Pelicans & the Denmark Dragon Boat Regatta, Western Australia

 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 Denmark

And 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 Travel and Tourist Guide, Western Australia

Denmark history

I 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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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. 

Where the pelicans meet

 Hi everyone I hope that you and yours are safe and doing well. 

Life has been busy here with one thing and another, but all good. The boys are watching an Aussie Rules game on TV. Not my thing. Sounds like the team my son tipped to win might not be doing well......

We are so fortunate to have a number of waterways close to where we live... the Collie River, the Leschenault Estuary and just beyond the Indian Ocean.  You might remember a recent post about a Magical dolphin experience.

I have taken so many photos before of this location you see below where the Collie River intersects with the Leschenault Estuary. But I just love it. 

On the right is the land, on the left a little island between the river and the estuary. This photo was taken from the river side. 

On this little spit of sandbar seabirds gather. Particularly pelicans. And I always feel like they are having their morning meeting. 

Pelicans can be greedy when someone is cleaning fish. This pic I took in Denmark on our south coast. I don't think the seagull in the front of the pic had much hope

Have you seen the movie "Storm Boy"? Adapted from the book written in 1964 by Colin Thiele, the story is set in the Coorong National Park on South Australia's south coast. The book is about the relationships between a boy and his father Hide-Away Tom (Jai Courtney) - they live in an isolated hut, Mr Percival the pelican, and an outcast Australian Aboriginal man, Fingerbone (Trevor Jamieson) who befriends them.

We recently watched again the latest movie adaptation staring Geoffrey Rush as the adult "Storm Boy" Mike Kingley, and Finn Little as the child "Storm Boy".  The first adaption was filmed in 1976. Both are equally worth watching. Below is the preview of the 2019 released adaptation. I think I have watched this movie three times, and always enjoy it. 

I have just realised that I blogged about Storm Boy before back in 2019. Please click on the link if you want to go back and have a look. 

Here's a couple of my photos when we visited the Coorong in 2013. Beyond the sand-dunes is the Southern Ocean. I need to go back into my backup drive to find a better photo for you. 

I hope you and your family are well. We continue to have low cases here in Australia, mostly returning travellers coming from overseas and in hotel quarantine or people from cargo ships coming into our ports. 

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. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   
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Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
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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.