Western Australia – Day 4 – Pemberton Tram

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The Beach & Forest Eco Adventure took longer than the four hours we set aside for it, and we got back to Pemberton 25 minutes past one – which left us just enough time to get a couple of packed beef pies for lunch @ Crossroads Bakery before driving the couple of minutes to the start of the Pemberton Tram ride, one of the most popular things to do in the small town. Admission prices for our family of four was AUD84, and the train departs twice a day at 10:45AM and 2:00PM Mondays to Saturdays. The tram crosses five bridges, with the driver slowing or stopping by at each of them for us to take photos or simply take in the sights.

I initially had small reservations whether to do this 1 hr 45 minute ride or not. The Tripadvisor reviews all note that the ride is scenic, but several also complain about the unbearing non-stop commentary provided by the tram driver. But since we had the afternoon free, we decided to risk it. One ride later, it wasn’t so bad. The tram driver – a white-haired elderly gentleman with a magnificent moustache – did provide non-stop commentary for the first half of the journey (not the return leg as the tram essentially reversed direction to bring us back to town), but the information was crisp, very informative, spoken clearly, and also occasionally with a light-heard joke inserted. The commentary did seem to be running on auto-mode though and will be a little dry if you’re not into this sort of thing. The reality of the ride though is that you’re really cutting through Warren National Park, and without commentary, there really isn’t much else to do beside seeing tree upon tree go past.

That said, I did hear that there are three tram drivers on rotation, so the Tripadvisor reviewers might had been talking about a different driver.

The tram can take up to three carriages, with each capable of operating on its own. Our afternoon ride used two carriages and comprised 45 visitors in all.
Another train beside ours, and this one looking like it’s still used for work and not tourists like us.
Ticket office and souvenir shop just yonder. We did a soft booking for the 2PM ride, but were also prepared to forgo it if the kids were too tired or we changed our minds.
Birds on the track. Just step forward by another 5 cm and you’d be train-kill bud!
The first couple of minutes while on the outskirts of the town. Deeper into Karri Forest, foliage gets denser and very close to the tram sides, and on occasion even coming into contact. We’re lucky P didn’t lose a cheek/eye-brow/nose LOL.
The tram had a short stopover at the Cascades for photo ops. I did a couple of moving water shots. Handheld – possibly only because of the five-axis stabilization system on the E-M1!
Another in the series of long shutter shots at the Cascades. These were all between 1/2 and 1/3second handheld shots.
One of the several small rivers the tram takes us over.
And another.
Unlike the Puffing Billy ride, this one was a little harder to stretch out to take a wider shot of the train and also the rails it goes on.

Day 4 ended just before 4PM – and we were so tired that we picked up groceries for the next morning’s breakfast, packed-in dinner, and drew back home to eat, wash-up and sleep. Day 5 tomorrow will see us heading to Margaret River for the next five days of our trip.