Denmark in Western Australia

Our little family getaway to the stunning coastal town Denmark.

We were after a little getaway for our young family of 5.
We wanted somewhere not too far from home (Perth) and somewhere we could drive to.
After much discussion and some great recommendations from family and friends, we knew Denmark was the place.

Elephant Rocks has been on my list of places to visit for a long time and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

And that was all I knew about Denmark, but now I can tell you there is so much more to this town
and we didn’t even scratch the surface. The best part about that is that we will definitely be returning sooner rather than later.

I’ll share what we did below as well as what we want to discover on our next visit.

The Drive & Pit Stop

We booked 5 nights away, left Perth on Sunday morning.
It was perfect because all the traffic from down south was coming back home in the opposite direction and we had a smooth run all the way to Katanning which was our planned first stop to break up the drive, stop for lunch and let the kids have a break from sitting in the car.

Hubby has memories stopping at the play ground with a huge slide as a kid so that is why we choose to stop, at the All Ages Playground.
We drove through the local Chicken Treat to grab some lunch and pulled out the picnic rug on the lawn at the playground.

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The kids were so excited they went straight to the slides and it really was a well made playground, It has had a make over since hubby was there a long time ago. It was so much fun and really is built for all ages. There were two couples there in their sixties and they were having a blast, another group of 3 males in their thirties YouTubing it on the GoPro which was hilarious to watch and plenty of young kids too.
Anyway I’m getting carried away about this playground but what my point is that it was well worth turning off the main highway for and definitely got the sting out of the kids.

Once on the road again we did plan to get to our accommodation while still light but got too carried away at the playground plus we had to make another pit stop on the side of the road to feed a hungry little baby. We arrived at our accommodation just after seven.
One tip I can give you especially when travelling with kids is to pre cook your first nights dinner. This we did not do, but I really wish we had.
You can use your own imagination about how we went arriving to a new exciting place at bedtime with 3 kids that spent 8 hours on the road from start to finish, hungry, tired, excited you get the idea!

Accommodation

For the next five nights we stayed at Big 4 Ocean Beach Holiday Park.
We had a Superior Spa Chalet, it was facing out towards the river and the ocean. When quiet you could hear the waves crashing and the sun setting on the cliffs were stunning. The big lawn area right out the front of the chalet was filled with wildlife day and night.
Our verandah the perfect spot to sit, relax and unwind.

The Ocean Beach Holiday Park is the perfect place for families of all ages. With a big range of different accommodation available to suit all budgets, from 3 bedroom chalets, cabins to caravan and camping sites. There really is something for everyone. It was fun and interesting watching all the different caravans and set ups people have.
There were plenty of activities at the park itself including tennis, a brand new playground, mini golf, jumping pillow (the kids favourite) and also pedal bikes which was great fun. The river and ocean is just a short walk too.

I would definitely recommend this park to others and we will be coming back to stay again,
the only downside about the park is there is no Café or coffee shop. I feel that would have been a real bonus.
Although in saying that the chalets come fully self contained, I was just a little lazy (call it holiday mood perhaps ;).
Everyone was friendly, the kids made new friends and so did we.

Fun for all ages 🙂

Places to Eat/Drink (family friendly)

• Mrs Jones Café – It’s a beautiful little café in the Town of Denmark, one of the local’s recommended it to us. The food was so delicious and the Café is really cute both inside and outside. They also have a little corner inside with kids toys.
• The Green Pantry – If you are after a great Coffee or Chai this is your place, a little shop/Café selling lots of sustainable products. There is also a little nook for children outside to play while you relax with a cuppa and a little treat perhaps.
• Denmark Bakery – Talking about treats, the Denmark Bakery is just down the road and if you know me I can’t go past a good bakery. I can confirm the jam donuts are delicious!
• Boston Brewery – This place came highly recommended by locals and tourists so you know it’s going to be good and it lived up to that. Great for families, it has a huge big playground set up right there in sight so you can have a meal, a beer and watch the kids. We went during the week at lunch time and had most of the place to ourselves but I can imagine it would be pumping on the weekends.
  Town Centre – It’s a small and cute town and worth a walk down the main street, plenty of little gift shops with lots of handmade products.

Places to See (Family friendly)

Elephant Rocks

It’s a must and it’s on the top of my list for a reason, this place is stunning. It’s a little bit of a hike to get to but totally worth every step once you get there, Keep that in mind when packing what you are going to bring, especially when going with kids. Minimal is best. Depending on the tide you may also have to step through some water to get there. Now we were lucky enough to go during the week and during school term so there was actually not to many people there, which made the place feel very special. I have heard that during school holidays/weekends the carparks are completely packed and you have to pack a long way down the road. So if possible I would plan accordingly.

Ocean Beach

Across the road from our accommodation (Big 4 Holiday Park) there is a track you can walk down or drive and park there and walk across a little bridge which is followed by another track through the dunes which leads you to an inlet where the River meets the Ocean. The kids had so much fun playing in the shallow warm waters of the River and Jarrod and I thoroughly enjoyed a swim in the Ocean.
We could have spent all day here but we came unprepared without a shade as we thought we were just going for a walk and packed as light as possible.
It is apparently a great spot for a surf and a school of fish went past when we were there, I’m not an expert at either but it looked fun.
So my advise would be is to make a day of it!

So many more things to see and do next time we visit.

Reality when travelling with kids is, you just can not see it all. I mean it’s hard enough seeing everything without little humans to worry about so sometimes you just have to go with the flow and we also went away with a want to just sit and relax and unwind and that we did in-between playing on the parks playground, playing mini golf and riding the bikes around the park, which was so much fun by the way.
Here are just a few of the things we have on our list of things to do on our next visit.

Paddle Boat Hire – Whilst driving around we found some paddle boats with slides on them for hire from Denmark Rivermouth Caravan Park, which look like so much fun and the kids really wanted to go on them but as they are a little too young we said if they can learn to swim before our next visit we would definitely hire one of those.

Tree Top Walk in Walpole – We had planned to go here for one of the days but decided against to have a day of rest and avoid having the kids in the car again for a few hours. Next time though this will be on our list and might even stay a night or two in Walpole.

Greens Pool – We saw Greens Pool on our way walking to Elephant Rocks and it looked stunning and will definitely love to spend a day there. Perfect for the kids too.

William Bay Cottages – I’ve had my eye on this particular accommodation in Denmark and would love to stay on our next visit. It looks nice and cozy and feels like it would be a perfect Winter getaway.

If you have some recommendations or some must see places in Denmark and surrounds comment them below and I
can add them too.

Thank you for reading and I hope it was helpful for you to plan your next getaway.
Now to take the first step and start planning 😉

This blog is in no way sponsored and all wording and recommendations are my own.