Beach Tour - Albany and Denmark

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The drive fromPerthtoAlbanytook five hours and wasn’t particularly scenic. We were on theAlbany Highwayfor the majority of the trip which is one very long straight road and was very quiet apart from the occasional road train (lorries pulling two loads). When we finally reachedAlbanywe checked into the Emu Point Motel which was pretty decent to say it only set us back $85 a night. We followed the sign for the beach on foot and after a very short walk discoveredMiddletonBeach– the first of many beautiful beaches in the South West with white sand and clear water. The weather was quite cool and cloudy which wasn’t ideal for sunbathing but great for sightseeing so we set off for a scenic drive aroundAlbany’s natural harbour. We followedGap Roadand saw ‘The Gap’ and ‘NaturalBridge’ which were the highlight of our trip. We basically stood at the end of whereAustraliaused to be joined toAntarctica(only about 45 million years ago) where granite had been formed by molten rock and eroded away by water and wind – the result of which was a pretty dramatic rocky landscape and long drop to the ocean. It was amazing to see and really impressive. Afterwards, we went to find the blowholes but unfortunately they weren’t blowing so we headed back and had a delicious meal at the Mean Fiddler (where we got complimentary drinks after mentioning Trip Advisor).

The next day we decided to drive further east where we discovered three great beaches (all at the end of dirt track roads) called Ledge Bay, Nanarup Beach, and Little Beach (definitely the best one). We then returned toAlbanyand had lunch in the café at Whaleworld which overlooked the harbour. We decided we weren’t bothered about doing the tour there and sunbathed at Whaling Cove instead. Once we were looking tantastic we headed to theAlbanywind farm which was a lot more impressive than we expected with beautiful views overlooking the ocean and the rest ofAlbany.

The following morning we got up and packed our stuff back into the car because we were spending the next two nights at the beautiful Mount Lindesay B&B inDenmark. By 9am we were sunbathing on Shelley Beach. When we finally moved we drove to William Bay to check our the four beaches there – Greens Pool, Elephant Rocks, Waterfall Beach, and Madfish Bay – which are all amazing beaches and definitely worth a visit. The only problem was the flies! There were so many near the beaches and they don’t leave you alone. When we’d had enough of swatting them away we went to check in at the B&B, got changed, and headed to The Lakehouse winery where we enjoyed a glass of wine and olives whilst overlooking the lake. Lovely! That evening we enjoyed the local seafood at the Denmark Hotel then had an early night.

On our last day inDenmarkwe headed towards the Valley of the Giants to see the giant karri and tingle trees. We decided not to do the Tree Top Walk and instead had a guided tour on the ground which was interesting. Afterwards, we went for a walk to find the ‘giant tingle tree’ which is one of the widest trees still standing in Denmark then went to Circular Pool which was close by, but there were too many flies there to stay long. After a quick lunch in Walpole we went for a sunbathe at Conspicuous Cliffs which was another deserted beach then called for a giant ice cream at the Toffee Factory before returning to the B&B.

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