We arrived and (Easter cramping our free camping style) ended up booking a spot in a huge Big 4 caravan park. As expected, we are slotted into a small spot with a concrete slab and lots of all too close neighbours, but it is actually OK.
The park is at the end of Ocean Beach Drive and we are right on the ocean side of things.
Denmark is a great little place and it reminds us so very much of the way Byron Bay used to feel some decades ago. There are the usual new age faith healers, incense and tatty jewellery vendors but the heart of the place is a lovely small town ethic of just being nice to people and doing it in a beautiful location.
We took a walk down along the river (love the "Beware of the snakes" signs) which took us through some dense forest and then open out onto heathland on one side and housing on the other, before crossing the river (yep, they even have bridges here!) and walking back to town on the other bank.
A beer at the very friendly and comfortable local pub topped off the day.
What a great place this is.
So, on our first whole day here we thought we'd drive out and see the tall trees that are so famous around here. So we headed straight for the aptly named Valley of the Giants. This is a Nat Park where a stand of the giant Tingle Trees ("Tingle" being a corruption of an aboriginal word that meant either red or medicine) is preserved.
We spent a little time with one of the rangers who gave us a tour of the forest and introduced us to some of their most famous trees including Grandma Tingle and talked about how the trees survive the fires. It seems that their bark is fire resistant but the inner heart of the tree is not so many trees have large hollow sections where the heartwood has been burned out, but the tree survives anyway.
The Tingle Forest (above) is a beautiful place and is home to a number of small marsupials including quokkas which we thought were only fund on Rottnest Island. Looking like rather large rats they are not very prepossessing things, but cute enough.
The pic above shows a tingle tree that has had its interior (well, the bottom of it) burned out, but the tree survives anyway!
There is a treetop walk too which is pretty cool to walk around something like 50 metres up in the air. The walkway sways around which puts some people off, but we had fun.
The obligatory selfie!
And the view from the top!
We left there, after lunch, and drove on to see the Giant Tingle - this is the largest eucalypt in the world and despite its base being almost burned out it is still alive and is a huge tree.
Now that is a big tree!
Back to the campsite via the pub - naturally.
The next day was Sunday so we went out for a walk along the banks of the river, meeting people doing the same thing and marvelling at how beautiful it all was. As we had partaken of a large cooked brekky we skipped lunch and went off to check out Greens Pool - this was featured in a number of the tourist blather you see and it seemed to be a nice place. Well, when we got there we found that it was just a stunning place and it was so pretty (and the weather was so nice) that for a change, we had to share the place with other people. The pool is actually just a lagoon that is protected by a reef of granite rocks (the waves crash over them so dramatically) and floored by white sand so it is all a brilliant turquoise and very safe to swim in.
The pics above and below show the pool itself together with the crowds we had to share it with.
Well, there were another couple of people around just out of camera shot, but you get the idea.
Yep - Karen just HAD to go paddling!
We sat for a while, just contemplating the beauty of the place when we spotted these crabs venturing out from under a rock slab. Cute little jiggers eh?
Elephant rocks - you can see where they got the name.
The pics below show the inlet itself and you wouldn't find a prettier and more peaceful place anywhere in the world.
The view below is the one that we had as we walked back to the car.
The photos do not do it justice, but take my word for it - it is heaven on earth.
Right next to this pool, well just across a headland, is the Elephant Rocks pool. Smaller than Greens it is just as picturesque and to the west side of the pool are some large granite outcrops that look very much like elephants. Well they do if you squint a little!
We needed to take a little time to absorb the beauty of this place so we ended up retiring to the pub (a different one) to contemplate just how lucky we are to experience this.
On the way back we also picked up some cheap veggies from one of the organic farmers' farm gates. Great food and a great price too.
What do you do the next day after such experiences? Yep, you head off again in search of something else. This time we wandered around the farming areas, picking up a bargain or two in the way of tasty organic veggies and calling in at a winery and cheese factory where we tried out a few tasty things and bought cheese, pate, fudge, ice cream and wine enough to keep us happy for quite a while. The coffee and cake there were bloody good too.
We drove on to Mt Lindesay Nat Park where we had a walk through the park, checking out the bottlebrushes and grass trees etc and walked off the food we had eaten. I can't say that this nat park had us absolutely smitten, but it was pleasant enough.
I think we may be checking out the real estate around here soon. It is that good.
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