AUGUSTA

MONDAY, MAY 19            DENMARK TO AUGUSTA

Soon after we left Denmark it started to rain, so there wasn’t much sightseeing to be done.  

Too wet to stop at the Gloucester Tree near Pemberton.  We did have a pit stop in Pemberton for refuelling, under great difficulties.  Rain and wind!  There was a bakery and the pie report is that they were good!  Millie enjoyed her sausage roll.

We got to Augusta and pulled in at the first caravan park.  It was called Westbay Retreat.  This was a very different sort of park. The sign at the entrance said choose your own spot and someone will come around the collect the fees.  It was almost like being in the bush, but with amenities.  There were large green grassy areas and plenty of trees.  

The river was just at the end of the park.  

The dogs were able to have plenty of space and we could even have a fire.  The amenities block was very different, rustic but with a lot of charm.  

There were only a couple of other visitors in the park, but quite a large area with permanent cabins.  It proved to be a great spot and we stayed longer than originally intended as it was so good.  

TUESDAY, MAY 20 – SATURDAY, MAY 24   AUGUSTA

It was only about 45 kilometres from Margaret River so handy for day trips. Voyager Estate Winery was a beautiful location for a delicious lunch one day.  

The gardens there were incredible - hundreds of roses still blooming.

There are 6 full time gardeners there to keep everything looking gorgeous.  The lawns were amazing - like a lush green carpet.

Augusta was  a nice little town.  There were enough shops for anything we needed, a pub with a superb view and the location on the river was very attractive.  
The only drawback was the rain.  It kept up, on and off, for the whole time we were there.  We had another day trip to the north of Margaret River.  We stopped off for a coffee break in Cowaramup. They have all these fantastic cows around the town.

 We had gone to Busselton to see the huge jetty, but it was raining so much we didn't fancy the 1.89 kilometre walk out to the end.  

It was a pity as there is an underwater observatory at the end which would have been interesting.
We also stopped off at Yallingup to have a look.  The surf there was pretty scary looking.

After all that sightseeing in the rain, it was time to head for a drier spot.  Oh look, wineries everywhere!  Which one shall we choose?  We chose Cullen Wines, and had a very nice lunch and sampled their $105 chardonnay and $115 red something.  Just sampled them, we had the $35 bottles with lunch.

Finally we had enough of the rain and decided to head a bit further north to get away from it.  

Miss you all.

Merrilyn xx

DENMARK

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 – SUNDAY, MAY 18 

We were undecided about where to stay next, so we called in to the information centre in Denmark to see what there was to do around the area.  It seemed that there was plenty!  We found the Rivermouth Caravan Park on the mouth of the Denmark River and the start of Wilson Inlet.  

It was a beautiful area and the park was very user friendly.  "Just choose your spot and then come back and tell us where you are" was the instruction at the office.  We found a lovely spot on the bank of the inlet with a bit of scrubby bush for the dogs to scratch around in. 

There were lots of birds on the inlet, pelicans, ducks and several varieties of seabird.  

While we were there the moon was quite spectacular on a couple of nights, with a bit of a "stairway to the moon" happening.

The morning on the inlet wasn't too bad, either!

There was other wildlife in the park as well as all the birds.

Plenty of fish in the inlet and blue swimmer crabs for the taking as well.

Denmark is located amongst green hilly areas and forests of very tall trees.  

Between Denmark and Walpole is the Valley of the Giants with the huge Red Tingle Trees.  These trees are the largest buttressing trees in the world, but have very shallow root systems so they are endangered if lots of people are walking around amongst them. The walkway that has been built through the trees makes it possible to walk amongst them without doing any damage.

Around Denmark there are lots of lovely bays and beaches.  

At Peaceful Bay, you can even drive onto the hard sand on the beach.

At William Bay, there are some spectacular rocks called Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool.

On the way back to Denmark from Walpole, there is a place that grow marron and sell them.  Out the front there is a big marron - one to add to the list if you are visiting big things! 

There are some unusual ones that are bright blue - they don't sell those ones!  

There are lots of wineries and "foodie" places to visit as well. One of them, Ducketts Mill, makes beautiful cheeses.  We had a lovely lunch there with a very large platter of all sorts of goodies, accompanied by a glass or two of wine.  They also had a very nice assortment of specialty chocolates.  We took a few samples home for later.

Another one of the local attractions, The Lake House, was a gorgeous setting for another delicious lunch and a little wine sampling.

So that's Denmark for your enjoyment.  A beautiful part of WA.

Merrilyn xx