Denmark to Albany

We left Manjimup and set off for Denmark further to the south. We stopped at Walpole for lunch and then visited the Tree Top Walk in the Tingle forest. This consists of an elevated steel walkway high up in the top of the huge tingle trees. It was a gradual incline so quite easy to do and the views were great.

After we completed the tree top walk we did another walk around the forest on the ground which was just as good.

This 'grandma' tree was estimated to be over 400 years old!!

We arrived in Denmark at about 3.30 in the afternoon and it was raining lightly and pretty cool. We found a great spot in the caravan park near the mouth of the river which was pretty good.

There were a whole lot of pelicans nearby and a few out in the bay fishing.

Waking up the next day the weather wasn't much better so we decided to continue on to Albany which was only 50 km down the road. We found a nice spot at a park away from the beach, so as not to catch too much wind..

We stopped at a small beach and found amazing rock formations. While we were there we saw a whale and her calf swimming by out in the ocean. It was so exciting. They came right up out of the water.

 

We then visited a nearby spot where we had a good look at The Gap and the Natural Bridge. These natural features were spectacular.

The photos really don't give you any idea about how big these rock formations are. They are huge. Maybe this next photo does a bit.

See how tiny the lady in the red jumper looks!

The next day we set off exploring again. The first thing we saw was a large black snake slithering across the road.

We saw another one soon after. He was on the other side of the road so Mike stopped the car and opened the door and tried to shoo him off the road but he wasn't moving. He hissed at him and stomped his feet but the snake just stayed there. I hope he didn't get run over! We saw one car drive around him so hopefully he moved on.

It was quite a windy day but we saw lots of great things.

When we were up on the headland (where the picture above was taken) we also saw some hangliders who were launching themselves from there. One of them just seemed to be suspended in the same spot for ages due to the strength of the oncoming wind but then eventually he was able to fly around a bit then landed safely on the beach above. The other one was doing huge swoops in front of us. It looked like great fun and he was certainly smiling but I just kept thinking that the wind was going to just dump him into the sea.

We headed off again and tried a few more roads towards the coast. One was closed due to the bridge being rebuilt, another was gated off with private property at the end so we tried another. It was a 4WD track but we thought we would give it a go.

We travelled along for about 400 mtrs and then found this!

So after our previous experience we reversed back again. It was not only very sandy but a very steep hill which you cant really see in the picture. We may have been able to roll down it but getting back out again would have been a different story.

There are lots of cattle and sheep properties around Albany which are also very picturesque.

We saw a group of calves frolicking around in a paddock together. They were having a great time.

We saw some great wildflowers again too. They are everywhere in WA at this time of the year.

After all this exploring we returned to the van and settled in for the night. Unfortunately there was no TV reception but we were able to use the computer to watch some telly on iView on the ABC which was great. We also had a visit from the resident three legged dog. He was so cute and shaggy but wasn't able to jump up because he only had one back leg, poor boy. He seemed happy enough though! I think he is well looked after by all the residents in the park.

Our next destination is Esperance.