irishcountry
ArboristSite Guru
Nice pics!! Thanks for the info on the chain and hope your having fun! Take care 
Marri
- Thread starter BobL
- Start date
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woodshop
Addicted to ArboristSite
Beautiful area Bob... tried to zoom in on it on GoogleEarth, are those pics from the Karri Valley Chalet area? That whole area down there must be protected... I see lots and lots of woods, and very few clear cuts.
That's correct, we stayed in the chalet area. The area was partially logged about 80 years ago and the cleared parts of it were used for growing hops. The forested area is now Beedleup National Park. A rainstorm had dumped about 6" of rain on the area the night before we arrived so the small waterfalls were gushing. I stupidly forgot my camera and our other one ran out of battery after about 10 shots.
This panorama
is taken from the south shore of the lake (dam)
is in the middle of this Google earth image.
There is very little completely unlogged forrest left - but it is still stunning country. If you find the Vasse Highway you can back track east and find the small milling town of Pemberton where I was born. The swimming hole is the old Pemberton swimming pool.
woodshop
Addicted to ArboristSite
Thanks Bob, looks like a very interesting place. Then again... lots of that part of Australia looks interesting to me. I'm going to get down that way before I push Daisy's. Hopefully before I'm to old to use some of the wood that I hope to bring back with me.
Better take a big boat down there and bring back a big load of wood!
Beautiful pictures Bob!
Cheers guys. South West Western Australia is classified as one of the 25 world's biodiversity hot spots. It has been isolated like the rest of Australia from the rest of the world for some time but further isolated from the rest of Australia by a wall of deserts. Much of the fauna and especially the flora are unique - we are also called the Wildflower state.
woodshop
Addicted to ArboristSite
Actually... I'd use a big boat, but not mine. If and when I do this, I would spend some serious time down there, renting a truck, acquiring wood over several weeks. Then I would fill a small standard container box and have it shipped to the Philadelphia port which I happen to live near, and then have that trucked right to my driveway. Cheapest and slowest... I wouldn't care if it took 2 months to get here. Besides the expense though, which if I did it right I could partially offset by selling some of the wood to local guilds etc, I hear there are other legal hurdles. Because of the possibility of bringing unwanted insect pests into this country, getting a stack of wood that large from a foreign country through customs is no picnic. For starters having no bark on any of the wood is a real big plus, but there are still hoops of fire to jump through. Certifications and inspections both ends to make sure I'm not taking from Australia any species that ain't allowed to leave there (threatened, endangered etc). Lots of paperwork and hassle. I think I'd rather poke a sharp stick in my eye... but think of the once in a lifetime rewards. There are exotic wood importers here that do that on a regular basis, and I probably couldn't do this cheaper than they do, but their list of species is still relatively limited, especially from Australia. Some of the stuff I see in Bob's posts so far simply are not available here at any price, they are just not imported. But... I would then have some for my woodshop. I'm finding out with my little side business here that unique is what sells. People are much quicker to part with their money when they are getting something unique that few others have.
