Pemberton:

We were now heading south east i.e. we have turned the corner and are heading home – sort of!! Well we are going east.
Our next stop was Pemberton which is home to the karri trees. Pemberton is surrounded by many forests and also has some beautiful green rolling hills. They say they are in drought as they haven’t had much rain this year but as far as we can see it is very green and the dams are full. I guess it must be extra emerald green if it is a good season. We passed through some beautiful forests on our way here. The karri tree is very straight and very tall and is an extremely hard wood which is in great demand all over the world.
Pemberton is a lovely little timber town. The streets were lined with wooden cottages which were used by the timber cutters in the early days. There is still a working mill here and they are very busy.

We stayed in the caravan park on the edge of the forest. I went on a tour on a tram which takes you deep into the tal forest and they explained all about the timber industry and pointed out the different types of trees, karri being the most dominant one. We crossed five wooden bridges and stopped to go for a walk down to the Cascades and then stopped again to view the large karri that was struck by lightning and the fire burns down though the tree causing a large hollow at the bottom. You can fit 35 people inside it. There were lots of wildflowers scattered through the forest although driver explained that there weren’t very many due to the drought.

While we were here we drove out to our proposed next campsite which was in the forest to see if we could get the van in. We drove through an avenue of overhanging bushes of a vivid yellow pea-like flower. The campsite was beautiful set amongst some tall trees with and inviting fireplace. We decided we could easily make it in so we headed out there the next day. It was nice to sit and relax amongst all the greenery.
Nearby is a large dam which we walked to through a narrow avenue of yellow bushes, taking all the sights and smells of the forest and gazing up to the wonder at the height of some of the trees.
Towards the evening a couple arrived who used to live in Coonamble so I spent time reminiscing over old times and friends we knew. They joined us around the fire that evening and it was good to have some people to chat to.

Another glorious day dawned. We have been so lucky with the weather so far and are glad when it is sunny but feel a bit guilty as they all need rain here. At least we have avoided the deluge in Queensland. We went on the tourist drive which takes you along some of the winding forest roads and this is where you really see the might of these trees. The forest we were looking at is a regeneration of 100 years ago. A lightening strike caused a massive wildfire which burnt all the trees and caused them to drop their seeds so before long a new forest was growing. There are a few remnant trees that didn’t get burn or logged in the early days and they are huge.

Several of the larger trees were used as a fire lookout and have spikes circling up the trunk to a small cabin near the top. Imagine building this without the aid of a helicopter. You can actually climb right up the top but not for us thanks!! A few rungs would do.
The forest trail took us on a large circuit right around the town of Pemberton, past a waterfall and a suspension bridge then out past some cleared land – lots of cattle, sheep and vineyards and back into the forest. It was a beautiful and inspiring drive.
We returned to our peaceful campsite rather tired. We had another fire and were joined by a young German couple who were travelling around the South East. I love the way a campfire becomes a social event.