Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Pemberton - West Australia
Round The World Trip Journal

Text By Jo and Pix By Mike

(23rd March - 25th March) Pemberton - Surroundings
This whole area is known for its trees – and boy did we see trees – nothing but trees! There are several trees around the area that used to serve as bushfire lookout points – they form a chain across the region. We went to the Gloucester, the Bicentennial and the Diamond Trees. Although they now use airplanes to spot fires, these trees were manned every day in the 40s and 50s by teams of firewatchers. They had to climb up the 60-75 metre (200ft plus) high trees using a ladder formed of round metal spikes stuck into the tree trunk. I’d love to say that we climbed to the top and saw amazing views but although we both tried to climb up, it was very disconcerting knowing you could slip and fall down through the steps and there is nothing to stop you – Sally you would have a field day with the Health and Safety issues here! We got to about 15 steps I think and then retreated back to safety. We did a tram ride through the forest and saw the timber mill that is still in operation. We crossed several wooden bridges and arrived at the end point to walk out to a 300 year old tree that had been hollowed out by a lightning strike and fire (see photo of Mike stood under it). For lunch we drove out to Big Brook Dam which is a big lake surrounded by nothing but trees. There is a small beach with a picnic site so we sat and had our lunch here listening to nothing but bird song – glorious! We did the full 4km walk around the lake and were honoured to be joined by a kookie on the bridge. Again he didn’t seem phased by our presence and you can see just how close Jo got to him. He sat there for a good 15 minutes looking at us looking at him and then shot down to the water to catch a fish! He didn’t do a full on laugh but we did get a little chuckle out of him!
And just to make you all feel so much better back home in the UK, we had our coldest overnight temperature down in Pemberton. It suddenly dropped overnight to 4 degrees! We had 5 nights in a row of temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees. We had to sleep in three layers of clothing, plus fleeces with the hoods up, socks and two sleeping bags on top of us. We have no heating in our van - it was like a fridge!

Highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.