Upper Warren / Pemberton

Lunch at Karidale, drove to Pemberton, got accom on Langley Rd, Upper Warren, near Quininnup. We got this place off AirB&B thinking it's right near Pemberton to avoid setting up camp and save time. Turns out it's 20ks away, and we needed to pull out the sleeping bags, pillows and towels anyway.

 We turned down a narrow dirt road, lined with trees, dark at dusk. It's fun, then as it winds on 3km later, it seems like a good place to hide bodies. The driveway is a further 500m further of tree lined dirt opening onto a clearing with a dark wooden home. A man in work clothes and a wide brimmed hat on a ride on mower ignores us, as Marie tries to wave to him to find out how to get in, a bit like The Shining as he rolls around. Is it the land time forgot? Is he still with it? He looks like the deep country kind from a horror movie.

To be fair, once we get his attention, he does strike me as a bright friendly fellow, the father of the owner. Back to the horror. Once inside, the house is in the form of a circle, eerily quiet, creaky, spooky.

The bathroom is outside. Marie and Ollie shower, hopefully not Bates hotel style.

Walking into the bedroom, Louis is rocking silently in the rocking chair, hair over his face, looking down blankly, exactly like the little girl from the horror movie The Ring. My heart stopped for a second. It was a genuine relief when he spoke back. I told him about The Ring. He said I wish you didn't tell me that. I got out the emergency cat book to get his mind off it. 

We all slept very well. In the morning, the place has a whole new character, beautiful, rural, warm, inviting, birds chirping, dense forest on the edge of a large lawn, a river running beside, no neighbours nearby. When it's really quiet you can hear the water. There's a PS4, so we night be staying another night.

Ah yes, we stayed another night, and at 6.30pm so not too bad, we're on the shoot em ups of PS4, similar to PubG. Today we school worked until about 11, went to Manjimup for lunch, got a haircut. Louis looks great. He got a style cut.

Went to Gloucester Tree, 53m high. There's a rickety old ladder going nearly straight up, spiralling around the tree.

We're not going up too fast. Stopping frequently winds up my tension. I didn't enjoy stopping on the way up for rest breaks. At the top, the wind is streaming past, but well worth the climb for the great view.

Phone call to Tony about the renos - what a stress. Dinner is vego cous cous - Ollie's gone vego since we visited Anne Sophie's son George, who is vego. That makes it easier to keep food, not much harder to come up with meals.