WESTERN AUSTRALIA

WELCOME to beautiful Western Australia..

When war broke out in 1939, I gave up my fascinating job in the Chinese Maritime Customs and joined the Royal Navy in Hong Kong. Shown below is my first ship HMS SCOUT. After many adventures during the Japanese attack on Singapore and the Netherlands East Indies, we arrived unscathed at Colombo.

                                                        HMS Scout seen here at Portsmouth
                S class destroyer905 tons, 276ft long, by 26.75ft, maximum speed 31 knots, normal complement 9
                               Main armament two 4-in, laid down by John Brown & Co., Clydebank, 24. 4. 1918

After the war, we settled in Western Australia. Instead of my going to sea again we decided to go farming and some pictures of our Citrus and Cattle farm are shown below..

Now retired from farming; my hobby is writing with two books published. A number of small items and poetry have also been published.

Continue on and you will find pictures of my farm in the lovely Chittering Valley at Bindoon 80 km North of Perth in Western Australia. We will then go on to some more views of our beautiful State of Western Australia. Places that are a must for every visitor.
Shown below, some of the Citrus grove

This is the large timber frame house we built.

Tourist spots, places you must visit in Western Australia

THE PINNACLES. Situated in Nambung National Park, 17klm from the town of Cervantes, a half-day's drive from Perth. Hundreds of wind carved limestone pillars, ranging from 1m to 3m in height, were formed 20-30 thousand years ago from deposits of shell left behind when the sea receded. Wind and erosion have carved out a spectacular forest.
Motel and holiday accommodation are available and caravan parking at Cervantes.

HYDEN. A small, flourishing town 339klm from Perth in wheat and sheep farming country. Hyden has a number of attractions, one of the outstanding is WAVE ROCK. Shaped by the wind over the last two million years, this granite monolith is unique.

The other attraction at Hyden and not to be missed is THE LACE PLACE. A museum housing an outstanding collection of lace dating from the 17th century and is regarded as Australia's largest display of exquisite lace. The display is under the care of the Curator, International Award winning lace-maker, Olwyn Scott.
Ample accommodation is available at Hyden and the facilities include a swimming pool and a recently completed airstrip.

This is the skyline of our beautiful City of Perth with the broad waters of the Swan River in the foreground. PERTH is small city but with all the amenities a tourist could wish. Beautiful Kings Park with a view over the city and a world class botanical garden. Less than 30 minutes away is the Indian Ocean and some of the finest white sandy beaches in the world. Five star hotels and a very convenient airport await your visit to PERTH.

Now we will take our car, you can go by bus if you wish, and visit the high rainfall, heavy forest area in the south west of the State. It is a long drive but some of it is very scenic. We arrive at the small timber town of Walpole.

The magnificent forest of this area consists mainly of giant Red Tingle (Eucalyptus jacksonii) and the tall straight Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) . These are some of the largest trees in the world and just fourteen kilometres from Walpole we come to the Valley of the Giants and The Tree Top Walk. Here you can explore their forest at different levels. The 600 metre walk gives the visitor a true bird's eye view of the forest. After reaching a height of 40 metres above the ground (no climbing involved). it gradually descends to ground level to complete the loop walk.

The walk consists of two ramps up, two ramps down and the level walk 40 metres above the valley. The ramps are on a gentle slope and the view from the top is breathtaking.

View of the forest from the the top platform of the Tree Top Walk

Now on the top level ramp of the Tree Top Walk

this is the view of the forest 40 metres above the ground.

The whole project was an inspired idea that has brought tourists in their thousands for the outstanding experience

Correspondence with old China Hands particularly Welcome, send me an E-Mail

Mail to cbriggs@perthpcug.org.au

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I do hope you have enjoyed your visit to Western Australia.

Please come again and you will get a very warm welcome