NDBT

So much for alliteration. Adelaide -town?
The treetop walk was a lot of fun. The tour itself is the longest day tour in Oz (its almost 1000 km during the day) so I was picked up before 7am and dropped back at my hostel at 11:30pm. We saw quite a few birds on the drive down, including spoonbill, red parrots, ibis, and herons. And 2 roos fighting and a very large bat at dusk. The first couple of hours’ drive (to donnybrook) was a drive I had taken before, so I napped a little. Past that,  though, was where we started to get into jarrah, karri, and tingle forests (all types of gum trees aka Eucalyptus). The whole area is a Mediterranean climate, and they have a good controlled burn regime going (unlike parts of California). We stopped at a giant karri tree in a national park for lunch. On the top (52m) was an observation platform that used to be used for spotting fires. To climb it, there were little poles stuck in the tree about a foot apart, going up in a spiral. I climbed up to a rest platform about 25m up, and decided that was enough, as there was no safety net or anything. Then we drove to Walpole-Nornalup national park, where the tree-top walk was. Here’s a description:

Nestled in the Walpole and Nornalup National park, the Tree top walk  has been one of the Southwest’s most popular tourist destinations for many years.The Walpole-Nornalup National Parks main feature is the large is the forest of tingle trees that are found here. These trees are only found within a 15 kilometre radius of Walpole.

Visitors get the chance to walk through the treetops of the tingle trees amongst others like the Karri tree. Its a totally unique experience for visitors to Western Australia’s southern forests. Now, the whole family can experience the excitement of exploring the canopy of the magnificent tingle forest and making very little impact on the enviroment.

Other tree top canopy walks around the world are built using suspension bridge-type structures made out of wood. The Tree Top Walk, however, is a series of sixty-metre, lightweight steel trusses built on steel pylons to form a secure ramp.

Starting  at the Tingle Shelter, you can walk along a 420-metre-long steel-truss walkway which leads over a deep, red tingle gully. Because it is built on the side of a natural valley, the walkway rises up above the forest floor on a gentle grade. The highest point in the 600-metre loop is about 40 metres.

Also includes a boardwalk through a grove of veteran tingle trees known as the Ancient Empire. This area contains the ‘Giants’ for which the forest was named. Some of the trees in the Ancient Empire are up to 16 metres in circumference at the base.

The boardwalk meanders around and sometimes through the old trees. It is a peaceful experience with quiet spots to sit and reflect on the special nature of the tingle forest. As well as giving visitors a different perspective on the shapes, sounds and movement of the forest, the boardwalk is designed to protect the tingle trees from the damaging impact of large numbers of visitors. It is thought that before this measure was taken, some trees were in rapid decline as a result of compaction of the soil around their root systems caused by vehicles and humans.

So – there you go. The bridge swung a bit as you were walking on it, but it didn’t feel nearly as high as the tree I climbed. There weren’t many birds out, but the walk was really lovely; very peaceful and very cool. Everyone was really in awe of what they had created. Just think – if someone put a walk through the tops of the redwoods – think what a tourist attraction that would be!

We also stopped at the southern ocean for a photo op, where the driver talked a lot about the next land being Antarctica. We stopped for dinner at an Aboriginal/local museum, called the Kodja place. Afterwards, a guy named Jack Cox (highly entertaining), led us around and explained the exhibits to us.  Which was an unexpected bonus – I hadn’t known we were going to be stopping there. Jack picked on me for being an American, and made me guess the meaning of a lot of Aussie slang.

Next day: The Indian-Pacific! The train ride was also great. I saw some roos, a wedgetailed eagle, some other birds, a DINGO!!!, some small towns, lots of flat deserty landscape, and what I’m pretty sure was a pod of camels, but they were far away. Maybe they were a mirage. The scenery was really lovely – lots of trees the first day, and the nullarbor plain the second. The railway has the longest stretch of straight track in the world while its crossing the nullarbor. It was pretty deserted – lots of scrubby plants, hardly any trees. We stopped at Kalgoorlie, Cook, and passed some other small outposts (including a guy named Ziggy who built himself a hut out of trash and lives there with his dogs without electricity or water). Kalgoorlie was cool – it reminded me a lot of the gold rush towns in CA, although this is still an active mining town. The architecture was very dated, and it had a quaint, wide main street. I went to get a drink at one bar with a couple of people from the train, and we went up on to this balcony, and the whole building was all gorgeous victorian style; really cool. (It also for some reason was flying three flags – one American. odd.) I spent most of the time on the train reading (finished the next E. george, and I’m halfway through Gulliver’s travels). We got great views for both sunsets, and I woke a bit the first morning to see some of the sunrise over the Nullarbor, which was gorgeous. There was a lovely lounge car, that I spent most of my time in, a dining car, and our sleeper seats, which were surprisingly comfortable.

That said, I got into Adelaide this morning and crashed for a several-hour nap. I guess I wasn’t sleeping as well as I thought. My legs feel a bit disused. After getting up, I went in search of food; Adleaide seems very nice. Smaller than I expected, but clean and friendly. I’m really sort of surprised that more people don’t emigrate here. The cities (okay the two I’ve seen so far), remind me of SF, but sunnier. Well-designed, lots of green spaces. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the town while I’m here.

And your regularly scheduled odds and ends:

EW.com has a list of heist movies (including ocean’s 11, fish called wanda, inside man, thomas crown affair, the lavender hill mob, usual suspects, resevoir dogs. Noticeably missing? Heist. Come on people – David Mamet dialogue!)

Ha! Isaiah Washington was fired from Grey’s Anatomy. I didn’t see the 3rd season – so I have no idea how this fits in with plot, but I’m glad. What an ass. I understand he might not be comfortable with his castmate’s sexuality, but to publicly slur him should absolutely lose him his job.

CBS picked up more Jericho in response to fan outcry.

(http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20041496,00.html) Interesting – it’s rare that tv stations do that.

From Cleolinda: Frank Miller’s Return Trip To ‘Sin City’ Still Moving Forward; Miller Says Sin City 3 Planned, Too. “That story [SC3], Rodriguez divulged, would concentrate on Miller’s ‘Hell and Back,’ the story of a hallucinating artist named Wallace.” Aww, I didn’t really like that one. “Rumors have persisted for months that the role of Wallace was being written for Johnny Depp, a casting coup that Rodriguez himself was coyly confident would eventually happen.” … I’m sorry, was I saying something? [Ed – anyone know which stories they’re basing SC2 on?]

Premiere has a list of the 20 most overrated films of all time: http://www.premiere.com/best/3268/20-most-overrated.html (didn’t premiere fold? I’m confused). What I love is how incredibly nasty the writers get, alternately praising and hating on the films.

And Armistead Maupin is writing another Tales of the City book (I have yet to read them, but I want to). Here is the interview: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20041807,00.html And I like this:

Could you imagine moving away from San Francisco?
No. Everything is better in San Francisco. Even our rich people.

AND!!!! From EW:

Who should star in ‘Ocean’s Fourteen’?

Yes, we know, Ocean’s Thirteen doesn’t even open until tomorrow, but still, c’mon, it’s never too early to ask, as EW freelancer Carrie Bell discovered when she quizzed the stars of Ocean’s Thirteen on the red carpet at the movie’s Hollywood premiere on Tuesday. (“We’re done, done, done, done,” insisted George Clooney, pictured, but his costars were game to name additional celebs who should take a dip in the Ocean.)

Among the more offbeat ideas: Eddie Izzard suggested Djimon Hounsou. “Maybe the crew can steal blood diamonds next time and restore peace to Africa,” he said. “It could be a very special Ocean’s Fourteen.” This, of course, means that Eddie Izzard is in the film. Yay! He was the only watchable part of 12, so I am thrilled.

Tags: Travel

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