mike with gold

Lily had a strange hunch that when she brought her future husband home, her parents would approve.

Denmark, WA in the news

Camping bliss for $50 a week. The Littlejohn family from Victoria (Warren and Renae with their children Philippa 11, Zara 6 and Will 8). Pic: Astrid Volzke

Denmark's Laid-back Charm a Winner
GEORGIA LONEY, The West Australian April 5, 2010, 6:39 am

After years in the shadow of high-profile Margaret River and Busselton, the once sleepy town of Denmark has come into its own as a favourite WA holiday hot spot, with visitors flocking to its old-fashioned camp sites, five-star wineries, rivers and beaches over the Easter break.

The town has defied the tourism downturn in the South-West, recording a steady increase in visitors over the past two years while tourist visits to other WA holiday towns have remained static or even declined.

The town's population was expected to triple to about 15,000 this Easter weekend, its busiest yet.

Parry's Beach - an old-fashioned campsite where a spot next to the beach costs as little as $49 a week - has been full for almost two weeks, with campers staking their claim in the lead-up to Easter.

The quaint 40-site park boasts home-grown vegetables and jams for sale and now has a national reputation.

The Littlejohn family from Victoria had heard of Parry's Beach and Denmark well before they set off on their three-week trip.

Mum Renae Littlejohn said the site was like stepping back in time.

"Everyone had told us about this little place near Denmark and it's costing us about $7 a night to stay here," she said. "You could never get anything like that in Victoria."

Such is the demand on the town's power supply during peak periods that Western Power has a public campaign urging power conservation after widespread blackouts over the Easter long weekend in 2007.

Denmark Tourism marketing director Marie Redman said the rise in tourism had come as the town's permanent population had increased. There had also been an increase in international visitors.

"We're a gateway to the wilderness area, we have the Walpole wilderness on our doorstop … I've seen an increase in visitors (all year round) and I can see that is only going to increase," she said.

Mrs Redman said Denmark was distinctly different from Margaret River and Busselton.

"We're not citified, we're more country, we are still able to capture the country town feeling," she said.

"I mean, I would liken Margaret River to Claremont, that's how I would look at Margaret River, whereas the natural scenery is more captured in Denmark."

Tourism WA regional manager Mark Exeter said a surge in wine-based tourism - the region boasts high-profile wineries Forest Hill, West Cape Howe and Howard Park - meant Denmark was now rivalling Margaret River as a destination for wine lovers.

"Denmark's popularity has increased a great deal over the past 12 to 18 months," he said. "It used to be people would go to Albany and do a day trip to Denmark, and now it's the other way around."

this aint no surf trip

This is home. Here are a few photos of Mike surfing this morning at our home break, Ocean Beach in Denmark. We rarely photograph our surf sessions unless we're someplace exotic, but a couple of weeks ago I dislocated my shoulder while out surfing. I'm fine now and it wont be long before I'm out in the water again, but in the meantime Mike has his own personal photographer. It was a beautiful day to be in the water... I just hope the surf stays this small until I'm ready to paddle again!














(this is Pat, a friend and geologist from work.)

A nice short crack at Mt Lindsey

After three years of not being on a rope a friend of ours came down to visit and we went looking for cracks (or trouble) on Mt Lindsey. Mt Lindsey is located about 25 minutes north of Denmark. The "how to get there" description includes a rough road, that may be washed out during winter, but passable for a 2WD in dry conditions. Well as always, I was able to find a way to get stuck and no sooner had we turned off the bitumen road we were out of the car assessing our situation, wishing we still had our 4WD. Lily did a great job stuffing objects under the tire, then jumped in the van, revved the engine, popped the clutch, yelled PUSH!!!!!, and we were off. After ten more minutes of tenuous driving we met Murray and Kady at the trailhead.

We had a great day out and it was interesting getting back on the sharp end of a rope. Mt Lindsey has some wonderful short cracks and we can't wait to get back to explore more of the area.

Life is good

Courtesy of Paul's iPhone

Albany Surf Safari

A couple of weeks ago, one of our friends from a nearby town showed us some of his local surf spots. The surf wasn't very good that day, but we had fun anyways. (We know Paul from the gold mine where he works as a remote bogger operator.) The highlight was probably when he showed where us he lived: a little farm with goats and cows, dogs and cats. Paul is pretty cool so he also surprised us when he showed us his collections of rocks, comic books, and model cars. I guess we all have our inner geek. Thanks Paul.

mike says hello