Tingles and beaches

The next day we reluctantly left the kilns and headed off to see the Tingle Trees near Walpole. We walked through the Giant Tingle Tree (see right), did the Ancients Walk but couldn't quite bring ourselves to pay for the famous Treetop Walk (we'd seen enough treetops the day before). The tingles are amazing - in both red and yellow varieties, they are eucalypts that are often ‘hollowed out’ by fire and fungal attack. Despite this, they can still grow up to 75m tall (until tourists come and trample on their shallow roots...)

The lady at the tourist office recommended that we go to Greens Pool for lunch and it was brilliant advice. Despite being a little too windy for a picnic, we still managed to have one while gazing out at the perfect-looking, green-blue water (see left). We reluctantly left for Albany and it turned out that our accommodation had not only remembered us, but was also right near the beach. After W convinced me to have a swim (despite being crazily cold, I guess it wasn't his worst idea, since we swam 3 more times while there...), we went out for W's favourite-dinner-of-the-trip at the Mean Fiddler. It was one of those comfy, good value places (with a huge seafood platter including the biggest oysters I've ever had and a great lime dressing on the scallops) that had a fabulous owner - not only did he amusingly and confusedly try and serve us, but he also enthusiastically gave us brilliant directions on a trip for the next day...