We loved being amongst these towering karri trees. They are exceptionally straight and tall. Karris are one of the tallest trees in the world, growing up to 90m. Their forests are not unlike the huge mountain ash forests near Marysville.

Karri forest near Pemberton

They use four of these trees in this area as fire lookouts. They have pegged a spiral staircase to the tree tops, and one of the famous trees most people have heard about is the Gloucester Tree, which the public may climb. We decided to do the highest of the four public trees – the Bicentennial Tree, at 65m tall, with a four level tower on the top making the total climb 75m. Let’s just say: really high. I had to go for the diagonal shot to fit it in!

The Bicentennial Tree – just bend your head over

Off they went – John, Harry and Fergus. I climbed the Gloucester Tree back in 1987 and clearly didn’t mind the airy nature of the ladder back then. This time, no thanks. Ferg went to the first platform. But John and Harry made it all the way up there.

John and Harry on the way up. Those are big steps for a kid!

It’s not for the faint hearted. John was even heard to admit to a nanosecond of height aversion. There is a pathetic piece of wire fencing around the outside, but nothing to stop you falling downwards. No harness required, no helmet, no indemnity to sign, not even any fun police to watch you fall. Quite a contrast to the safety gear the boys wore for their tunnel tour under Fremantle which included life jackets for water one metre deep! We reckon the reason for the lack of safety measures is that if it’s really scary to do, then not many people will climb! Risk reduced!

Fergus on his way down

The tree sways up to 1.5m in the wind. Yuck.

You would have heard by now if they hadn’t made it. We did it first thing in the morning, and soon after that, the wind picked up and the Ranger would have appeared from his office to close the tree for climbing. Okay, so maybe they do have some safety measures.

Here’s another shot showing the variety of the trees in the forest.

A bendy one and a spiral one!