Monday November 7, 17.8km/11.1mi

Walpole town (745.9/14m) to Frankland River Campsite (763.7/38m) (WA)

After a leisurely morning, I stopped into a cafe for an early lunch and enjoyed a fish n chips. I was in no hurry to depart, since I only had 18km to hike today, so I didn’t leave town until noon. Walpole is tiny, after walking thru their town center park, I had left town.

This whole area was a cat-free zone, the sign about Cats Prohibited made me laugh.

The first stop out of town was at the jetty in Walpole Inlet.

And a couple of km later, Coalmine Beach. It was very windy, so it didn’t feel nearly warm enough to swim.

This sign at the beach was hilarious! So many poles nearby.

I passed by a holiday park, and these fascinating white& pink birds were lounging around. I don’t think they are native, since they weren’t anywhere in my guidebook.

I love that they put the local native language on the interpretive signs as well.

I left the waterfront area and climbed up 200m, to a hilltop with a lookout and tons of Red Tingle trees. Looking back down on Nornalup inlet:

There was a little park to showcase some of the biggest Red Tingle trees. They started big…

And then they became HUGE.

And then I found a friendly local couple to get my photo. I’m a good size reference, 167cm tall.

That tree was about 75m tall, had a girth of 24m, and is over 400 years old. Crazy!

As I walked along, there were tons more Tingles, but none as big as that burned-out one I stood inside of.

The next two hours of the afternoon were on a gently rolling trail thru Jarrah and Karri forest.

I walked into camp at 5pm and met two other hikers there, walking northbound. I had my usual dinner as they recommend other hikes on Tasmania, where I’m headed soon. I’m in my final week here on the Bibbulmun…hope the nice weather continues!