Tuesday March 18

Our three days in Denmark have been very pleasant, although it hasn’t had the ‘wow’ factor of some of the other places we have visited.

We have walked along the Denmark River which runs into Wilson Inlet, visited a timber products business which had the most amazing collection of WA timber, especially the large slabs of superb jarrah, wandoo and marri and enjoyed the scenic drive which took us up to Mount Shadforth and through farmland, vineyards and magnificent karri forests.

Murray had a go at fishing from the beautiful rocks at Wilson Head and today we spent some time in William Bay National Park. Unfortunately it was drizzling off and on and remained quite overcast, so between the clouds and the substantial swell, the stunning colours we have become used to were not on show.

Wilson Head looking across to Nullaki Peninsula (Wilson Inlet is behind this)

Looking towards Surfers Beach

The view further along the Head

Surfers Beach - late afternoon. Lots of surfers taking advantage of the swell.

Madfish Bay was still incredible as we happened to be there at high tide so we marvelled at the confluence of the water as the waves rolled around each side of the offshore island which creates the bay and converged in the middle. Sadly though we did not see any of the ‘mad fish’ that are reputed to jump out of this turbulent water!

Madfish Bay

and again . . .

Once again, the granite rocks were spectacular and featured some gorgeous colours, whilst Waterfall Beach with its namesake waterfall was rather lovely.

The western end of Madfish Bay

Waterfall Beach

A planned walk at the Wetlands Centre was abandoned due to the wetlands not being even a little bit wet and all birds having decamped. The old paperbarks were astounding though – absolutely huge and we noticed this banksia growing out of the trunk of a large dead paperbark.

Not sure what happens when this banksia becomes bigger!

Tomorrow morning we will go the short distance to Parry Beach for a day or two and do some beach fishing (well, Murray will!) and explore a few more natural attractions before heading towards Walpole and the great forests. The tourist brochures tell us that 'nature has been flaunting her beauty here in the Great South West Edge for millions of years', so we are looking forward to taking up their invitation to 'commune' with it all!

Sunday March 16

Have arrived in Denmark today after our three days in the Stirling Range and Porongurup Range National Parks and as we had anticipated, they were both spectacular. I now have to abandon picking ‘favourites’ as these landscapes are so varied and so magnificent it is absolute folly to even think about comparing them.

I am currently reading ‘The Nature Principle - Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age’ by Richard Louv and he talks about an Australian nature philosopher (did you know that such people existed?), Glenn Albrecht, who has ‘invented’ a name for the spontaneous ecstasy or feeling of oneness with the earth and its life forces that we may experience and it is a shame that it is not a word that rolls easily off the tongue because I really need it, as well as a greater collection of adjectives after seeing all these amazing places. Glenn’s word is ‘eutierria’ (eu=good + tierria=earth), but it just doesn’t work for me – will have to keep hunting for the right one to describe that feeling.

When we arrived at the Moingup Springs campground in the Stirling Range on Thursday we hopped out of the car and the smell in the air was almost breath-taking. It had rained overnight for the first time for some three months and the incredible eucalyptus smell just assaulted us. As if we needed to be any more impressed, a large flock of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos flew low overhead thrilling us with their strange, drawn-out calls, which are almost a whistle – nothing like the more raucous calls of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.

The Stirling Range (the Noongar name for the range is ‘Koi Kyenunu-ruff’, which means ‘mist moving around the mountains’ and how much nicer is that than a name honouring some British peer or admiral!) is about 80 kilometres north of Albany and the rugged peaks rise abruptly from the surrounding lowlands, most of which have been cleared for agriculture. The range stretches east-west for more than 65 kilometres – much larger than we had realised and has magnificent views of stark cliff faces and vegetation which ranges from mallee-heath to woodland and wetland as well as the threatened (yet another one!) ‘montane’ plant communities on the tops of the high peaks. More than 1,000 million years ago this area was under the sea and the layers of sediment were transformed into layers of sandstone, slate and phyllite, so it is very different to the granite landscapes in which we have been travelling to date.

Despite the cloud which still hung over some of the peaks, we enjoyed the scenic Stirling Range Drive through the park and clambered up to Central Lookout, which offered great views across the range as the cloud had cleared a little. I was just astounded by the number of species of heathland plants jammed together in these areas – so many different shades of green with a variety of shapes and textures of leaves which demanded to be touched. The range is species-rich (1,500 in fact) because of the multitude of combinations of altitude, soil, rainfall, sunlight and exposure – fascinating stuff!

Toolbrunup Peak 

Central Lookout

Vegetation - Central lookout

A Shingleback we met on the road and it was very reluctant to be moved to safety!

Dryandra (Banksia) species? Help Scott!

Wandoo woodland in a gully at the base of Mt Magog

On Friday Murray and Marilyn, the lady camped next to us, conquered Bluff Knoll – 1,095 metres high and a six kilometre return walk. The pounding his knees and ankles endured was rewarded with outstanding 360 degree views of the range.

Bluff Knoll from the car park. Murray and Marilyn climbed right to the top
of the knoll - I am impressed!

Views towards Mt Toolbrunup from the Knoll

Looking down to the car park

Murray and Marilyn atop Bluff Knoll

Whilst Murray was walking I became entranced by the number of birds around the now-quiet camp and managed to get some photos of which I am very proud. Another couple in the camp ground had cameras with what were at least 600mm lenses and I have to admit that I was consumed with jealousy.

Female Scarlet Robin

Male Scarlet Robin

Male Golden Whistler

Grey Fantail

Grey Currawong

Saturday morning saw us up and about early once again – a large number of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos stirring and calling to one another as day breaks is a very effective and delightful alarm clock and we made the short 34 kilometre trip south to Porongurup in no time at all. The trip came with built-in challenges as we tried to identify the parrots which were feeding on the sides of the road on the grain spilt from the many trucks travelling to the port at Albany. We are certain about the Port Liclon Ringnecks and Red-capped Parrots, but less so about the Elegant Parrots.

The little caravan park at Porongurup is lovely and a great base for exploring the range. At 12 kilometres long, it is much smaller than the Stirling Range and the round-topped granite peaks are much lower.  Our ‘recce’ of the park boundary brought a close and extended look at a pair of Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos – what stunning (and surprise, surprise, also threatened by habitat loss and illegal shooting) birds. Morning coffee back at the van also allowed further bird watching opportunities.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Once the cloud cleared we set off on the walk to Castle Rock and the Granite Skywalk.  Murray’s knees had recovered and I decided that it was time to challenge my legs and this 4.4 kilometre return walk up quite a slope through marri and karri forest certainly did that. I couldn’t manage the scramble up and through the large rocks to the Skywalk though, so whilst Murray forged on, I enjoyed the viewing platform.

Balancing Rock - the last one standing in the
Porongurup Range!

The ladder up to the Granite Skywalk

Granite Skywalk and the views beyond

Granite Skywalk from below

In recognition of my efforts, we then went and visited one of the many wineries recommended by the lady at the caravan park. Porongurup is apparently now recognised as one of the country’s best riesling growing areas and Abbey Creek certainly had a couple of beauties. Their sauvignon blanc and pinot noir weren’t bad either!

Later in the day we enjoyed a shorter and easier walk through the karri forest – what superb tall, straight trees. Lots of little birds were hopping around in the now-deserted-apart-from-us carpark and were not at all worried by us wandering in their midst. The Fairy-wrens were just about jumping on our feet, so now we have photos of what we assume is yet another ‘transition’ male and are once again asking ourselves is it a Red-winged or Splendid Fairy-wren?

Karri tree reaching for the sky

Beautiful but what species am I????

Rufous Treecreeper - it was astounding to watch this bird 'hop' all
the way to top of the Marri tree

Following recommendations from the caravan park lady and other travellers, we had tea at Maleeya’s Thai Café, which was totally unexpected in a tiny town that only has a caravan park, a store and tearooms and a heap of vineyards. Maleeya’s husband Peter, who is Swiss originally, has a bamboo and palm nursery on their property (the café is in their converted garage), a herd of Highlander cattle and grows all the organic herbs used in the café. The meat is all organic and produced locally (not their cattle though – they are pets!). This was one of the best Thai meals we have ever eaten and was enhanced by conversations with Peter about timber slabs (he is an arborist) and politics – what an amazing night! Any of our friends who visit Porongorup should go and have a meal.

Maleeya and Peter

This brings us back to Sunday morning and our short trip to Denmark, where we will spend three nights. We are already missing being able to stay in a national park rather than a caravan park in town, but sometimes needs must and we will do lots of walks and exploring before moving on to Parry Beach on Wednesday. 

PS It is now Monday morning as the connection was so poor last night this would not work. Things are a bit better this morning where I am sitting outside under the annexe with the finest of drizzle falling, so here goes. . .

Wednesday March 12

As we are about to leave Albany after a terrific five days and make one of our few ‘inland’ excursions to the Stirling Range and Porongurup National Parks, where we will hopefully be in a parks campground without internet connection I had best make the blog current!

Our journey to Albany was very pleasant, with a detour into Cheynes Beach and Waychinicup National Park (what a great name!), where what I initially thought were very tall, grey Grass Trees turned out to be Kingias. For those of you who may love ‘The Lorax’ as much as I do, these plants seem to me our version of the ‘Truffula Trees’ which were decimated to create ‘Thneeds’. Maybe I should take this up with Tony Abbott as a way of utilising at least one of our unproductive national parks!

We have enjoyed our time in Albany, going from history to seascapes in the blink of an eye! I will start with yet another of my far too frequent confessions of a lack of knowledge of our history and say that I had no idea that Albany was settled several years before Perth in 1836, when 23 convicts and their militia overseers arrived in the brig ‘Amity’ or that it was the port from which 30,000 Australian and New Zealand troops (and their horses) departed by ship for World War 1. The photos of the huge number of ships lined up in the harbour bring home the horror of it all.

We have walked up Mt Clarence, where the Desert Corps Memorial is located and enjoyed the views and driven up Mt Adelaide to visit the Princess Royal Fortress, which was established in 1893 as the first federal defence of Australia, to guard against the loss of Albany’s strategic port to an enemy naval squadron – so we had Portsea in the east and Albany in the west! In 1956 these coastal defences were dismantled, never having fired a shot.

Middleton Bay from Mt Clarence

King George Sound from Princess Royal Fortress

King George Sound & Vancouver Peninsula from Princess Royal Fort

Married Quarters, Princess Royal Fort

Magnificent stone work, Military Institute, Princess Royal Fort

On the side of Mt Adelaide we spotted more Kingias, which had responded to a recent fire by producing multiple flower stalks – a quite bizarre sight! Not many 'Thneeds' from these I am afraid!

We spent an informative but totally horrifying half day at Whale World, Albany’s historic whaling station. The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company operated here until 1978 and processed thousands of Sperm and Southern Right Whales. Walking around the site and hearing the sounds of the work of the whaling station so graphically recreated and seeing the machinery used to rend these whales into oil and other products was truly awful.

Flensing deck

Whale chaser - there were 4 of these operating

It took the refined oil from 103, 50 tonne Sperm Whales to fill
this tank & I am there just to give it a sense of perspective
not because I am impressed by it!

The whole whale, apart from the teeth, was rendered and
what was left after the cooking to remove the oil was
dried into these 'solubles' which were used for stock food,
fertiliser etc. Enough said!!!!!

Rumour had it that the Salmon were starting to run along the coast and as there are a couple of renowned Salmon fishing spots in Albany, we spent Monday morning at one - Salmon Holes, a stunning beach in the Torndirrup National Park. Sadly Murray didn’t snag a Salmon (neither did anyone else as it turned out), but he did catch a herring and who could ever regret a morning in such a beautiful spot.

Foolish fishers get washed off these rocks with monotonous regularity

The granite headlands, limestone cliffs and white sandy beaches of Torndirrup National Park are pounded by the Southern Ocean.  The rocks of this area were left behind when Australia and Antarctica parted 45 million years ago, so looking across the spectacular granite blocks of The Gap and Natural Bridge and imagining all this was pretty incredible.

Cable Beach

The Gap

Natural Bridge - wouldn't want to be crossing when this collapses!

It is really difficult to stop taking photos of these amazing rocks!

West Cape Howe is the most southern promontory of WA and on Tuesday we visited this national park and once again, were just astounded at the beauty of the coast. Travelling into the park we encountered our first patches of karri forest, before going through more superb heathland to the stunning granite and black dolorite cliffs of Shelley Beach Lookout and Shelley Beach. The Lookout is a popular launch site for hang-gliders and paragliders, some of whom were launching themselves off the platforms whilst we were there. As a confirmed coward, I was astounded that anyone could do such a thing and was absolutely incredulous when a French fellow and his daughter, who was about 6 or 7, took off on a shared flight.

Looking north from Shelley Beach Lookout

Shelley Beach 

The stories this little girl will have to tell!

Down on the beach we watched the gliding activity overhead, enjoyed the scenery, chatted to fishers, were entranced by a seal which was entertaining us all by playing with a large fish it had caught and reminded ourselves once again how lucky we are.

The black dolorite is so impressive, especially against the
 turquoise water and white sand

The seal tossing its fish around, with one very hopeful seagull flying close overhead

Today was well spent in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve and Gull Rock National Park, to the east of Albany. It is almost unbelievable that we keep visiting these places which are so spectacular. Long before European settlement, Two Peoples Bay was originally named ‘Baie des Deux Peuples’, following a chance meeting of French and American mariners, in honour of the two new republics.

Two Peoples Bay

Little Beach is another of those superb spots with massive granite headlands, white sand beaches and turquoise water that we have been so spoilt with along this southern coast.

Dotted through the the wetter areas of the park were the brilliant orange flowers of the Swamp Bottlebrush (Beaufortia sparsa) – another wondrous moment of seeing plants we have used in our garden in their original environment.

Gull Rock National Park is on the outskirts of Albany and supports exceptional botanical diversity. The granite rocks of Ledge Beach were a perfect place for lunch and became even more special when some of what we now know were King’s Skinks, which had been sunning themselves quite happily on the rocks before we arrived to disturb them, came back out to share our apple.

The rock fetish continues! The ship is waiting in Middleton Bay to come into the port 

King's Skink

So ends our time in and around Albany. We won’t have any beaches for the next three days, but we are anticipating some pretty spectacular scenery and vegetation, so stay tuned!