Mt Frankland and Valley of the Giants

Our first proper day after arriving in Albany the night before and we'd already changed our plans. We set off West towards Denmark, enjoying a quick and delicious breakfast at the local award winning bakery. Most places in the South West have won awards for something, whether it be for food, niche products or for being tidy. Cynicism aside, the food was food, though not award worthy.

After breakfast we continued west to Mount Frankland National Park. There we embarked on two easy walks, one to the summit, a grade 4 1.2km return walk and then the very easy 600m grade 1 wheelchair accessible Mt Frankland Wilderness Lookout.

We climbed up the summit in no time at all, even though it teased us with rain, climbing up to the top parted the clouds to reveal the vast forest and changing weather systems. The effort reward ratio was very good.

The Wilderness Platform was just alright, though if I was to drive to Mt Frankland just for the wilderness platform, I'd have been disappointed.

We returned East, driving through the suburb of Walpole, until we reached the next destination the Valley of the Giants. Essentially an engineering marvel, the metal walkways are suspended 40m above the ground, giving you a chance to walk, for about 400m with the trees. I'm not a fan of heights, and other than the natural apprehension I wouldn't class myself as having a fear of heights, still, the way the walkway way bounces as you walk can be pretty unnerving for some. I quite enjoyed it. I even challenged Louise to a second walk, but this time at a quicker pace. She declined.

At $21 each it certainly isn't cheap for what is a 10min walk, so at the end of the tree top walk, the place also provides a woodland walk called the Ancient Empire Walk. The Tingle trees found on this walk are unique to this part of the world.

We returned East toward Albany, just in time to beat the setting sun. Driving up to the Apex lookout we managed to spend a bit of time absorbing some military history at the Princess Royal fortress, checking out the battlements, then appreciating some of the views over the water and Albany itself.