Photos of the southwest of Western Australia

The Valley of the Giants is between the towns of Denmark and Walpole in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It has some of the tallest trees in the state, Red Tingle (Eucalyptus jacksonii), which typically grows to a height of 8 to 45 metres or more: a 52-metre high tree has been reported. The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk is a 600-metre walkway constructed 40 metres above the ground, offering a birds-eye view of those giant trees, while the Ancient Empires Walk allows close inspection of trees, hollowed-out by fire at the bottom.

Walpole is the centre of the ecologically significant Walpole Wilderness area, with beautiful scenery in Walpole-Nornalup National Park, like in Rest Point at Walpole Inlet. Travelling 120 kilometres northwest through the State Forests of Mount Franklin and Greater Dordagup National Parks, you reach the town of Manjimup. It was a centre of timber cutting and remains its principal industry, with farming growing more critical. The Manjimup Timber and Heritage Park Complex showcases the history, an open-air museum with a reconstructed historic hamlet.

Manjimup is surrounded by karri trees (Eucalyptus diversicolor), the tallest trees in Western Australia and one of the most towering hardwoods on earth: they typically grow to 10–60 metres. Still, they can reach as high as 90 metres. Ten kilometres south of Manjimup is the Diamond Tree, with a wooden platform 40 metres up. Further south, near the timber town of Pemberton, is the Gloucester Tree, a giant karri tree in the Gloucester National Park. At 58 metres in height, it is the world’s second tallest fire-lookout tree, and visitors can climb up to a platform in its upper branches for views of the surrounding karri forest. Nearby is Beedelup National Park, which has a “Walk-through-tree”, a karri where you can actually walk (or crawl) through.