We headed out of Walpole this
morning, heading in the direction of Denmark (the WA town, not the European
country). On our way east, we drove back
past Conspicuous Cliff until we came to Peaceful Bay. The name of this sounds wonderful but when
you head there with kids it just doesn’t live up to its name. In saying that, it is a gorgeous protected
beach and would have been well worth a swim if we had the time and if the
weather was warmer. After walking along
the beach and taking in the views, we got back in the car and pushed on. Only about half an hour down the road we
pulled into the carpark for Greens Pool and checked it out first from the
lookout and then from the beach. There
were many people here (compared to what we’d previously seen on the beaches in
this cool weather) and the water was pristine.
There were some large granite boulders poking up from the water and it
appeared to be a flat shallow bay – well worth a swim. I threatened to throw Sami in in her clothes
but then allowed her to remove her jacket.
It was lovely and warm but nowhere near hot. We decided to go for a swim anyway but
couldn’t be bothered walking back up all the stairs to grab our swimmers. Instead, Sami and I ran into the water fully
clothed (we figured we’d be warm if this Southern Ocean water was cold) and
headed for one of the granite boulders.
It was quite shallow until about half way and then the sand beneath our
feet dropped away. We climbed up the
boulder and I headed for the edge and jumped back into the water… Sami wouldn’t follow me though as she’s too
scared to jump even from a relatively small height. By this stage, I saw that Zoe had raced up to
the van and put her swimmers on and thankfully had also brought some dry towels
down for us. She too swam across to the
boulder and we took turns jumping off.
We only stayed in the water for about 10-15 minutes as it was quite cold
but still lots of fun and the setting was perfect. After drying off and getting changed into
some warm clothes, we headed to a few other spots such as Madfish Bay and
Elephant Rocks, the latter one being named according to what the rocks in the
water look like. This was a smaller
beach than Greens Pool but the view from atop the rocks was stunning. We had been offered to stay with friends in
Denmark; Ben, Jenna & Cedar Eliot who we met whilst undertaking Cape York. Unfortunately for them, they had to return
home to Denmark early from their Oz trip but for us it was a great chance to
catch back up with them. In pulling into
town we picked up some cupcakes for the kids and went to find their address,
stopping first at the lookout at the end of their street. Denmark is a lush green forest of many tall
trees such as the karris and the sheep and cows around here look really well
fed. The Eliot’s land is about 7 acres
and they currently live in a fantastic shed until they build their dream home
on the land. I don’t envy them with the
work involved in building a home here. However,
although it is beautiful the way it is, I’m sure after all the hard work and
effort of building a home it will complete their dream. Ben was out when we arrived but we caught up
with Jenna and Cedar for a while and then headed into Denmark to do a little
bit of grocery shopping. It wasn’t long
after we returned that Ben arrived home so we cooked up some pizzas and spent
the night swapping travel stories and catching up. The funniest part was when we headed to bed
and Ben pulled out the vacuum cleaner – his OCD habits haven’t changed in the
six months since last seeing him.
The following morning we headed
out and came across Harewood Forest Walk.
It was a walking track to explore and learn about the once thriving mill
in the area. Nearing lunch time we went
into Denmark and wandered about the shops for a while and picked up some very
fresh and tasty seeded rolls to have for lunch as well as a great coffee from
Ravens – what a busy little shop that is.
We headed to the park right on the river where a great kids park was
located and made up our lunch and left the kids to play on the equipment for
ages. There were some friendly and very
hungry ducks approaching and they weren’t leaving until we shared our rolls and
crackers with them but it was hard to land the food in the duck’s bills with so
many seagulls surrounding us at the same time. Josh and the kids had a kick with the footy
before we packed up and left the park.
We came across the local cheese factory that Ben had suggested we test
out but unfortunately it was closed for the day so we headed on. After a bit more driving around the area, we
pulled into the Boston Brewery / Willoughby Winery. I finally got to sample a few wines and after
choosing my favourite we bought a couple of drinks and a bowl of hot chips and
enjoyed the view over the vineyard while the kids again went to play on some
kids equipment - they amused another youngster in the process. We returned back to the Eliot residence late
in the afternoon and the girls went for a walk to the dam to check on the
yabbies and then up to the lookout where Jenna taught Sami how to check if the
electric fence was operating – fortunately Sami didn’t shock herself in doing
so. Jenna put on a fantastic chicken
curry for dinner tonight which we enjoyed with a few drinks. Cedar also put on a very entertaining dance
show for us – she is so cool and full of personality.
Ben and Jenna showed us a few of
their favourite places the following morning.
First we stopped in at a small farmer’s vegetable stall. It must have been good stuff as he had run
out of quite a few things by the time we had pulled up. All we bought were a few banana passionfruits
to try… Sami ate hers but Zoe was not too impressed and she is meant to be the
passionfruit lover. We attempted to go
shopping at the Jassi Shop where they sell Ugg Boots but they were shut for the
day – bugger! Further along, Ben showed
us a couple of his favourite beaches, Parry Beach and Hillier Beach. The kids had their swimmers on and although
they walked across a bit of an inlet, it was far too cold and windy to get right
in. Ben and Jenna had to head into town
to run errands so we continued exploring the coastline. We took Ben’s advice and drove west to Boat
Harbour but part way down the track a car stopped to advise us to turn around
as we’d need to get the boat off the roof to get across the water ahead. Josh decided to take a look anyway… he walked
through the water to check what kind of base it was and how deep and of course
there is no stopping him. Off we went
crossing this water, as well as about another four of them – the highest coming
over the bonnet as we drove through… but we made it! At the end was a ramp down to the beach and
the lovely harbour. We walked up around
the rocks for a while and admired the colour of the water before wading our way
back in the car. On our way back towards
Denmark we were passing the toffee factory so called in to see what treats they
had. The kids were expecting a couple of
toffee apples but they didn’t have any of those. They did have lots of different types of
small squares of toffee for trying and we ended up walking out with a bag full
of goodies. They also had a very cute
pig out in the yard that the kids were playing with – Wilbur – very appropriate
name. Again we headed back to our
makeshift home and Josh got helping Ben with a bit of clearance work around the
yard before jumping on their quad bike and taking the kids for a ride around
the property. We topped off the day by
heading up to the end of their street and admiring the gorgeous sunset but we
just can’t get used to this cold weather – we couldn’t sit up there for too
long as it was freezing! Again Jenna
made a fantastic hot dinner to finish off the day and we had a quiet night in, even
trying to figure out how to play Game of Life with the kids – but that didn’t
last long. We enjoyed the fire for a
while before heading to our snuggly warm beds for the night.
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