MAMMOTH!!

Well, what a fabulous day!

The day started dreary, with grey skies and rain. But the sun peaked through as the weather cleared up, and that meant we were blessed with a multitude of rainbows. Today we drove from Denmark to Margaret River through the lushest countryside ever. Green like you’ve never seen. Ern said “It’s beautiful around here,” far too many times. But he was right, it was beautiful around there.

First stop, Tingle State Forest (Ern: “I’ll give you a tingle in your state forest”). It was Daph’s turn to shit her pants and tackle her own vertigo on the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk.

Daph is fine on nature-made things that are high up. But not man-made things. It’s funny because Ern is the exact opposite. Daph is quite happy to trust in a mountain that has been standing for millennia, whilst Ern crawls up on his knees because his legs gave way. When it comes to man-made walkways, Ern is fine. But for Daph, there is NO trust. Especially when they appear to defy gravity and have no visible means of holding you up.

Daph: “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!!” *Inching along the walkway, forty metres above the ground.

Ern: “You’re doing great.”

Daph: “F**k, F**k, F**k. It’s moving. IT’S MOVING!!”

Ern: “It’s ok. You’re doing great.”

Daph tiptoes along, trying her best to put as little weight on the swaying walkway as possible. Gripping on for dear life, whilst trying to hold on to the giant-sized golf umbrella, she takes photos like she’s enjoying it.

Daph: “This is horrible. How do you trust this thing?! How on Earth does it stay up?! There are no legs! THERE ARE NO LEGS!!”

Ern: “It’s engineering. Supported by the large pillars at the ends.”

Daph: “You mean those RUSTY POLES?!”

Daph shuffles along, mumbling under her breath, “I’m not gonna die. I’m not gonna die. It’s safe. It’s safe.”

Daph didn’t die.

The ground bushwalk was much kinder to Daph’s jelly legs. Especially with the chance of seeing quokkas, apparently! But, alas, we were there at the wrong time of day and didn’t see any. We still have Rottnest Island to look forward to, where the quokkas are a tad more social.

Next stop, Pemberton, to climb the Gloucester Tree. You can climb all fifty-eight metres of the world’s second-tallest fire-lookout tree to the platform at the top. Jelly legs again, and Daph got about three metres up and crapped her pants. At this rate, Daph will be out of undies by the end of the day.

Moving on to Mammoth Cave in Margaret River. Wow! Just WOW!! This place is truly MAMMOTH!! We were the only ones in there, and Daph felt like we were on the set of a movie. It’s truly spectacular. We won’t ever need to visit another cave because nothing could beat this.

And then onwards to our destination for the night, Prevelly, where the Margaret River mouth feeds in from the ocean. Tonight, we spend the night surrounded by surfie dudes and wax heads who have come to ride the gnarly waves at Surfers Point. Hanging loose.

Tomorrow, we head further up the coast to Coogee Beach for a rendezvous with an old friend of Daph’s, and with Ern’s gorgeous sister.