Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Visitor Centre
( 08-9848 2055;
www.denmark.com.au
; 73 South Coast Hwy; 9am-5pm)
Information, ac-
commodation bookings, and an excellent display on the local wine scene. Ask for
The
Wine Lovers' Guide to Denmark
brochure and get exploring.
8
Getting There & Away
Transwa
( 1300 662 205;
www.transwa.wa.gov.au
)
Bus service GS3 heads daily to/from Bunbury
($48, 5½ hours), Bridgetown ($33, 4¾ hours), Pemberton ($27, 2¾ hours), Walpole ($13,
42 minutes) and Albany ($9, 42 minutes).
WEST CAPE HOWE NATIONAL PARK
Midway between Denmark and Albany, this 35-sq-km coastal park is a playground for naturalists, bushwalkers,
rock climbers and anglers. Inland are areas of coastal heath, lakes, swamp and karri forest. With the exception of
the road to Shelley Beach, access is restricted to 4WDs, mostly travelling through sand dunes, to explore the wild
coast.
Camping is permitted at Shelley Beach, although campfires are banned.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Albany
POP 25,200
Established shortly before Perth in 1826, the oldest European settlement in the state is
now the bustling commercial centre of the southern region. Albany is a mixed bag com-
prising a stately and genteel decaying colonial quarter, a waterfront in the midst of soph-
isticated redevelopment and a hectic sprawl of malls and fast-food joints. Less ambivalent
is its spectacular coastline, from Torndirrup National Park's surf-pummelled cliffs to
Middleton Beach's white sands, and the calm waters of King George Sound.
The town is in an area that's seen the violence of weather and whaling. Whales are still
a part of the Albany experience, but these days are hunted through a camera lens.
The Bibbulmun Track (
Click here
) ends (or starts) here, just outside the visitor centre;
the exhausted and/or exuberant comments in the walkers' log books make great reading.
History
The Minang Noongar people called this place Kinjarling (the place of rain) and believed
that fighting Wargals (mystical giant serpents) created the fractured landscape. The Min-
