Around the world in 108 days: March 16 (March 11

March 11 – Albany, AUS

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, 259 miles from Perth. It is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia, predating Perth and Fremantle by over two years. Albany was founded in December 1826 as a military outpost of New South Wales as a part of a plan to discourage French ambitions in the region. During the last decade of the 19^th century the town served as a gateway to the Eastern Goldfields. For many years, it was the colony’s only deep-water port, until the opening of the Fremantle Inner Harbor in 1897. After that the town’s industries turned to primarily agriculture, timber and later whaling. Today it has a population of 30,656. It is a pretty little town with fifty or so colonial buildings that today serve as museums, galleries and restaurants. Whale World allows visitors to explore Albany’s whaling history in a formerly fully operational whaling station

We spent the day visiting the “Valley of the Giants” (trees, not people). A beautiful, 60 minute drive outside of Albany, just past the town of Denmark, (with a guide we all decided looked and sounded like Aunt Bea from Mayberry), we entered the Walpole Wilderness National Park. We were immediately surrounded by a forest of Giant Karri Trees, which are the 3^rd largest trees in Australia. Interspersed with the Karris are Red Tingle Trees and a few Red Oak Karri Trees. We soon arrived at the Tree Top Walk and The Ancient Empire. The Tree Top Walk is a cat walk structure, built by hand, that ascends into the canopy of these giant trees, then descends back to the forest floor. It brought us to The Ancient Empire, which gave us a ground level stroll through the trees to meet them up close and personal. It was quite an enjoyable adventure.

The Karri trees can grow over 90 meters in height. They are a member of the Eucalyptus family, with mostly straight trunks and branch out only at the top. In the early days, their trunks were valued in making masts for sailing ships. Today the timber is used for roofing, because of the length and uninterrupted knot free nature of the trunk. It is also used for furniture. The bark is pale grey and in early winter it sheds its bark to reveal a golden to salmon colored trunk for a few months.

Growing up to 75 meters tall and up to 20 meters around, Red Tingle Trees are immediately recognizable by their large hallowed out bases. These hallows are created by a combination of fire, fungal and insect attack removing the dead wood from the center of the tree. A relic from ancient times, Red Tingles have shallow roots that sit just 1.5 meters below the ground’s surface and spread outwards taking nutrients from the outer regions of their base. There is no tap root. They require an average of 1200mm of rainfall per year to survive. The older trees are usually covered with burls caused from insects, bacterial, or fungal attacks. Damage initiates production of plant growth hormones resulting in a protective growth similar to a scab or scar. It can also force the growth of a new branch to replace a broken one.

As you will see from the pictures the trees are amazing as was the entire experience. The tree top walkway was a great way to see the trees from a bird’s eye view and was remarkable that it had to be built by hand since machinery could not fit into the area. Sadly, one worker died after falling from the highest point.

Hey kids….there is a good math lesson here. Can you figure out the meters to feet conversions for all the information I gave you?

Enjoy…Cheers!