GateWAy Blog

A Tree Top walk was first proposed in this area in 1994 to protect the tingle forest. Construction began a year later.  The construction consists of 60 metre lightweight bridge spans on seven pylons.  It reaches a maximum of 40 metres at the highest point.   It is a world most people never see.  The spans were especially designed to sway slightly as you walk to create the sensation of being in the canopy of the forest.  Well it certainly swayed brilliantly today.   The life of a Red Tingle is approx 400 years and they can reach a height of 75 metres.  They are some of most enormous trees in the world and can only be found in this region.  A distinctive feature of the Red Tingle is the large, hollowed out base.  These have been caused over a long period of time by fire, fungal and insect attack.  Most of the plant life is unique to this area and the tingle forest hosts an abundant food source for native animals such as quokkas, bandicoots, possums and the western grey kangaroo.  As most of these animals only come out at night we need to do a Forest by Night Tour.  Here you get to explore the forest by torchlight beneath a blanket of stars.  The Ancient Empire Walk meanders through a grove of veteran trees at ground level and gives another perspective of the magnificent giants
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As luxury accommodation providers, our aim is to give our guests the ultimate experience while in Albany.  We like to recommend places to eat, so we are trying the many restaurants in Albany.

Tonight we headed off to the ‘new’ Rustlers Steak House. The minute we walked through the door we were immediately impressed by the gorgeous surroundings. Rustlers have chosen their colours wisely and used the space well of what used to be a Health Club. (more…)

We love being tourists in our own region.  So many exciting and interesting things to do, touch and taste.  We made a stop at the Elephants Rock Cider Factory. We had an unforgettable experience tasting various ciders at Denmark’s first cider factory – Apple & Pear, Pear, Apple, Sweet Apple, Strawberry, Apple Ginger and Oaked Scrumpy. We had to try them all. The cider factory is also home to the toffee factory, ‘bit on the side’ (which is a range of gourmet sauces, preserves, chutneys) and a ½ kilo ice cream cone. We had to try it all. We bought some pickled garlic, asparagus chutney and some mayo’s. Of course we also took home a selection of ciders. (more…)

Awesome colours of the wild flowers

The Stirling Range National Park is about 80 kms north of Albany. The ranges rise abruptly from the lowlands which have been mostly cleared for farming. The ranges stretch for more than 65 kms, there are barren cliff faces, awesome views and brilliant coloured wildflowers. We walked along part of the Bluff Knoll Trail. (more…)