On a hot sunny Monday, a public holiday here in WA, we set off to find some of the Giants of Mandurah. Checking the website for these huge wooden trolls, offered no clues and it stated that we could grab a map from the tourist office to walk the trail. It also said “please do not reveal the locations to others”. However, being the cheat that I am – sometimes – I did a quick google and found some of the locations. They are all fairly far apart, so not sure about walking these great distances.
First though we found a waterside restaurant and had lunch and a drink. As you can imagine everywhere was busy and the boardwalk was humming with people. We sat and watched a bunch of youngsters jumping from tiny wooden posts into the water below.
Mandurah is just over an hour’s drive from Perth and it’s a wonderful place to spend an afternoon. Walking around the canals that form part of the town or along the estuary to see if you can spot a dolphin.
It was around a ten minute drive to the first Giant, and at first I thought we had gone wrong somewhere! We ended up in a cul de sac with a small garden in the middle, that was chockablock with cars parked, it must be so annoying for the locals. Seeing everyone walking down a small pathway, we just followed and hoped for the best.
The Giant below is called “Santi Ikto”. He was at the top of a large sand dune and I suppose ten to fifteen minutes from the car.
These figures are all the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo and were created to celebrate the diversity, beauty and importance of the natural world, with his works handmade using recycled and locally sourced materials.
I didn’t have to wait too long before all the kids and even adults had stopped climbing over him to get a decent photo.
Views from the top
Our next one was also off the beaten track and had to follow google maps very closely to find him!
I wasn’t brave enough to clamber down onto the rocks to see the face. This one is called “Seba’s Song”.
We were also lucky enough to see a dolphin, only the one though. A short video for you. Warning – turn sound down!
On our way back to the car we stopped and watched the kite surfers jumping over the white horses that were being whipped up by the wind, then skimming back towards the shore. Perfect weather conditions for them today.
By now Anthony said time to head back, the other Giants will have to wait for another day. Happy that we managed to see two of them as I thought they were very impressive. Sadly one has already been destroyed deliberately by fire. Some people just can’t help themselves.
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