Hi all, I hope you and yours are doing well. We have drought here in southern parts of Australia, and floods in other parts that have devastated and swept away towns, businesses, homes and people in New South Wales on our eastern coastline, with lives lost, and more challenging weather forecast.
But for us here in the south west of Western Australia, we have finally been enjoying some most welcome light rainfall this last week.
Last weekend however we enjoyed beautiful weather when we travelled to Denmark on our south coast for the inaugural Wings on the Water dragon boat regatta, hosted by the Denmark Dragon Boat Club on the Denmark River right in the centre of town.
Congratulations Denmark on ordering perfect weather and hosting a very enjoyable regatta. Clubs travelled to Denmark from Perth, Bunbury (our Bunbury club - the Forza Dragon Boat Club), Mandurah and Albany for the event which was two boat sprint match racing heats over 200 metres. Winner determined by the quickest time over the heats. Mandurah Vikings Dragon Boat Club took out the inaugural Dragon Fly cup. The day was followed by dinner at the Denmark Riverside Club.
Mirror perfect water and looked spectacular coming down through the karri trees along the river. How perfect for Denmark training here every week!
We stayed in our caravan at the Rivermouth Caravan Park only a few kilometres from Denmark town. Bordered by the Wilson Inlet, the Denmark River and the forest, it is a lovely quiet location, and an easy walk into town. We had a lovely spot just a short walk down the bank to the inlet. 
From here you can follow walk trails in a couple of different directions. We took the Mokare trail from the river mouth into town, and then back along the the Karri walk trail. The Mokare Heritage Trail is less than 3 kilometres return and an easy walk. Look out for the little houses!
Then through the forest along the Karri walk - karris are one of my favourite trees. They can grow up to 90 metres tall. More about them later.
And past the old carriages, remainders of the #3 railway station built in 1927, before arriving back at the caravan park.
The Noognar aboriginal people have been around Denmark for 40,000 years. The Dutch explored the coast in 1624, and a British outpost was set up in Albany (54 kms to the east) in 1826. The Denmark region was first explored by European Dr. Thomas Braidwood Wilson, a surgeon, in 1829, and he named the town after his colleague Alexander Denmark. The first white settlers arrived in 1895 - The Miller brothers who obtained a logging lease and set up a mill.
Aboriginal people refer to Denmark as Koorabup, which translates to "place of the Black Swan"
There are many other walks - All Trails - Best river trails in DenmarkAnd yes the pelicans - daily they cruise out on the inlet and along the river and hang about at the fish cleaning shed at the river mouth hoping for a handout. There are squabbles if pickings are lean.
And a few evening scenes which I took along the waterfront just down from our caravan. The water was mirror flat.
That's it from me today. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at Denmark. We have been visiting Denmark every year for over 50 years as we have family there. I love it, though it has changed a lot over the years. It has grown and is very busy during the summer tourist months, and house and land prices have skyrocketed. But it is beautiful any time of year - just bring a raincoat and warm clothes!
I hope to be back next week with some more from Denmark.
For further reading - Denmark historyI have blogged about Denmark before -
Denmark - Where the Forest Meets the Sea - 2016
Denmark weekend - 2014
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.
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Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, be kind, do what makes you happy and be with people who make you smile.
The Wings on the Water regatta sounds like a fantastic event in a truly beautiful setting. Congrats to all involved, especially your Forza team
ReplyDeleteHello, Jill
ReplyDeleteThe regatta sounds like a fun event and your camping site looks beautiful. Lovely views.
Wonderful captures of the Pelicans, I would like to see them in person.
The walk looks great too, beautiful scenery and photos.
Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a wonderful day and happy week ahead. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
..Jill, thanks for taking me along on your adventure. At first I thought nthat your were in the country of Denmark!
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing your camp site...and thinking of the walks as well as your captures of great views and the pelicans!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like you really had the perfect weather! What a beautiful campground and I love those views you shared from your walks.
ReplyDeleteDear Jill,
ReplyDeletehave heard about the storms in Australia on the news.I was thinking of my granddaughter
who is currently on vacation in Australia. You show as nice pic from camping area,
looks beautiful with perfect weather.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I wish you happy holiday
and send you my warmest regards. Anna
I have attended Dragon Boat Regattas where I live in Denver, Colorado! Thye are always exciting and I could see thta the weather looked pefect for the competition. The pelicans were fun to see in yoiur post!
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs!
ReplyDeleteExcellent photos! I love the pelicans!
ReplyDeleteLooks like lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-few-photos-of-forrest.html
What an event. And I`m surprised about Denmark in Australia. Very, very intersting to read about. It's raining outside, it's a holiday here and it's a pleasure to visit you - dear blog friends - in the afternoon. Happy MosaicMonday!
ReplyDelete...thank you for your contribution to the link party, it was a pleasure to read your post.
Have a great week.
Beautiful series of photos! Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.
ReplyDeleteLovely series of photos, Jill. Thank you for taking part in the "My Sunday Best" meme.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I hope to visit Australia some day.
ReplyDeleteVery glad I scrolled back (I have catching up to do) and not just for the lovely rafts of pelicans -- they're fun to watch even vicariously. But best to get even more history of this section of your amazing country. And as the geographically ignorant person I am at first read of the title of your post I thought you'd been doing some international travel. I'm glad I was wrong about that because there's way too much I want to learn about Western Australia. Thanks for the beautiful and fun lessons.
ReplyDelete