thoroughly ordinary and dreary place, greeting us at the doorway of our (tiny, horrible, grubby, old, worn out, mean, ugly, single) room was a snake.


But it turns out that this was no less than an Acanthophis pyrrhus, or more commonly known as the Desert death adder.

DEATH!

ADDER!

Also known as the LIFE SUBTRACTOR.

www.toxinology.com has this to say:

"As with other venomous snakes causing snakebite in humans, death adders have complex venoms with many components. Overall death adder venom is highly potent. About 60% of death adder snake bites result in significant envenoming, requiring antivenom therapy, and envenoming is often severe and potentially lethal."

Our friend slithered away after having its photo taken. Fortunately we did not cross paths again.

My advice is - do not go to Caiguna if you can help it.

PS. Apparently the town of Esperance fined the US government $400 for littering after Skylab scattered its myriad bits and pieces across Western Australia. Wahahahaha....

More and more beautiful wildflowers

Blowhole

Also in Torndirrup national Park is a spectacularly blowy hole. Basically it is a fairly nondescript hole in the rock platform, 15 metres or so above the water line of the surf below, and about the same distance in from the cliff face. As the swells roll in from the Southern Ocean waves compress air into a cave hidden below, forcing air out at high velocity. The day we visited it was fairly calm - the signs warn that on stormy days rocks can be projected out the hole. Nevertheless the rushing of air is like standing in the draft of a body sized, high velocity hand drier.

Woosh!

Skywalker

West Australians love to get high up in trees it seems, all without ever actually doing much climbing. The Walpole-Nornalup National Park is about an hour's drive West of the town of Albany, and is home to the Valley of the Giants. Only a moment of disappointment as we realised that this was not in fact the home of Jolly Green Herculeans sniffing the air for the scent of an Englishman's blood. Rather it is home to the Red Tingle tree.

Red Tingles have fat arses. Or to be more botanically correct, they have an exceptionally wide buttressed base, a result of them being shallow rooted, and having a heart timber particularly prone to termite and fungal attack. Once the ants and the fungus have done their bit the next passing fire guts the centre of the base of the tree. Amazingly however the outer layers thicken until the base of the tree is some 12 to 16 metres in circumference. This buttress then continues to support and feed the upper tree structure, and Red Tingles live to over 500 years in age often with massive cave-like holes tall enough to stand in at their base.
Weaving through these giants is the Walpole Skywalk. It is a walkway that rises to 40 metres above the valley floor and taking the visitor to the height of the canopy. The steel spans bounce and sway unnervingly and signs warn that no more 10 people can be on any given span at the same time. Lucky we're all pretty thin!

65 metres up a gum tree

Karri gums are the tallest gum trees, with some growing up to the lofty heights of 85 metres or so. Karri trees used to blanket the South West of Australia, however most of them have been logged for their straight and strong timbers, mostly being used for railway sleepers or exported to England in the 1800s. The Leeuwin/Naturaliste National Park and around the South Western corner heading to Esperance stands the last of the Eucalyptus Giants.

Near Pemberton stands the Gloucester Tree. It is by no means the tallest, however it has the honour of hosting a fire lookout platform high in its canopy. The tree has been "nailed" in a spiral from the widened base all the way to the spread of its highest branches. There nestles three tiered platforms, which are entered via hatchways in the floor. Eventually a climber stands on the highest platform, some 65 metres above the ground and above all the surrounding tree crowns. The forest stretches out endlessly below, and the calls of the Collared Parrot and countless other birds are sweetly below your feet, hidden amongst the leaves.

Happily, there were no fires to be seen.

PS. What was especially humbling was that after climbing and descending, 2 elderly couples were just arriving. Perhaps late sixties in age, and with figures that spoke of a lifetime of meals and beverages enjoyed to the fullest. In reply to a question from her friend's husband, who asked jokingly whether she'd be climbing the tree, the most generously figured woman huffed disdainfully and said "Narrr....I did that 30 years ago before they covered the ladder in that safety net caging. Now THAT was exciting."