Day 159 - Nornalup Inlet and west of Walpole

Today dawned fine and not too cold.  What a perfect day for a boat trip.  We did take a boat trip on the Nornalup Inlet.  It took us from the Walpole town jetty to Rocky Head at the entrance to the sea.  The water was coffee brown from the tannins brought down the rivers following the recent heavy rains.  It was quite a change to see the pristine aqua coloured water on the surf beach.  The surf was beautiful with perfect sets of waves washing the white sand beach.  This was such a change from the wildness of the Southern Ocean when last we saw it at Cape Leeuwin.

120914 The cruise ship for our Nornalup Inlet cruise

120914 One of the Oyster Catchers - Shadow by name

120914 A subdued Southern Ocean

120914 Nornalup Inlet

120914 Tannin coloured water in the Nornalup Inlet

The countryside around the inlet was forest and in many respects was boring.  However the host on board made the day.  He was an anthropologist, a botanist, a biologist, an historian, an ecologist, a bit of a geologist, a comedian and a general entertainer.  We were treated to the

• names and nesting habits of oyster catchers, eagles, gannets and many others.  He is an official observer for the government
• origin of the quokkas and their selective food sources and their ability to be not affected by the 1080 bait
• number and sizes of feral cats caught in the area
• native plants, their names and their responses to bush fires
• history of the area and its links with Tolstoy and Russian spies
• ecological studies the local primary school is doing on the inlet's ecology
• explanation of the 99 year history of waving to someone standing on the site of the Rest Point caravan park, each day the boat passes.  Someone did come from the park and waved
• differences in the sexual organs for marsupials and humans and why they are the way they are
• etc, etc

He spoke for two and a half hours, at a mile a minute rate and was able to demonstrate his assertions with large photographs and many other presentation aids.

After lunch and a short trip to Sandy Beach on Nornalup Inlet, we took a drive into the Walpole hinterland, which put us back into the big tree country. This included visits to Deep Creek and the Fernhook Falls, Mount Franklin and the Falls on Frankland River.

120914 Sandy Beach in Nornalup Inlet

120914 Fernhook Falls on Deep Creek

120914 A "foam bank" at Fernhook Falls

120914 The lower part of Fernhook Falls

120914 Rowell's Pool below Fernhook Falls

120914 Foam patterns in Rowell's Pool - Nature's palette

120914 More of those beautiful karri trees

120914 Mt Frankland Lookout

120914 A view of the wilderness from Mount Frankland

120914 Frankland River Falls cum rapids

120914 The top pool at Frankland River Falls - average depth 5.8m

120914 Foam on the top of the bottom pool at the Frankland River Falls

120914 The bottom pool at the Frankland River  Falls - average depth 8.5m

All in all a very diverse but interesting day.

Trivia for today.  The foam in the falls seen today is due to the presence of saponins. Saponins are a group of naturally occurring plant glycosides, characterised by their strong foam-forming properties in aqueous solution.