Of sandy beaches, trees, and work at Freo Port

The last two days of my long Easter weekend were filled with excellent views of nature, wine, and lighthouses. I began Sunday with a road trip to Pemberton to see the giant Karri tree forests. The weather was being volatile and couldn’t make up its mind whether to rain or shine, so the drive turned out to be an excellent decision. It’s was really quite breath-taking to see those huge trees towering above me. The bark is beautiful! It’s thin and stripy…and shows a gorgeous array of shades of tan, orange, green and grey!

A little after noon, I made a stop at the Gloucester Tree, which is a climbing tree that you can climb all the way to the top. Once a fire lookout, the forest service drilled steel rods in a spiral pattern up the tree, like a ladder. The ladder goes all the way to the top of the tree where they’ve built a viewing cage…presumably so that people don’t fall off the 61 meter (~180 foot) tree while they’re taking pictures. Oddly, climbing the tree was one of the more scary things that I’ve ever consciously done. I approached it with confidence since I’m not afraid of heights, but as soon as I was about 15 feet off the ground I noticed how thin and slippery the bars were (especially since it had just rained) and how there were almost no safety measures…only a thin wire mesh to keep you from falling back, but nothing to keep you if you fell down. I did make it all the way up…with a thumping heart, took my pictures and got outta there! Sheeew! Upon reaching ground level again, I had to wait a few minutes to get myself under control before I could ask someone to take my picture at the bottom rungs of the ladder. My muscles were quite sore the next day, I think probably more from the adrenaline rather than the limited physical exertion it took to get up the tree. Following my stressful little rendezvous with the tree, I decided to take it easy at a little farm in the outskirts of town. I watched the chickens, the geese, the ponies, and took in the beautiful garden. Very peaceful..and had some fun with the macro feature on my camera.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early and headed out of town toward Perth, making several stops along the way. First stop was the winery, Vasse Felix. After a tasting and a visit to their art gallery, I walked out with a bottle of Shiraz and a bottle of a dessert wine (sweet, tangy, and in no way syrupy). Next stop was the little surfing town of Yallingup, where I caught some lunch and a latte while gazing at the beautiful beach. I will definitely make every attempt to go back there! It had the most fabulous combination of beach with and chill town hidden in the trees. Camping here maybe?...it is on the Cape to Cape track…hmm. My last stop was my favorite. Cape Naturaliste. After finding out that one must pay for a tour of the lighthouse to even get near it, I opted to hike the walking tracks that crisscross the cape. The weather was alternating between sunny and sudden downpours, so I had the tracks all to myself. After about a half hour of walking, I found myself at the ‘othersideof the moon’ beach. Yes, that’s how it was spelled. Absolutely breathtaking.

On the way back to the car, I nearly kicked a goanna (I think that’s what it was). Scarred the whoopee out of me. But I got pics to show the little rascal. I started stomping as I walked after that point…because I realized that if goanna lived near the ocean, snakes must too.

The rest of the drive back to Perth was uneventful – thankfully! After arriving back at my 'penthouse,' I got ready for my first day out in the field the next morning(Tuesday).

Field work went very well. It turned out to be much easier to slip into metric and calcareous soils than I thought…though I still have trouble when estimating lengths, anything shorter than a meter and I’m lost. Good thing there are tape measures! The days were really long…but that bodes quite well for taking next Friday off when I fly to Melbourne for next weekend!

I stayed around town this weekend, mostly to catch up on sleep laundry, emails, skype, this blog…and other miscellaneous. I expect to be working in the office all week and hopefully exploring around town when I get a chance.