Valley of the Giants

Yesterday hubby and I went on a day trip to Valley of the Giants "Tree Top Walk" . The tour started at 8am, ended just after 11pm. A very long day.

There are interesting places on the way to and from the valley. I'll mention them in the next few days. Today is about the Tree Top Walk.

The roots of the huge Tingle trees (a member of eucalyptus tree with reddish dark brown barks) are very short. If people were to walk on the ground, the soil around the roots could be compacted, harming the roots in the process. That's why they built the walkway.

It's a 420m long elevated walkway through the trees canopy. At the highest point I was 40m over the ground. The photo above was taken from that height. Pretty cool, huh?! :)

The signs said the load limit is 20 people per span (section) and 10 people per platform ("stump" that holds separate sections of the walkway). I wasn't sure whether the maker of the signs ever considered the possibility that 20 of petite me would weigh considerably lesser (read: 50% lighter) than 20 of big tall hubby. Sure, I would have felt safer if the signs were to say exactly how much weight each span (and platform) could carry.

I was a little scarred when my section swung. Some people were stomping their way through! Why can't they just walk normally?! I became more nervous when I saw those stompers were of "certain size" (culprits aren't on the photos).

Though the stompers' size wasn't even a fraction of the giant trees size. The biggest one could shelter 20 people inside it. Therefore the "Giants" bit of the valley's name. See the above photo: there are people on the far end of the walkway.

Now try finding the people on the above photo. They are underneath the word "com". Compare that to the size of the tree. Bear in mind that the bottom of the big tree is about 30-40meters below. Amazing.

Can you spot the steel walkway?

Magnificent views.

Are they worth the butt pains caused by the long coach drive? Absolutely!