Walpole

Walpole
Tiny and friendly, Walpole is experiencing a tourism boom because of its proximity to Walpole-Nornalup National Park and the recently constaicted Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk 14km out of town. The friendly, volunteer-run tourist bureau, on the north side of the liighway, hands out information on the surrounding tingle and karri forest and the beautiful coast of Walpole and Nortia-lup Inlets, and sells Tree Top Walk tickets (open daily 9am-4pm, 5pm in holiday sea¬son). Walpole’s post office and grocery store can be found across the street, alone with a handful of shops and balcony cafes.
The Top Deck Cafe serves coffee and lunch (spinach pie and salad; hours vary). The newly renovated Tingle All Over boasts clean accommodations, a barbecue, free tea and coffee, and a spiffy new paint job The technicolor shag rugs in some of the rooms might, indeed, make you tingle. AU rooms have sinks, but showers are a short walk outdoors. The Dingo Flat YHA is a good 18km out of town at the edge of Walpole-Nornalup National Park. Although the views of the surrounding fields and forest are spectacular, the hostel itself is quite run-down. Follow the signs from the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk.
By far the park’s biggest draw is the Tree Top Walk a 600m metal catwalk passing through the canopy of tingle trees as high as 40m above the forest floor. It’s wheelchair accessible, with wheelchairs available on-site. The free Ancient Empire boardwalk is a short, pleasant walk departing from the Tree Top Walk info center and passing through a grove of giant redtingle, which can reach l6m in circumference (no wheelchair access).
Fifteen kilometers east of Walpole is the right turn down Conspicuous Beach Road leading to Conspicuous Cliff, a popular stretch of beach with an information board, picnic space, and public restrooms. About 6km east of town is the left-hand turn-off to the Giant Tingle Tree, 24m in diameter and the largest known living eucalypt in the world. Walpole is also famous for its diversity of wildflowers, including more than 90 species of orchids; prime viewing runs between August and November.