Spring Break pt. III - Denmark & the South Coast

After 2 nights in what was probably the dirtiest hostel in Western Australia, we packed our bags, picked up our rented camper, and set off for the real adventure of our trip. Usually when we travel, I (Brad) attempt to plan every detail of the trip ahead of time: airport pickups, hotel reservations, transfers from one hotel to the next, walking maps of city centers, etc. For this trip, I did my best to plan as little of the trip as possible, with the intent of building some spontaneity into our vacation. Our intention was to get enjoyably lost in the southwest of Australia for a week, driving as far as we felt like in any given day, then setting up camp at whatever campground presented itself at the right time.

On the first day that we picked up the campervan (a Monday morning), we decided to do the longest stretch of driving for the whole week. Our plan was to drive from Perth to a small town called Denmark on the Southern Coast. The drive was just over 400km, which meant that it would take us between 5 and 6 hours. After a quick stop at a grocery store in Perth (to fill up the fridge in our camper), we set off for Denmark.


The route that we chose took us inland, away from the more densely populated coast. We found the countryside to be fairly pretty: mostly low trees and scrub brush. Emily described the landscape as "barren." One thing became apparent during the drive: Western Australia (outside of Perth) is very sparsely populated. During the 6 hour trip, we only drove through about 2 or 3 towns (our map mentioned more than this, but we found most of the "towns" on the map to be little more than gas stations).

We arrived at the town of Denmark about an hour before sunset, and set up camp at a beautiful and nearly empty private campground about 10km south of town (at a place called "Ocean Beach"). Being our first attempt at setting up the camper, we were very impressed with ourselves when we finished in only about 15 minutes. As I (Brad) explored the campground, Emily set about the task of preparing dinner. It was delicious:

I had seen this campground ahead of time online, and had read an interesting bit of info on their website. They claimed that there were a couple of families of kangaroos that lived in the area, and that they were frequent visitors to the campground. We had been told that kangaroos are nocturnal, and are mostly seen in the evenings and early mornings. We kept our eyes open as we set up camp, and sure enough - the roos made an appearance:

Emily was ecstatic.

The next morning when we woke up (being teachers, we tend to wake up pretty early even on vacation), we discovered that the kangaroos were still hanging around our campsite. I must have taken about 50 pictures of them.
The two young kangaroos in the background were play-fighting most of the morning. It was pretty much the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

They hopped off when I got too close.

After only one night at Ocean Beach Campground, we packed up the camper and headed out to explore the south coast of the state. It was the first time either of us had seen the Southern Ocean, so obviously we had to commemorate the moment with a picture:
We then went into the tiny town of Denmark (pop. 4000). We spent about an hour exploring the town. I'd been told by a friend before our trip that Denmark was a bit of a hippie hangout. We found that it was indeed the place to buy all manner of hemp clothing and assorted crystals. The town itself was colorful and interesting, and we stopped for a cup of coffee and a meat pie.

Australians love their meat pies. Every town seems to have a bakery, and while you'd be hard pressed to find a doughnut on offer, you can always be guaranteed a meat pie. For our American friends, meat pies are very similar to the chicken pot pies that we all enjoyed while growing up, only Australians are a bit more creative with the ingredients. The Denmark bakery had more than 10 pies available on the morning that we dropped in. Some contained chicken, many beef, a few lamb. One of them jumped off the menu at me with the curious name of "Vinda-Roo." I called the cashier over and asked for clarification on the ingredients. "Curried roo meat," was her response. I immediately bought one.

I believe that Australians are unique in that they're the only nation (that I know of) to actually consume an animal that appears on the front of their passports. I have a hard time believing that Americans would ever cook up bald eagle into a spicy stew.

I found my curried roo to be good. Not great. But good. The meat was a bit like venison: a little gamey, not overly tender, but when cooked with enough spices, quite palatable. Emily was able to capture the moment in pictures:

After a walking tour of Denmark, we headed west down the coast. The next couple of days were spent exploring the magnificent forests of the southwest. We'll write about that in a few days.

For now, we'll close with a question for all of you. Brad can now add kangaroo to his list of exotic creatures consumed. If you'd like to comment, here's a question for you: what's the most unusual animal you've ever eaten? (my definition of exotic meat: something you can't buy at your local grocer). We can't wait to hear your stories!