Last week we went exploring the Great Southern Region of Western Australia. We stayed in the little hamlet of Denmark for 3 nights & set about exploring the area bounded by the Stirling ranges in the North, Albany to the East & Walpole to the West. It's a good 4-5 hour drive from Perth depending on conditions, but well worth it. Fortunately the drive isn't anywhere near as boring as the road north of Perth but you still want to give yourself at least 3 days away to make it worth while.
About 2-3 hours into the drive at Cranbrook you can take a side trip to the Stirling Ranges (above). Unfortunately the wow factor is a little hard to produce after a year & a half in the Canadian Rockies, but it's not bad by flat old Western Australian standards. The peaks have an altitude of around 1000-1100m & jag up from the flat plains of the wheat belt not more than a couple of hundred metres above sea level.
The most eastern peak in the park is Bluff Knoll (above). A narrow windy road leads up to the foot of the rocky outcrop where you can get a nice view of the plains (below) & the rest of the peaks. Given more time & cooler temperatures we may have done the 4-5 hr round trip hike to the top of the Knoll, but not this time.
After stopping for a short while at Bluff Knoll we continued south toward Mat Barker & on to Denmark. Along the way there were a couple of short cuts on dirt roads we took (because I can in the 4x4!) that tracked through seemingly endless farmland. Those short cuts meant that the Wedge Tailed Eagles weren't so concerned about passing traffic to the point where one rose up from the road and just cleared the roof of the truck. I had never been this close to one before and I can tell you they are very very large birds. They're an awesome sight but no easier to photograph in flight than the Bald Eagles in North America. I think I did OK with the one below.
Eventually we reached Denmark & offloaded our gear so we were free to explore. It was getting quite late in the day so we decided to drive along Mt Shadford road and admire the scenery. It was a no brainer because we were staying at the Denmark end of the road.
There is a lookout point (above) at the far end of the road that allows to to see the Great Southern Ocean & Wilson's Inlet that Denmark is built around.
Mt Shadford road is lined with huge tingle trees (left) making the drive even more scenic. There's no shortage of vineyards as well. The Denmark area has emerged as a new force in wines in recent years. Unfortunately the food options in Denmark are pretty bad. The 4 'restaurants' show promise, but the execution from the cooking staff is woeful in all cases. The Pub was the best of them, but it was still just pub food. It's such a shame because the rest of the place is so nice.
Mt Shadford road is lined with huge tingle trees (left) making the drive even more scenic. There's no shortage of vineyards as well. The Denmark area has emerged as a new force in wines in recent years. Unfortunately the food options in Denmark are pretty bad. The 4 'restaurants' show promise, but the execution from the cooking staff is woeful in all cases. The Pub was the best of them, but it was still just pub food. It's such a shame because the rest of the place is so nice.
