We had another night of practically constant rain with the BOM reporting 30mm to 9am at least less than yesterday's 35mm. But with the rain appearing to clear late in the morning we headed out to the Valley of the Giants located within the Walpole Nornalup National Park where there is a ground based walk through a grove of more than 400-year-old giants is known as the Ancient Empire and the 600m elevated Tree Top Walk.

Walking up the gentle gradient of the Tree Top Walk you are transported from the forest floor to a height of 40m and yet the Red Tingle trees, which can reach heights of 70m,  still tower above you. Incidentally back at the interpretive centre there was a photo of Luc Longley carrying the Sydney 2000 Olympic torch over the Tree Top Walk. 

Back on terra firma, the walk through the Ancient Empire is part boardwalk, part paved, but done in a way to minimise compression of the soil around the Tingle trees because that can lead to the demise of these relatively shallow rooted giants. The path goes past one of the most popular of the gnarled veterans, known as Grandma Tingle, or the Gatekeeper and then there is another where its hollowed base is large enough to stand in. 

It appears common for the Tingles to be hollow within the flared buttress-like base of their trunks. Apparently a combination of fungi and insects kill the inside of the base and often the dead wood is burned away. However the remainder of the base is sufficient to support the upper structure of the tree. Apparently there was one giant Tingle in which the hollow was so large that a car could fit inside, however the practice of driving cars in there ultimately was the cause of the tree's demise due to compaction; it falling down in 1990.

After having our picnic lunch we headed to Mt Frankland. The granite peak of Mt Frankland is 411m and it's quite a difficult climb from the car park and so we took the walk beside Little Mt Frankland which leads to the Wilderness View Lookout, an elevated structure which  provides uninterrupted views of the Walpole Wilderness. Along the edges of path to the Lookout there were many wildflowers and we could imagine how much brighter they'd look on a sunny day.

With it still being dry when we got back to the van we were finally able to use the Weber to cook our pizza for dinner.