Albany to Denmark 14/4 to 26/4

View from bike ride from Cosy Corner

We left Albany and travelled all of 46km to Cosy Corner, a wonderful beachside free stay near West Cape Howe National Park.  Obviously the salmon are everywhere in the water here, as when we went down to the beach we could see a feeding frenzy happening right in front of us.  There were so many fins in the water and it looked as though dolphins and sharks were surrounding the salmon and eating their full.

Feeding Frenzy

  I decided right then, that although the weather is once again in the 30’s I am definitely not swimming here. We enjoyed getting on our bikes again and touring the local area.  Very hilly and hard work at times, but enjoyable. 

Our next stop was Denmark, a town which reminded us very much of Maleny, with a lot of interesting arts and crafts shops.  We tried our luck for a spot at Parry’s Beach and the Gods were with us.  We arrived here about 10:00 and were fortunate to secure a lovely treed camp site.

Our campsite at Parry

By 10:30 there were three caravans in the overflow area and many campers were being turned away.  At $7 per night with a very clean toilet block and hot “solar showers” showers, you can fully understand why we had our fingers (and toes) crossed on the road into Parry Beach. 

View of beach from Campsite

Afternoon Drinks

One of the features of Parry Beach that we enjoyed was that we were able to have a campfire and we’ve  enjoyed meals cooked in the camp oven (thanks Phil and Cheryl) and happy hour/s every night by the fire with lovely people we’ve met here at Parry Beach (Mark and Lee from B’Ridge in Brisbane, Clarrie and Florence from Fremantle and Dennis and Deanne from Melbourne) and together they have made this stay a wonderful experience. 

The campsites at Parry Beach are large and most of them are located under a dense canopy of trees.  During the day we were visited by various birds including blue wrens, the emblem of Denmark. There isn’t any electricity at Parry Beach and the tap water has a brown tinge and isn’t suited for drinking, unless it is boiled first.  Given the tree cover over our van we only managed to receive a small amount of sunlight onto the solar panels, however this was enough to power our 12 volt lighting and the water pump, so because we had 180 litres of good water on board, we were self sufficient.   Most of the campers had generators available and several had satellite TV, so we were able to keep up with the footy scores and cheer on the Broncos to victory. 

It is interesting to note that during our travels everyone we met told us to make sure we stopped at Denmark, in particular Parry Beach.  Why is  Denmark and Parry Beach so popular?  According to the blurb this part of W.A. has made Lonely Planet’s Top Ten Regions of the World in 2010.  We found this easy to believe when we drove to Greens Pool, and had a wonderful swim.  We’ve seen some great beaches lately but this was really idyllic. 

Greens Pool

Elephant Rock

 It has a sheltered natural lagoon with glittering emerald water edged by white sand and is a wonderful spot for swimming and snorkelling.  Mark saw a large King George Whiting when snorkelling near the rocks at Greens Pool.  We also walked to Elephant Rocks, well named, because these rocks truly resemble a herd of elephants walking into the sea.  Another feature of Denmark is Wilson Inlet, which is fed by the Denmark River and at times flows to the sea.  This inlet is a fisherman’s paradise.  The minimum size of Pink Schnapper is 42 cm, so not sure exactly how many you’d have to throw back, or how big they actually grow here.  Apparently in salmon season, the giant salmon have heads as large as a large dog which would make the fish we’ve caught so far seem like juniors or throwbacks. Parry's Beach is a salmon fishing beach Jan to Apr.  This involves a spotter looking out for the salmon.  When spotted, boats put out nets behind the salmon, these are then pulled into shore by tractors.  The biggest  haul this season was 17tonne at $1000 a tonne.

Donna at 50m on the treetop walk

We also enjoyed a day trip to the Valley of the Giants, where we marvelled at the size of the Tingle Trees.  Some of these giant trees are at least 400 years old.  They grow to a height of 80 metres and can have a base up to 20metres in circumference.  Luckily for them they were not good for use in either the Construction or Furniture sectors, primarily because this timber is known to attract insects.  The Tingle trees are very hardy and they will survive fires which often burn out the core of the tree, but the hard bark will allow the tree to keep flourishing.

The core of this tree was burnt out but the tree survived

Mark has also enjoyed visiting the wineries in the Denmark area.  He was most impressed with the Shiraz from Old Kent River Winery.  Jeff, perhaps a future wine competition winner?  However we also spent a day touring the wineries located on the Scotsdale Tourist Drive – Howard Park, Matildas, Singlefile Wines and Harewood Estate.  According to the cellar door people, the Denmark region has specialised in Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Chardonnay since the beginning, so Mark was in his element.

Mazoletti Beach

Hilliers Bay

On other days we decided to complete some of the local walking tracks that were available.  On some of these occasions we walked across to Mazzoletti and Hilliers Beach which were both really beautiful. 

We also decided to walk a section of the Bibbulum Track, which is a 1000 km walk between Albany and Perth.  The walk has overnight huts that are basically three sided shelters, with the other open side exposed to the elements.  We travelled less than  2 hours in a round trip on a section of this track, but it was enough for us to travel to the ranges overlooking Parry Beach so we could obtain some great views of this area.

Mark on Bibbulum Track

View from walk on Bibbulum Track

Madfish Bay

Towards the end of our stay we visited Madfish Bay and Waterfall Beach.  Once again, very beautiful beaches, even if the surf was unbelievable on the day we visited.

Waterfall - Waterfall Beach

Altogether we stayed at Parry’s Beach  for 11 days.  A most enjoyable time.  Tomorrow more adventures await as we head towards Walpole, Shannon and then on to the West Coast of WA.

Swimming at Greens Pool