Author: Mrs A
From: Walpole
To: Denmark
Distance driven: 73km Cycled: 28km
Well who knew you could travel to Denmark in less than an hour and still speak English? Denmark Western Australia was named by Europeans in 1829, not after the country as you would imagine, but after a naval surgeon, Alexander Denmark. The resident aborigines called the area Kwoorabup (place of the black wallaby).
We turned in an easterly direction from Walpole and drove through stunning scenery, Marri, Karri and Tingle forests lining the roads with blue skies overhead, the morning sunlight filtering through the trees. Beautiful. We booked into a campsite down by the Wilson Inlet, a shallow lagoon full of birdlife with forest and white sand beaches lining the shoreline. We were keen to enjoy the beautiful day and so after setting up jumped on our bikes for an explore. Denmark is very bike friendly with shared pathways throughout town.
We decided to embark on a ride along the Heritage Rail Trail which starts just 100 metres from the campground.
It was a beautiful ride, along relatively flat pathways, mostly alongside the inlet and beaches, and frequently reminding us more of English countryside rather than typical Australian landscapes – it was only the flora and fauna which reminded us where we still were.
It was a stunning afternoon’s ride taking us to a little under 30km return and working up a good appetite for the evening’s activity.
Just before heading off on our cycle, we had received a knock on the caravan’s door, as you do. It was the skipper of the the caravan site’s boat, popping over to let us know they were doing an evening cruise – $35 to head up the local creek and out into the inlet to see the sun set, including a fish and chip dinner delivered by the local pub! That was something we couldn’t say no to, so of course we booked on.
The cruise departed at 5.30pm sharp, and took us up the river, allowing us to see some incredible reflections while learning a bit about the region’s logging and farming heritage.
It was BYO so of course we took along a rather delicious chilled white to accompany us on the journey and to enjoy with our food. With a cloudless sky, sunset was lovely but not spectacular, and best enjoyed through the glow on the trees and scenery.
A lovely end to a fine day.
