Bibbulmun track - 4th section - Balingup to Donnelly River Village

I want you to imagine a long, sandy beach. A thousand miles of beach, and then count every single grain of sand on that beach, and on the sea floor, and everywehre else on the planet. That is how many jarrah trees is feels like we have seen over the past 400km. You can imagine our excitement, therefore, when we were at last presented with something a little different - the mighty karri tree.

These are massive. There is no other word for it. Ramrod straight and up to 90 metres tall - more than double the tallest trees we've seen so far. And yes, you can tell you've been on the trail a while when you get this worked up about new trees. Still. They're awesome.

Callan and a Karri tree

Donnelly River VIllage is a pretty surreal place. There is a level of tame wildlife which is almost eerie following the occasional brief glimpses of stuff out in the bush. There are emu chicks here, which are adorable, and adult emus wandering about, which are basically modern-day dinosaurs. I am sat writing this on a picnic bench with a gigantic emu watching me from the other side of the table. It's quite distracting, if I'm honest. It is big and actually kind of intimidating. Seems content to just watch though. And growl, occasionally, in the same manner a T-rex might. I mean, look at those feet.

Donnelly River Village otherwise has a general store selling surprisingly little (but which does do milkshakes and hot food) and not much of anything else. We've run into our old walking crew who we got left behind by before Balingup and have had a quick catchup with them, and will be meeting my (Callan's) dad who is going to walk with us for the next few days. We've rented a holiday cottage for the night instead of staying in the tent (seems nicer what with the jetlagged father and all) and will head out tomorrow on an even-shorter-than-planned day due to a diversion in place. Will be planning some serious tree-oogling tomorrow.

PS - for anyone planning to do the walk, there is a very nice camping area between the last shelter and Donnelly River Village. No water, but fire pits and gorgeous surrounds. Of note.