The Denmark coastal area is has numerous natural attractions including Greens Pool, Elephant Rocks, Sinker Bay and Waterfall Beach, all of which are quite stunning in their own particular way.

Greens Pool

Greens Pool is a stunning natural sea pool set on a white sandy beach nestled amongst granite outcrops and boulders. It is very popular with tourists and this was the case when we were there but not so crowded that you couldn’t find a spot to yourself if you wanted it.

We weren’t up for swim that day so we elected to walk up and over the granite outcrop on the left side to view the area from a bit of height. The beaches on the southern coast of Western Australia are much more like the east coast rather than the red dirt of the western coast but the water still seems to have that glassy green’ish colour that is quite mesmerising and calming.

Elephant Rocks

Walking up over the granite outcrops for a few hundred metres brings you around to Elephant Rocks. This is another sheltered beach that is dotted with large exposed granite boulders some of which stand around 9m out of the water.

One rock in particular seems to be a favourite jumping rock with young folks scrambling up the rock spine to leap down into the crystal clear water below. We watched a number of people do it and it seems to us that the 9m leap is actually the easy part. The scramble up the sharply sloping spine of the rock looks like a great way to enjoy a broken bone or two if you lose your grip and/or balance. Two young girls in particular looked extremely precarious at one point but did manage to get to the top and hurl themselves back off. Kudos to them.

Sinker Bay

Sinker Bay is a rocky inlet area on the Denmark coast that sits in contrast to the calm green waters of Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks. The ocean breaks straight onto Black Hole Rock in a ceaseless effort to wear it down into the ocean. Once again we came across a fair size gouge in the rock that contained a sizable amount of salt that had crystallized from sea water that had washed in and evaporated.

A testament to the power of the sea was a large rock pool about 2 metres above the water line that had a plate-sized Wrasse swimmming around in it. It had either been put there by a fisherman or washed in by a tidal surge. It didn’t seem to perturbed about its predicament swimming in and out from under a rock ledge (see video).

Waterfall Beach

Waterfall Beach is exactly what is named. A beach with a waterfall! Having said that… it took a bit of searching to actually find the waterfall. We turned the wrong way once we got onto the beach and found a small trickle of water coming down the bank and thought that was it but it didn’t quite match the pictures we had seen before getting there.

So we set off in the other direction and noticed a washout cutting through the sand down into the surf. tracking that back to the low cliff we we found the actual waterfall as it tumbled out of a cleft in the rock, spilling into a small rock pool before cutting a washout through the sand into the ocean.

On our way back we passed another couple who remarked about how ‘unremarkable’ the eaterfall was… We quietly pointed them in the direction of the actual waterfall, for which they were most grateful…

The star attraction of the Denmark region is without a doubt the Valley Of The Giants and the magnificent Tingle Trees, Karri, Marri and Jarrah trees. And the best way to see them is via the Tree Top Walk.

Tree Top Walk

The Tree Top Walk is a 600m suspended walkway that winds through the canopy of the Tingle and Karri trees at a height of 40m. So once again we found ourselves testing our fear of heights as we made our way up along the ramp and onto the suspended path.

Each length of the walkway is suspended between bettween steel poles with a circular platform atop each where you can stop and look into the tops of the trees and all the way down to the bases. The walkway is similar to the Tahune Air Walk in Tasmania but probably a little less challenging without the overhang points that have you standing out with no support below the platform. It’s still a long way up though and has a reasonable amount of bounce and sway as you make your way around it.

An interesting thing about the walk is that it was built with minimal disturbance to the ground and the trees around it. Surprisingly, despite their enormous size, the Tingle Trees are quite shallow rooted and they can be very easily damaged just by having too many people walking on them, which is one of the reasons the Tree Top Walk was built… The whole thing is free-standing with only the 40m poles for support. Everything else is held up under tension from the poles.

Walking through the canopy give a whole new perspective on these magnificent trees, which still have a fragility despite their enormous size. You get to look down on nests and burls that you wouldn’t otherwise see from below. You also gain a perspective on the normal sized trees and plants that live in the shade of the giants.

The Giants

Aside from the Tree Top Walk you can wander through parts of the forest although we were unable to do the Ancient Forest Walk due to construction work being done to extend the low-impact walkways. We did do a guided walk down a forest trail with a volunteer guide who showed us the difference between Tingles, Karri and Marri trees.

One of the amazing things about the Tingles, apart from their size, is that it is really only a thin part of the outside of the tree that is living. Some of the Tingles are virtually hollow with huge splits in the trunks that you can walk through, yet they’re still living. Some of the trees had enormous burls that in a fairytale setting could be turned into a giant’s coffee table.

The giant trees weren’t the only attraction of the region. There was a great diversity of trees, grasses, shrubs and fungi. One standout was a slim tree with a series of spiral twists in the trunk. At first look it might have been some sort of strangler vine but close up it appeared to be the actual tree trunk. Another was a beautiful bright orange fungus growing on a fallen tree trunk. It was the size of a dinner plate and would no doubt kill you of you ate it.

The giant trees of Western Australia aren’t quite as big as the sequoias in the U.S., which we walked amongst back in 2016, but they are just as magnificent in their own right. They only inhabit a small pocket in the south of W.A. Hopefully they will continue to flourish there for millennia to come.

Without a doubt, the historic Discovery Bay Whaling Station is the star attraction of the Albany region. This carefully preserved whale processing factory precinct is a proud part of Albany‘s history and the primary reason that the town was established.

And, whilst whaling is now a defunct and regrettable industry, the Discovery Bay Whaling Station manages to walk the line between being proud of its past whilst acknowledging the sadness and brutality that was modern whaling.

The centrepiece of the factory precinct is the Cheynes IV, a ship of the whaling fleet in permanent dry-dock and kept in pristine condition. We walked through every part of the vessel and saw first hand how harsh, difficult and trying conditions must have been when out at sea chasing down whales.

When the whaling industry was ceased, the workers at Discovery Bay essentially downed their tools on the last day and walked away from the site to seek new jobs. The factory precinct itself was therefore left in exactly the state it was on that day. It has been preserved beautifully and in superb detail. It commemorates the whalers and factory workers, and their harsh working conditions but also acknowledges the ugliness of the industry and its necessity in those times.

There were some moving video interviews of former whalers who describe their pride in the work they performed but also expressing regret and remorse for they way in which the killing of whales took place. It was what they did to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. And if not them then it would have been someone else.

Discovery Bay Whaling Station preserves the history of whaling but and also uses the entire facility in a revamped way to educate about whales and marin mammals. The whale oil storage tanks have been converted into small theatres featuring short documentaries and if you concentrate you can still get a slight whiff of the whale oil that completely permeated the tank walls.

One of the truly impressive displays is the complete skeletons of a Blue Whale and Humpback Whale side-by-side and a Sperm Whale. The Blue Whale absolutely dwarfs the Humpback, which is immense in its own right. The Sperm Whale skeleton contrasts the difference between toothed whales and baleen whales (filter feeders).

Everything about Discovery Bay Whaling Station is done well and combines to tell a proud story of a now defunct industry that Albany was built on. And whilst the whalers have moved on to other professions and industries, the Discovery Bay Whaling Station stands as a superb reminder of the past.

One of the funny stories that sticks with us is of a flenser, a worker who cuts up the whale for processing. When whales were brought into the station for processing they were stored offshore until they could be brought up onto the flensing deck. Because of this the carcasses attracted shark and in particular White Pointers. Shark fishing was a favourite weekend activity for a lot of the workers and some huge Great Whites were caught in Discovery Bay. Anyway… This particular flenser would have a swim, with his dog, every single day after work of the dock near the flensing deck and never once had an encounter with a shark. That’s brave with a capital ‘B’.

One of the best natural features in the Great Southern Region is Castle Rock. This is a massive granite outcrop with magnificent panoramic views south to Albany.

Castle Rock was something of a surprise to us. We were looking for something to do that involved a bit of driving, a bit of walking and something look at it and Castle Rock delivered that in spades…

The drive there was quite picturesque taking us up through Porongorup and some beautiful big tree country. To get to Castle Rock you need to undertake fairly decent 2.5km bushwalk that rises continually amongst the Blue Gums.

At the end of the walk you come to a massive granite outcrop with a huge egg shaped balancing rock that really does seem to defy gravity. The rock itself is quite stunning due to its sheer immensity and contrasting tiny footprint on the base rock and it’s quite daunting to stand beneath even for a few brief moments to get a photo…

It’s at the balancing rock that you get your first good look at Castle Rock itself. The massive round-top boulder rises above you towards the sky and wear a halo, which is the Granite Skywalk. But before you get to the skywalk you need to walk around the base of Castle Rock and up a steep, tricky rock scramble and then climb some strategically placed climbing rungs to get to the base of the skywalk.

After all that you arrive at a caged ladder that you can climb up to the skywalk itself. Jo gave it a brave try but only managed to get five rungs up before acrophobia got the better of her and she had to climb back down. Rob managed to beat his own acrophobia and make it to the top, which proved to be absolutely exhilarating.

The skywalk is a narrow metal mesh walkway that is drilled and glued into the side of rock face. You can see, through the mesh below your feet, the stunning and dizzying drop immediately below you. For an acrophobic it is in equal parts daunting and breath-taking… but absolutely worth the fear and anxiety. You quickly become accustomed to sensations and gradually relax so that you can appreciate the grand vista that appears before you.

It was a brave effort by Jo despite not making it to the top of the skywalk. There were plenty of people left behind who didn’t make it past the rock scramble and the climbing rungs.

From the skywalk you can see all the way back to Albany and the ocean, a 45 minute drive away. Spectacular doesn’t properly describe the vista before you and it is a very fitting reward for the effort expended to get there.

After a few more photos and a last look at the view from the lower viewing area we trudged back along the 2.5km trail to the carpark, a little exhausted but all the more richer for having visited this wonderful natural formation.

The drive home took us back through Porongorup and stopped in at the Porongorupup Inn, Shop and Tearooms for a late lunch. This was a wonderfully eccentric place that was a little run down and sold all the usual touristy knick knacks. We sat down and ordered a hot chicken roll not expecting too much but were pleasantly surprised when we received two very fresh and succulent chicken rolls filled with warm, sticky meat. Just perfect after our mornings exertions.

This was a terrific and very satisfying day trip for both of us. One of the great things about travelling is finding places like this that aren’t all that well known but exceed all your expectations when you make the effort to visit them. Castle Rock will be a favourites list memory…

The museum district sits down below the terrace area of the old town on the ocean side . There a high walkway that takes you from the terrace over the main highway to the Albany Entertainment Centre. From there you can head down to the museum district, which is dominated by the Brig Amity, a beautiful full-sized replica of the original brig kept in dry-dock beside a large lake area. The original was wrecked north of Tasmania in 1845.

You can wander around the top deck of the Amity at your leisure and imagine undertaking an ocean voyage in the mid1800’s. You can also pay for a below decks tour but we opted not to do this one on this occasion. It was enough to marvel at the complexity of the rigging and workmanship of the planking, decking. Although the brig was a sound ship back in the day and would have been relatively comfortable for the Scottish emigrants that bought her to emigrate to Australia, those people were made of sterner stuff than we are today…

The Brig Amity is maintained by the Museum of the Great Southern, which has a series of buildings nearby encompassing a broad range of all things Albany. The Residency Building was originally a store and office for the nearby convict-hiring depot. It houses a collection of historical artefacts from the 1800’s and was originally and gives you a feel for early Albany prior to whaling. Albany, originally, was a military outpost for New South Wales and would have become the state capital until Perth got the nod.

The convict gaol nearby is maintained in historical accuracy with some of the original walls, made of convict bricks, still fully intact. There is even a gallows there that serves as a reminder of the severity of convict life back in the day. The gaol was also used to hold indigenous ‘prisoners’ who were segregated into a different cell lined with wooden boards. This would have been mild torture for those people and sadly you can see carved markings scratched into the boards depicting aboriginal stories and motifs.

The Eclipse Building houses more contemporary displays including a lighthouse display, fishing display and an fish wall that identifies all of the fish of the region. The centre-piece is a Fresnel Lens from a lighthouse. Similar to the one we saw back in Carnarvon, these lens are a jewel-like thing of beauty when viewed up close.

Other interesting exhibits include the aft figurehead from the wreck of The Agnes, a ship transfer basket and a very large meteorite. The Agnes figurehead had apparently been ‘lying in state’ for many years under a landowners bed after his wife made him put it away… The ship transfer basket was a bit like a wicker-work baloon basket used to transfer people and cargo on and off ships. Apparently it was an extremely dangerous device to be carried in. The meteorite is a rather large black chunk of pock-marked ironstone known as the Mundrabilla Meteorite. It fell to Earth in 1911 on the Nullarbor Plain and weighs over12 tonnes.

There is a little bit of something for everyone at the Museum of the Great Southern.

Torndirrup National Park is another of Albany‘s natural wonders. Like Castle Rock, it contains a number of magnificent granite rock formations including the Natural Bridge and The Gap.

The Gap is a huge cleft in the granite sea cliff where the ocean waves rush in and out causing a spectacular swirling surge of white water. The Natural Bridge is, of course, a massive slab of granite between granite side walls undercut over millennia by the ocean waves. It is very spectacular as the white water rushes over and recedes from base rock below. Viewing platforms allow you to get very close to both formations and once again be awe-inspired by the timeless power and beauty of nature…

And, of course. it wouldn’t be rocky coastline without visiting a lighthouse… The Cave Point Lighthouse is situated in the National Park and is now fitted with radome (radar housing) instead of a light.

It is a relatively modern lighthouse built as a round concrete tower in 1976. The light was removed in 1994 and converted to radar. It’s not especially tall but does stand proud over the rocky cliffs by the sea, which gives it a very Western Australian feel…

We also got up close with some Black Cockatoos along the path, which we believe were Baudin’s Black Cockatoos. They sat in happily in the scrubby trees beside the path and were happy to pose for a photo or two (as most cockatoos seem to like to do). They were quite sizable and probably slightly larger than the average white cockatoo that we see back home. They also have the same bright inquisitive nature that cocky’s seem to possess.

Torndirrup National Park, although very different to the red rocky coastline of the western side of the state was still a very wild and natural place. Being on the southerly edge it was more like the South Australian coastline but none-the-less beautiful…

Wave Rock

Most people have heard of Wave Rock yet it does not have the same level of reverence or mystique as Uluru, Kata-Tjuta, the Horizontal Falls or the Great Barrier Reef. Like ningaloo (the reef) it sits in a second tier of Australian iconic places and yet fully deserves to be in the first tier. Wave Rock is AWESOME…

No picture does it justice and nothing prepares you for your first glimpse as it appears in front of you and rears up, for all the world like a breaking wave turned to stone at the crucial moment. Indeed, from a certain vantage point it even looks like the waves you see in a surfing competition from a camera on a jet ski as the wave rolls past. It is absolutely stunning.

The natural staining on the face of the wall accentuates the imagery and heightens the scale of its grandeur. It is nature imitating nature and it is, in our opinion, a bonafide wonder of the world.

And again… we were privileged, with the Seagulls, to have it all to ourselves with only a handful of others there to enjoy its spledour.

Lighthorse Memorial

Sitting on top of Wave Rock, unknown to us beforehand, is a Light Horse Memorial. There is a metal sculpture of a Light Horseman, flagpoles and a concrete water storage tank with a painted mural dedicated to the Light Horsemen. Part of the mural contains a poem that is as salient and sobering today as it was then. It is an all to present reminder of the stupidity, futility and sadness that is human warfare…

Now Willie McBride I can't help wonder why
Do those who lie here, do they know why they died
Did they really believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Forever this song of suffering and shame
The killing, the dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it's all happened again
And again and again and again and again.

Lest we forget…

Hippo’s Yawn

A short walk from Wave Rock is an even lesser known formation called Hippo’s Yawn. It’s not hard to see where the name comes from looking for all the world like the top of a hippopotamus’s jaws breaking through the surface of the water to crunch down on some unsuspecting hiker walking past.

It is nearly 13m high and also needs to be viewed with something to provide scale against. In our case we took a a photo with Jo and Sandy Seagull to provide the scale by standing squarely in the hippo’s mouth. At least if it fell over you probably wouldn’t be crushed to death but it would be a pretty hard and difficult dig out…

Mulka’s Cave

Also at the Wave Rock site is Mulka’s Cave. This is particularly noteworthy for the numerous rock paintings contained within it. Some of them are quite faint and we mostly only saw hand print outlines of the type produced by placing a hand against the rock and spitting ochre paint at it.

Mulka was an outcast aboringinal man and there are two versions of his story. One was that he was outcast because he had crossed-eyes and it was feared that he would bring a curse on those who looked at him.

The other was that he was the son of a man and woman who fell in love but were forbidden to marry, which resulted in him having crossed eyes. Despite growing tall and strong he was a poor hunter because of his eyes so he reorted to catching and eating children. After being scolded by his mother for this he killed her as well. He fled to Mulka’s Cave but was hunted down and speared near Dumbleyung (our next camping spot) and his body left to rot and be eaten by the ants.

In any event, the cave is quite impressive and you can imagine that it would have been quite a comfortable place for an indigenous person to live in this area.

As a side note, in deference to Mulka’s cross-eyed affliction, it was at the cave that Rob unknowingly, until later, dropped his sunglasses never to be seen again. Although they were a pair of cheap roadhouse sunnies, they were polarised and very comfortable to wear. They were sadly missed…

Around Wave Rock

In addition to the wave, Hippo’s Yawn and Mulka’s Cave the scenery around Wave Rock is also quite striking. We came across a small weathered boulder on the edge of the path that from behind looked exactly like Darth Vader’s helmet.

Also unbeknown to us was that there is quite a large water storage dame at the top of Wave Rock. This is the water storage reservoir for Hyden, the small town closest to Wave Rock. It’s fenced off as you would expect but does come as a surprise after walking up the steep slope at one end of Wave Rock. There are man-made water channels down below as well that must have served as water diversions back in the day.

On top of Wave Rock there is a curious hollow boulder that has been gouged out by weathering and erosion on one side. Somewhat like a mini or baby hippo yawn. Very useful if a downpour occurs…

The lower flatter sides of Wave Rock also exhibit signs of ancient weathering and erosion with huge slabs of granite peeling off like giant pieces of orange skin. These slabs emphasise the age of the underlying rock and the staggering amount of time it has been sitting under the baking sun and soaking rains of the Western Australian outback.

The other notable aspects of the area are the striking salmon gums and red bottle brushes (callistemons) that grow in the area. Up close, the salmon gums shine as if they have been polished and they glow in the afternoon sun. The callistemons bring sharp splashes of colour to the otherwise drab scrub and there always seem to be wild bees harvesting the nectar from them.

One of the quirkier aspects of the region is the Tin Horse Highway at Kulin. It is about 15km of highway from between Lake Grace and Kulin. Each side of the road is lined every few hundred metres with a bush sculpture featuring a horse theme usually made from old oil drums and any other scrap materials.

It originally started as a promotional effort for the annual Kulin Bush Races. The community has really gotten behind the idea and it has become a tourist attraction in its own right. There has been some serious thought and construction gone into some of the sculptures and they all exhibit that wry and laconic brand of bush humour that is all too rare in modern Australia.

Even the 24 hour fuel station in Kulin has gotten into the act by turning an LPG gas storage tank into a tin horse sculpture. In town and along the highway there are well over a hundred tin horses, each with it’s own humourous taken of the idea and even some more serious ones such as a seahorse sculpture, which is a pretty decent work of art in its own right.

Even the police and the Defence Force have tin horses with their theme attached to them. Not sure if they’re officially sanctioned or not but wouldn’t be surprised if they were…

Our drive along the Tin Horse Highway with the Seagulls was a very enjoyable trip and probably the slowest 15km we have ever done stopping to take photos every few hundred metres.

After our visit to Wave Rock we continued on to have a look at a stretch of the Rabbit Proof Fence. Made famous by the film ‘Rabbit Proof Fence‘ there are actually three vermin fences but the one we visited was the original Number 1 Fence running north-south from west of Eighty Mile Beach to west of Esperance.

It is a strange sort fence, not only for its length, but also for its simplicity. Indeed, the size of the gaps in the wire look as they anything up to a cocker spaniel could easily get through it. At the point where we viewed it there was a deliberate gap in the fence with nothing more than a cattle grid separating either side.

Apparently the fence is, or was, the longest unbroken fence in the world (cattle grids notwithstanding). But despite being a fairly simple straight-forward post and wire fence it is an extremely impressive structure that can’t really be appreciated until you see a map showing it’s route from the bottom of the country to the top.

It’s the things like the Rabbit Proof Fence that make Australia such a unique place. It is not a monument, a tourist attraction or an ‘experience’. It is a piece of living, functional history that sits under the sun and does it’s job day after day after day…

Statues Lake is sizable salt pan lake 10km from Kondinin. At the time of our visit the lake was completely dry and mostly pure white with some bands of yellow’ish salt crust. Apparently at various times of the year it can become a fluorescent yellow colour.

Whilst there are quite a lot of salt pan lakes in W.A. this one is notable for the sculptures set into it. The most striking sculpture is of a swimmer with his head and arm breaking the surface of the lake in a freestyle swimming motion.

The other scultpture is of a group of figures in various poses. Surrounding the figures was a thick crust of yellow salt that crunched heavily underfoot as shown in the short video below. It must have been devastating back in the day when these filled up with water but were unusable because of the salinity.

Once again, at Lake Kondinin (Statues Lake) the quirkiness of the whole region is on display giving the whole region around Kondinin a character of it’s own.

The jewel in York‘s crown is the York Motor Museum. Located on the main street the museum looks like a shopfront but once inside it reveals itself as a massive, multi-roomed floor space of immaculate automobiles, motor cycles and motoring memorabilia. The displays range from the earliest days of motoring in Australia through to more contemporary models.

There truly is something for everyone amongst the exhibits, most of which are in immaculate condition and/or fully restored to showroom condition. Originally a private collection, it was acquired by a community not-for-profit group and was the catalyst for the revival of York.

Once again we were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves and wandered through the amazing array of vehicles and displays at our leisure. All for the princely sum of $12 for Rob and $10 for Jo (using her Senior’s card). It was unbeliebavble value for money especially compared to a number of other museums and collections that we had viewed in our travels.

The prized exhibit was one of the first six Australian Six‘s built (without a chassis number). It is one of only four Australian Six‘s known to exist from a production run of around 500. It was beautiful automobile that was an early 1900’s attempt by Australia to compete against foreign cars that was ultimately doomed due to high production costs.

One of Rob’s favourite exhibits was one of Ralph Sarich‘s Orbital Engines. The Orbital Engine burst into the automotive scene back in the 70’s and was hailed as a revolutionary new design, similar in concept but different to the rotary engine of RX7 fame. Despite immense global interest the Orbital Engine was plagued by a couple of issues and never garnered the financial support required to fully develop it and disappeared from view in the 80’s.

Another unique exhibit that peaked our interest was due to the Seagulls telling us of their former heavy involvement in go-kart racing. Gary Seagull was actually a National Champion in his younger years and Sandy raced as well. The museum had on exhibit Rosco McGlashan’s rocket powered go-kart capable of 407kph, a truly amazing piece of ‘terror’…

One of the quirkier exhibits was ‘Never Never Tours’ Valiant Ute from the movie ‘ Crocodile Dundee‘ with the dashboard signed by Paul Hogan. The ute is displayed complete with a stuffed crocodile sitting in front of it for a bit of character and whimsy.

Not being huge car enthusiasts we were completely blown away by the York Motor Museum. We didn’t know it existed until we arrived in York and are so glad we stumbled upon it. It was unforgettable and totally absorbing.

Staying near the Perth airport gave us the opportunity to visit Lesmurdie Falls in Mundy National Park. The park came as a great surprise as it’s right on the edge of Perth and surrounded by suburban housing, It’s only 56ha in area and contains Lesmurdie Falls, which are 50m high.

You can view the falls from the top and then choose from a number of trails through various parts of the park. Naturally we chose the trail down to the falls. ‘Down’ is a bit of a misnomer as the first part of the trail takes you along the edge of the gorge before starting the descent down to the falls themselves.

The first thing you notice is the prevalence of eucalypt trees covered in gumnuts, some of which are the size of golfballs. The bush itself was very scrubby but the trail was well marked and not too difficult although a little strenuous in places. We came across a number of shingleback lizards sunning themselves on the edge of the track.

We eventually made it down to the bottom of the falls and came across what we believe to be a King’s Skink. At first glance it looks like a fat black snake but you quickly notice the legs and realise that it’s a lizard. It too was sinning itself on the rocks near the falls.

Wildlife abounded down near the foot of the falls. We had the chance to get reasonably close to kookaburra… yes, sitting in an old gum tree. It was quite content to sit and pose for us as we edged up closer to the falls. There’s something about kookaburras. They’re so quintessentially Australian and iconic.

The falls themselves were a little disappointing. Primarily due to it being the dry part of the year. They were running but only a fraction of what they would be like after a good rain.

The walk back up actually seemed easier than the walk down but it was well worth it for the exercise, the wildlife and also the panoramic views of Perth city in the distance.

Not far from Mundy National Park is the Kalamunda Zig Zag Road. This was originally a switchback style railroad that became a narrow road. It was closed for a period of time due to dangerous driving and hooning but was re-opened in 2020 as a one-way tourist drive. Driving down it provided some more scenic views of the Perth region and was a nice way to head back towards our van park.

We noticed, whilst perusing Google Maps, a place called Araluen Botanic Park not too far away from the van park. It was up in the hills area of Perth so we decided to take a drive up there and have a look.

We were suprised to find 14ha of gardens, paths, streams, cottages and a semi-natural swimming hole/pool. Starting at the top of the park in the Rose Garden area we again noted that we had the whole place to ourselves. It wasn’t really the right time of year for roses but still nice to wander around them.

The park was created by the founder of the Youth Australia League as a retreat for young Australians to experience outdoor life. It consists of different areas devoted to different themes and structures.

The most impressive structure is the Margaret Simons Pergola. This is not your typical backyard wooden frame. It is a massive walkway framed by stone pillars supporting jarrah logs that casts criss-crossed shadows creating a surreal visual effect as you enter it.

The park has various trails that wind up and down between the various gardens. On one such trail there were a couple of dead tree trunks that had been cut in situ into throne like chairs. We took the chance to do a coupe of before and after photos (below) that turned out pretty well.

There was a long narrow series of cascades from the top of one area into a large lily pond at the bottom. The views from the top and bottom providing alternate and differing perspectives of the same stream. The lily pond at the bottom is quite large and fed by the cascade through a small outlet under a set of stone steps, which also follow the path of the stream down the hill.

Unfortunately the cafe wasn’t open on the day of our visit. That aside all of the various cabins around the park led a rustic atmosphere from times past to it. Most of the cottages a log style cottages reminiscent of Canadian log cabins. Timber and stone are used heavily in the construction, which gives a sense of grandeur and timelessness to the park.

The most curious thing in the park was the ‘old swimming pool’. Fed by a natural stream it had that deep green colour that is normal for still freshwater. The incongruous thing about it was that it was closed to swimming for health reasons. On a hot Perth day it would have been a fabulous place to cool off and then sit in the shade of the log shelter.

Araluen Botanic Park was as impressive as it was unexpected. It is one of those little gems that you never hear about unless you live near it. And if you live near it you probably don’t bother to visit it. It was a privilege to have it mostly to ourselves and just a nice way to spend a day wandering around it.

Jadran Wines

When we had our van serviced Rob, the service guy, told us that we had to go to Jadran Wines, which were quite close to us at the foot of the Perth Hills. Who were we to question the recommendation of a caravan service technician?

We pulled into a fairly rustic little family run boutique winery. Our tasting hostess was a family member and she gave us a terrific rundown of the winery’s history in the area and her families ownership.

We were intrigued and a little gob-smacked to find that aside from your more standard varietals such as Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc they also made a large range of fortified wines including Blackberry Nip, Cherry Cocktail and, believe it or not, Green Ginger Wine. They even used to make Marsala but had to discontinue it due to being unable to source the ingredients.

We came away with a Shiraz, Merlot, Sparkling Shiraz, Chenin Blanc, West Coast Classic and even a Green Ginger Wine. All of their wines are under $15 a bottle, which was absolutely amazing given the quality of their product.

The star of the show though was their Scarlet Red Wine Liqueur. This is THE MOST AMAZING liqueuer we have ever tasted. On your first taste you think, “What the hell is this? Do I like this?” After your second taste you are hooked for life… This liqueur is amazing. If the colour ‘scarlet’ has a flavour then this is is. It is dry, not sweet, It tastes of musk stick, strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate and every other luscious red thing that you can eat. It is unique, sumptuous and as amazing as it looks. We will absolutely be ordering some when we are back in a stable location…

The Packing Shed

The other winery we visited was The Packing Shed. Centered on Lawnbook Estate it is a combined winery and cafe, which is set in an old… you guessed it… packing shed. It is very rustic and the back deck area was a perfect location for a lazy lunch after a wine tasting.

Located a little further into the Perth Hills in the Bickley Valley, The Packing Shed oozes country charm and the wine tasting was all the more enjoyable due to the hostess and her husband who took over half way through as she started setting up for lunch. Their wines are small batch and generally only available from the cellar door. We also came away with a number of bottles of their wine as well.

Lunch here however was the star… We shared some Arancini Balls to start and Jo had a Warm Chicken Salad with Kale, Pistachio and Pear. Rob had Pork Belly with Citrus Jeu.

The Arancini was very good, the Chicken Salad was excellent but the Pork Belly was sublime. This was possibly the best cooked piece of pork belly we had ever tasted. Perfectly rendered pork with super crisp, dry crackling was pleasure enough in itself but combined, surprisingly, with the citrus jeu was absolute perfection on a plate.

We only did the two wineries in Perth but I think we can agree that we picked to two best and most unique. If we didn’t then those that are must be spectacular…

So… we didn’t spend all that much time in Perth city itself, preferring to go into the Perth Hills and surrounds. We did however take the opportunity to do a Segway Tour of Elizabeth Quay and Kings Park.

Segways are a perfect way to see large in a short time using footpaths and tracks. We tool the 90 minute Kings Park Tour and took us past Elizabeth Quay and up the hill into the magnificent Kings Park, which is one of the largest city parks in the world.

It was a lot of fun to be riding segways again and our guide was quite interesting and knowledgable as we went along. He was a little over-protective at times even though he knew we had ridden before and shown as much before the tour.

The tour half-way point culminated at the one of the park’s Boab trees, which was still in the juvenile phase compared to the giants we had seen up around Kununurra. This was also not far from the war memorial and a lookout area that provided a sweeping view of the city and the Swan River.

The tour gave us a quick taste of Perth, which stood us in good stead for when we would be returning later in the trip during our stay in Fremantle with friends coming to visit us.