riverECHO

13,299 kilometers around Australia

We spent a few days in the sleepy town of Walpole exploring the giant Tingle trees and walking along the 38 meter tall Tree Top Walk (totally worth it and not as touristy as we were expecting) before we pushed on further down the coast to the super hip and hippy friendly town of Denmark. This was a place that we could have called home for a while. One of the first days we were there a huge craft market and free concert took place on a large green right in town. We couldn’t get enough of one of the bands called Laliya . . . two musicians, one didgeridoo, one djembe drum, a bunch of shakers, and one crazy instrument called an Appalachian dulcimer. It’s not the type of music that will make you really shake it, but it’s perfect for a Saturday afternoon in the sun. Here’s a little sample:

Our last day in Denmark was definitely the highlight as we spent it on Ocean Beach taking a surf lesson!! The waves were miniature but they were perfect for learning and we had a blast. It was so shallow that you could actually walk out into the waves with board in hand. It made it really easy to go over and over and over again. No photos to share for that because we were having way too much fun to get out of the water. Besides, we should probably wait until we are a little better to start posting photos of each other surfing.

We left Denmark via the gorgeous Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks and then continued east toward Bremer Bay for one night and on to Esperance. Although the town is a little more industrial than we expected (BJ says Idaho Falls on the beach but I don’t think it’s that bad) we are very close to beautiful beaches and a national park. We’ll spend a few days here before making the trek along the Nullarbor across southern Australia.