Denmark – near the southpole

The next day we arrive in Denmark. Denmark is a small town with about 5000 people, a great community of surfers, soul searchers and environmentally aware people.

And apparently some of the best pie makers on this planet according to all the awards they won for their state of the art pies offered at the town bakery.
As we were about to dive into the “best-ever pie experience”, we see two vans with Planet Sports (www.planetsports.com) logos stopping and we see the crème de la crème of the German surf scene hopping out: Sonja Hönscheid, Michi Mohr, Gerry Schlegel, …
They are on a mission to get some great footage for the next summer surf season for all German surfers to enjoy.
We did not book in advance but by cruising around we found one of the most stunning places we have stayed in so far: We are in the middle of a Karri forest at Susan and Illya’s property. Susan’s father started building environmentally sound chalets that are incorporated into the beauty of nature.
Our house is set up for 12 people with a 7 meter long dining table of massive pine tree, an open fire, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a deck overlooking the tree canopies …and it costs us less than the cabin at the campground near-by …
Very little beats sitting by a massive fire with a cup of tea after an exhausting surf session.


And honestly, the solid wood makes me relax so much more than the unique 80th style we still enjoyed at breakfast.
But what really makes this experience unique is the caring way, Susan and Illya provide everything you can wish for. And the peacefulness, as we have neither mobile phone nor internet connection.
Thecovechalets.com, Illya and Susan Celin
Only a 5 minutes drive away is the Ocean Beach welcoming us with sunshine and nice waves, several kids to play with and several surfers in the water to find out what’s going on.

Ocean Beach is the main beach of Denmark. It curves around and has something for everyone, and works for surfing in almost all wind directions. The next morning we wake up to the only direction that does not work well for surfing, a 15-20 knot SE breeze. We head down to the beach and discover that it seems to work well for a wave kite surfing session, all by ourselves. The next day the wind swings around again and we all enjoy countless waves on the beach breaks around the bay.

Some days we surf in the morning at the point and then pump up the kite for an afternoon session in the SE breeze. What a place…

Here, one beach is more stunning than the other. At Light Beach the ocean crashes onto an endless white sandy beach – another jewel with rocks and large swells and sand and raging seas and beautiful water, completely empty, stretching for about five kilometers with no sign of man anywhere.

Lights Beach

This is where the Bibbulmun Track, a 1000 km long trail from Albany in the South West to Perth, passes by. The track is named after an Aboriginal group, who journeyed on foot over long distances to care for and to celebrate their land (www.bibbulmuntrack.com.au).

The kids enjoy the beach as much as any kind of excursion, e.g. to the farm, where we could pet the koalas and alpacas, bottle-feed the baby kangaroos and the Scottish highland calf and cuddle the baby guinea pigs and rabbits.


You might think: how can they spend so much time at the beach? , but every beach is so different. Here around Denmark the beaches are stunning: There is the beach at Elephant Rocks, where very big round rocks are facing the waves in the ocean, looking like a herd of elephants trotting towards the water.

Elephant Rocks

There is Green Pool beach with beautiful green water pools, which are protected by large round granite rocks from the massive waves that roll in from Southern Ocean, from a storm somewhere near Antarctica.


Just around the corner is protected Madfish Bay, and tranquil Waterfall Beach with a little waterfall and river going into the ocean.
These magic places are completely empty, no humans in sight. The beauty is magic and breathtaking and special and the locals have done everything to preserve it that way.

And more and more we are adapting to down-to-earth living. It was the first time that I prepared my own yeast pizza crust, just as I remembered it from the times when I saw my mom doing it at home. Unfortunately the kids still think, that the “other pizza” tastes much better, although they loved kneading the dough…

Categories: Australia Westcoast