DENMARK

Western Australia

A surprise in more than one way

At every stop, a second look is a good idea. What you see is not always what you are getting. Both the roadhouse at Caiguna and the Rivermouth Caravan Park are cases in point, appearing to be one thing and turning out another.

After Fowlers Bay, SA, we crossed the Nullabor with the usual effect it has on us. The vista is huge but it is never boring - unless you spotted the sign announcing that wildlife abounds and Prancing Camels might appear. For those who like more subtle changes in their diet, this is it, and as you draw west past the Border Village the sweeping plains offer ever more variety.

Plunging off the plateau just after Eucla, the road runs alongside a scarp face where the first of the visible grazing enterprises start. Only the hardiest and most determined have survived but their impressive spreads had me admiring the results in a big way. The yards for the annual sales were bigger and better organised than some towns' stockyards. The scarp ran with us until we began to wind through the forests of Salmon Gums, their reddish trunks ranging in colour from delicate pink to lairish orange. Finally we crawled through the last of the roadworks and settled for a night behind  the BP Roadhouse and Motel at Caiguna.

These gums run for about 150 Km between the beginning of the forested area to Norseman
They vary in size from mallee to 35m

The roadhouse  looks old, tired, rusty and dusty - but that's on the outside. The welcome we got was warm, and one-of-everything was available if basic needs was it. Water you need to be carrying, but he who crosses the Nullabor without it is a fool.  The whole place is huge, old, clean and there is even a bar for the thirsty. Nobody we saw stayed longer than overnight and for that, it's perfect. 

Drive through sites alongside Loo - Showers: clean as a whistle

Caiguna's park centre

 The next day we put some distance down and gently rolled in to the bush camp style Ravensthorpe Caravan Park.

The roads are pretty good considering the amount of heavy traffic (means seriously large semi-trailers, mostly triples, many oversize 'Big Ones').
Those wider than a couple of metres have 'Pilots' with them who will tell you, if you ask on Ch 40, how wide. The biggest we've met was 5.8m and that meant stop and get out of the way. If you keep monitoring ch 40 you will hear the road news often, and although there's the odd Blue-Tongue, most of the radio traffic is business, news and views.  

Raventhorpe CP. Bush atmosphere, small park personal service from Clare, the owner.We spent a couple of days at Raventhorpe, a pretty park in a mining and wheat belt town, including a magnificent celebratory dinner for our wedding anniversary.  For which we were given a single red, red rose by the owner of the Ravy Kitchen to complement our Lamb Shanks! Perfectly slow-cooked shanks, country-fresh veggies and BYO wines from Mudgee for which no fee was asked: we insisted after a great meal and excellent company.

And so to Denmark we went. Gave Esperance and Albany a miss for two reasons; been there before, and the weather was unkind for ttravelling. Well, the second reason turned out to be a furphy. Sure, the wind was 35 - 40 km/h, at and more - but it kept swinging round to follow us more than anything.

Greeting Gnomes at the gateway to the Park

When we saw the gnomes our friend had painted on her last visit we knew we were in the right place, but when we met Paul and his partners that was confirmed. Paul is young, enthusiastic, personable and positive. He turned out to be versatile in the extreme, too.  We had the pick of the park at this time of year so we did a lap and chose well.

Then the goodies rolled in. Yes, there was a supermarket in town - not Coles or Woolies. Yes, there was a brewery / winery nearby. Yes, the prices were pretty good.  And did we want a free boat tour of the Inlet? We did.

The bowling club welcomed us but the weather did not, so we dined at the Willoughby Brewery - Winery. Great fire-side table, brilliant service from happy, young staff. Wine-tasting was expertly handled and we followed a couple of tips. But you can't take the beer with you in bottles, and overloading the internal tank is not for the poor old pensioner.

We loved the (free) boat trip on Wilson's Inlet, the purpose built craft as safe as a house and as comfortable as any we've seen.
Paul, Park Manager and boat  operator, gave us plenty of factual and interesting info. And a touch of class. For instance, above is Honeymoon Island, where a young couple were left behind during a picnic trip. They spent a day waiting for resue before deciding to chance it and swim for it. And found the water shin deep!


Great spot, Denmark's Rivermouth Caravan Park. A complete retirement village on the premises but entirely separate from the rest. Excellent cabins, new and well kept, constant upgrades of the rest, especially the camping area and van sites. We left in good spirits after a 4 km walk along the north side of the Inlet and a drive to Ocean Beach.

Gorgeous, even in the gloomy early morning light of an overcast day.

 Above, in the middle of Wilson's Inlet, magnificent examples of the typical WA huge rocks.

At left, the bar across the Inlet. In the old days, they used a  horse and cart to dredge a channel to flush the inlet.  Now, more modern and controlled
methods are used. I hope they use them again soon because the northern shore smells like a drain.

At right, the Rockville Winery where Julie showed of the local products with expertise and pride - so much so we left with a box of goodies.





We left happy at the new experiences we'd had, confirming our friends' recommendations. We'll add ours to the Reviews!