Walpole and cyclones

Walpole is a lovely spot to visit, lots of walking tracks, nothing much in town, but very pretty. We stayed at Restpoint situated in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park which was a big caravan park right next to the Nornalup Inlet which was ideal for Dave's kayak. It only cost $22 a night which I thought a bargain for this time of the year. Th amenities were poor but we are lucky enough not to need to use them constantly. There were no trees amongst the caravans which I thought was a shame so it looked a little stark, however the Inlet afforded good views and interesting to watch the pelican and bird life. Another interesting feature was the massive stingrays that come to the jetty and actually lift their heads from below the water to be stroked by the kids, I have never seen such big stingrays before. Walpole has an interesting history as it started out of the Depression era in 1930 when unemployed men were sent to the settlement to carve farms out of the bush and timber milling started soon after that. We discovered the most wonderful spot on the Knoll drive which is about 3kms from Walpole. The big karri trees reach right down to the sea and there was a barbecue with cover and lovely tables and chairs accessible with well made paths and a view to die for. There was not a sole about and all you could hear were the birds, it was wonderful. We spent Australia Day very quietly and went down to the town centre where there was a market and a few things going on but we didn't stay long, it seemed funny to spend Australia without our family but thought of them all and the happy times we did spend on previous Australia days. We had quite a bit of rain and of course all the talk was of the cyclone expected to hit coastal areas of the Southwest so we decided to head to Albany hoping it would be less intense by the time it reached there.