Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk

The red tingle grows only in a small area around Walpole, needing the high rainfall and particular soils here, and it is the bulkiest eucalypt in the state, with buttressed bases up to twenty metres around that hollow out with fire while the tree keeps growing. The Tree Top Walk carries visitors along six hundred metres of lightweight steel spans that rise to about forty metres in the canopy, deliberately built to sway slightly and designed to touch the forest floor as little as possible after visitor traffic began killing the trees at ground level. Below, the Ancient Empire boardwalk winds among the giant hollow trunks at ground level, free with the same ticket.

What you actually see

• The canopy walkway - six hundred metres of steel spans up to forty metres high.
• The red tingles - hollow-based giants found only in this small area.
• The Ancient Empire boardwalk - the ground-level walk among the buttressed trunks.
• The swaying spans - the walkway's deliberate movement in the canopy.

When to go

Year-round; the walkway is open daily except Christmas Day. Winter is wet but the forest is at its best. The walkway closes in high winds and lightning. Early morning is quietest before coach groups arrive.

Honest expectations

Entry is charged and the walk takes under an hour. The swaying spans are uncomfortable for anyone afraid of heights. Wind closures happen without warning. The Ancient Empire boardwalk below is arguably as impressive and takes less nerve.

Nearby

Walpole and the Nornalup inlet lie west; Denmark and Greens Pool are east.