Follow the 'Giants': A magical trail of hidden wonders in Western Australia

Santi Ikto sits cross-legged, looking out over the Indian Ocean, summoning water from the sea with his up-stretched hands. His wooden digits resemble a giant raising hands emoji, paying reverence to the sea from high up on the sand dunes. The sun scoops a hole out of the ocean as the earth tips towards the skyline. It is a couple of hours before sunset but it would be magical here, on the west coast of Australia, with Santi Ikto giving thanks to the day as it slips below the water.

Seven metres tall and made of foraged and recycled wooden objects, Santi Ikto is a public sculpture made by Danish artist and environmental activist, Thomas Dambo. Located at Koolyininap (Halls Head), it is one of more than 150 "trash trolls" around the world - including in Denmark, France, the USA and Singapore - and one of five larger-than-life creations that make up the Giants of Mandurah.

The community helped Dambo collect items from the environment to make Santi Ikto. His beard is fashioned of sticks and pine cones and his wide, flat hands, body and head are modelled out of what looks like reused packing crates.

The Giants were designed as a trail - a journey into the beauty of the wetlands, waterways, bushland and wildlife on the land of the Bindjareb Noongar people. Pick up the guide at the Mandurah Visitor Centre and begin your hunt, collecting clues to the whereabouts of the giants, which will take you around Mandjoogoordap (Mandurah) and the wider Peel region in search of these beautiful beasts.

We don't stay for the sunset, but walk back along the bitumen path that snakes above the beach, back to our tour bus which is waiting to take us the hour's drive up to Perth. Off the sides of the walkway, we see wildlife - galahs, ringneck parrots and a bobtail lizard, and masses of wildflowers growing in the sand. There is so much space here - the perfect location for giants.

This is Bindjareb territory, part of the Noongar Nation, and the folklore of the artist, Dambo, along with the Traditional Custodians come together on this land in the retelling of the giants' stories. George Walley, Bindjareb Noongar Elder and board director at Winjan Aboriginal Corporation, says: "We all want people to learn, in moving forward. Folklore covers many different stories of this place."

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It is also an opportunity, gifted by the Bindjareb people, to learn more about the Creation Story of Djilba Gabi (The Peel-Harvey Estuary) and the importance of protecting our natural world, just as the Bindjareb have protected their Country for more than 50,000 years.

I can't give you any more clues. The folklore and giants are waiting for you to discover them. Good luck. giantsofmandurah.com.au

The writer was a guest of Tourism Western Australia.