This morning we enjoyed a lovely sleep in and some baby goat watching from the warmth of the cottage. The miniature horses were also chilling out the front of the cottage so I made sure they got some love!
It was a bit of a gray and drizzly morning so while we waited for the rain to clear up we headed to Duckett Mill Winery and cheese factory. We had a delicious tasting board with wine/cheese pairings as well as one of their famous toasties for an early lunch.
After lunch we headed to the Denmark Animal Farm to pat and feed some very cute baby animals. It was very muddy (yay rain) but still pretty cool to get to interact with all the animals.
After the animal farm we took advantage of a slight break in the weather and explored Elephant Rocks and Green Pool beaches. There is some amazing rock formations down this end of WA.
We then headed back towards Denmark with a stop at Bartholomew’s Meadery (yummm honey and mead) and some beer paddles at Boston Brewing. Phew! Now back to our farm cottage for some relaxation, treats and goat pats. Home tomorrow
Today we checked out of our accomodation in Albany to head to a farm stay in Elleker (halfway between Albany and Denmark). On the way we stopped at the Whaling Station for a walk around and history tour. Definitely worth a visit! We arrived right on 9am when they opened which was a good call as by the time we left at 11am the car park was completely full.
After the whaling station we drove out to the Treetop Walk in Denmark. It’s about an hour drive from Albany but it was absolutely amazing! When it’s busy there are some wait times but the 600m long walk up 40m through the tress was accessible, easy and really pretty. I don’t like heights but felt okay the whole time as it feels secure and has a good height on the enclosed railings. We also walked through the ancient tree walk which had some red eucalypts that were over 600 years old.
From here, we drove to our farm stay and checked in. It is a gorgeous little cottage on a working farm with a bath overlooking the paddocks. They also have baby goats!!! Dinner was homemade scones and a cheese platter from the farm owner as well as some bubbly.
Today we started off with the free breakfast at our bnb – the name of this accomodation is Beach House by the Bayside. The brekkie was delicious! They even made me a small one as I wasn’t too hungry. We then set off to play tourist for the day – and take lots of photos.
We started at the mounted memorial at the top of Mt Clarence.
From there, we drove back down to the National Anzac Centre. We visited the newer part (which is paid entry) and also did the free one hour tour up the hill to the gunner mounts.
The views were spectacular there and it was such a lovely morning (glorious sunshine) you could see way out into the bay. After our visit here, we drove about 15 mins out of Albany centre to Monty’s Leap Winery. We did a wine tasting and enjoyed their vineyard platter for lunch. They are quite an expensive option for a meal but the food was really good – they were also totally booked out even for a Friday lunch so worth planning ahead. We also bought some wine mmmm wine.
After lunch we visited a bunch of the natural tourist sites including the gap, the natural bridge, misery beach and the blowholes. The blowholes weren’t blowing sadly so we will have to come back again to that one on another visit.
Tonight, we booked dinner at the top rated restaurant in Albany – it’s called Majuba Bistro. The food was amazing. So good in fact we missed a mains photo. Delicious local wines accompanied delicious food. Definitely book ahead for this one as they were booked out all weekend by the time we arrived on Thursday night.
After dinner, we had a nightcap at Liberte Bar (best walk in sign ever) and then were in bed by 8pm. We booked a ride home with Albany Taxi Cabs and even though it was a busy night they were on time for our booking and the service was fantastic.
Tomorrow, we change accomodation and are off to a farm stay (WITH BABY MINIATURE GOATS) halfway to Denmark.
We drove from Perth to Albany today with a few stops along the 4.5hr drive at Riverside Roadhouse (mmm pies) and Kojonup. The drive was a fairly quiet one despite the unexpected public holiday for the Queen.
Our first two nights here we are staying at Beach House by the Bayside in Middleton Beach. It’s a lovely little bnb with a 2 min walk to the beach, 5 min drive from the main restaurant strip and a spa bath in the room.
Tonight we opted to walk down the beach (which took about 30mins) to have dinner at “WAs best fish and chips” Hooked on Middleton Beach Fish and Chips. The walk was just lovely along the dog beach. Plus….dogs!
Our walk brought us down to Rats Bar which has some…interesting….google reviews. We thought the service was good and they had all local wines which was lovely. It was quiet while we were there but had definitely picked up when we walked back past at 6pm.
The fish and chips for dinner was delicious! You definitely need to book as they were almost fully booked from 6pm and the only reason we got in was because we were quite early. They also use home made tartare sauce which was nice and thick. Yum.
Now I’m off to drink champagne out of a water glass while I sit in the spa.
We left Kalbarri with the intention of stopping at Hamelin Pool to walk the boardwalk. Unfortunately this has still not been repaired since the cyclone smashed it apart in 2021 and without the access to the walkway you can’t see much of anything – instead we stopped at Billabong Roadhouse for a delicious toastie and leg stretching.
Then we travelled through to Shell Beach. There is only one other beach in the world made up of billions of tiny shells instead of sand! The shells all come from one specific animal and the beach is close to 100km long. That’s a lot of Dead tiny animals.
From Shell Beach we drove another 20 mins into Denham (to stop at the IGA for supplies) before continuing on to the Monkey Mia RAC resort. We had booked an ocean view cabin when the option came up to stay here. We can see the beach and ocean from our balcony so could watch dolphins frolic on the shore and emus roam around.
I had booked a scenic flight (flight option 2) with shark bay aviation, paying the extra for a private flight. It did not occur to me that this meant we would be in a tiny 4 seater plane!! Eeek. The views were amazing though.
We made it back to Monkey Mia with about 5 mins before sunset and then enjoyed a gorgeous hour long sky changing colour while drinking moet on the balcony. We also watched a pod of 4 dolphins swim back and forth in front of our room!
The drive from Cervantes to Kalbarri is just over 4hrs with no stops. I planned for us to stop at the Pink Lake in Gregory (Google pink lake lookout) which is about 40mins before you arrive in Kalbarri. We got lucky it was sunny (unlike yesterday) so the pink was quite noticeable, apparently on overcast days it can be a little disappointing.
Our accomodation in Kalabarri is an adults only air bnb opposite Blue Holes beach and it is veeeery nice….even comes with a plunge pool on the outside deck! A cold plunge pool I didn’t even want to put my feet in haha.
We checked in to the air bnb at 3pm and then wandered over to check out the well known Blue Holes beach which is apparently great for snorkelling. It was a bit too rough for us to get in the water.
Dinner was booked at the Kalbarri Edge Restaurant which was a 20 min walk from the air bnb along the Melaleuca Walking Trail. The walk along the Murchison River mouth was lovely.
The restaurant food was good but the service was absolutely terrible. We tried to be understanding they were short staffed but once they seated a walk in group of 10 in reception – when they were already full and struggling – my sympathy waned. I do recommend the chicken supreme and the churros though.
Day 2 in Kalbarri started with a visit to the Kalbarri Bakery. We then drove out to the Kalbarri sky walk and natures window – about 40 mins inland. I’m reasonably unfit, managing spinal pain (and scared of heights) but was able to manage both of these walks! I couldn’t do the Z bend one which is a lot steeper and 2.4kms return.
No filter! The colours were insane
At 4pm we walked down to the local boat ramp (15 min walk from our accomodation) where our river cruise up the Murchison River was scheduled to depart from. We went with Kalbarri Wilderness Cruises and were able to bring along some cheese and crackers to nibble on and buy some drinks on the boat. Worth noting the cheese and crackers were a challenge due to no table so definitely pre-cut and store for the trip! We saw a white bellied sea eagle though which was very interesting.
After the cruise we managed to sneak into a fully booked Finlay’s (recommend you book if wanting to eat here!) for delicious fish and chips and fish tacos.
Tomorrow: off to Monkey Mia! With a stop at Shell Beach along the way 🙂
Okay so forewarning I’ve been drinking a lot of expensive Margaret River wine before writing this!
We checked out of our accomodation (air bnb escape hatch in Margaret river – would stay again) before we 10am and headed to the chocolate factory for delicious fresh waffles for breakfast. There are lots of in town options if you prefer! Brumby’s, the town bakery, the other town bakery, the mosaic cafe to name a few!
We then drove another 25ish kms to Ngilgi (pronounced Ni-lgi) cave. This came up in my research as a hidden gem – not as big as the main show caves but lots of hidden pathways and you can go the whole way to the bottom! We pre-booked. B says “pretty cool, I was impressed”. I say that I was not expecting to be able to do the 370 steps up and back but I managed it due to the number of rest points!
After Ngilgi Cave we headed to Cape Naturaliste with a stop off at Sugarloaf Rock sightseeing point (best at sunset apparently). It was still cool to look at in the day time and less busy.
After visiting the rock we paid $15 each to do the lighthouse tour. This was prebooked which turned out to be lucky as it filled up. We were able to learn the history of the area and climb up to the viewing platform (approx (59 very narrow and steep steps). Everyone went very slow up the stairs so it was not obvious I was limping at this point!
At 2:15pm we left Cape Naturliste and headed to Injidup Spa and Resort about 25 mins back towards Yallingup. This is an ADULT ONLY resort (they take that seriously) with 10 private villas that all have ocean view decks and plunge pools. Ummm it’s a bit amazing! We are so far very impressed. You are near other villas (shared walls) but you can’t really tell.
We checked in at 3pm, had a massage from 3:30-5pm then had a grazing platter and complimentary bottle of wine while watching the sunset in our private pool and deck.
I have been lobbying B to stay here since it first opened in 2014 but he’s always said no because the cost is….to be blunt….totally insane. He finally agreed given we have had to cancel all our other travel this year and I have had some extra unexpected income recently which paid for half of it.
Jamala Wildlife Lodge is based at Canberra Zoo. They have a variety of accomodation but I’ve always wanted to stay in a “jungle bungalow” which is approx $2000 a night. I told you….the pricing is totally bonkers! Their website says “The Jungle Bungalows are luxurious individual suites adjoining a variety of enclosures throughout the property. A glass wall is all that will separate you from a pride of lions, cheetahs, tiger or a Malayan sun bear! Regardless of whether you are relaxing in your lounge area, resting in bed or taking a leisurely bath, you will only be a heartbeat away from these amazing creatures. All rooms feature king beds, bath robes, indulgent bath tubs, optional climate control, complimentary wireless internet, music system with MP3 input, television with complimentary Foxtel and premium TV.”
So, we booked in for a night during the September school holidays. They sent us a lot of information beforehand and were very responsive to queries. The schedules they use at the moment are slightly adjusted due to covid 19 but this was our pre-prepared schedule! We also added two extra experiences to this – giraffe encounter and white lion feeding – which were booked in on day 1.
We arrived at 1pm to check in and were provided with afternoon tea at the Ushaka Lodge which was delicious. The lodge has a beautiful view over the local land and there were also some lemurs just….hanging out. Jamala provide a self guided tour for the afternoon session but we headed off on our own tour as there was giraffe feeding to be done! We fed Shabu the male giraffe and also got to meet his lady friend and 1 year old calf.
After the giraffe feeding, we met the zoo staff at one of the gazebos and collected our bungalow keys. For most people this meant from 3-7pm they hang out in their bungalow with their animals. We took a brief detour on the way back to the bungalow to feed Jake the white lion, and meet his sister Mishka.
After feeding Jake the very hungry (and demanding!) white lion with his keeper Ryan – the zoo owners son – we headed to Jungle Bungalow 5 with Mya and Melita the toddler tiger twins! I was a teeny, tiny bit excited when we walked in to this….hi there 2 year old 120kg tiger friend!!
When we were in the bath they mostly laid here and watched us….or wrestled each other!
We settled in with a bubble bath, watching tigers wrestle/nap and some champagne to tide us over until dinner. Just before 7pm we were collected and taken to the rainforest cave for dinner alongside the white lions and hyenas. The dinner and drinks were all included and the food was mostly very good – B got unlucky with a not so great steak but mine was delicious – and the paired drink options were all good quality. I haven’t been so full in ages!
This collage shows some of the afternoon tea snacks on day 1, dinner canapés + main + dessert and our breakfast choices the next day!
After dinner, they drive you back to hang out and watch your animal friends some more before you tuck in for bed next to them!
Our morning tiger view
We then woke up to sleepy tigers quite early (6:30am!) and some small pastries before heading off on an animal tour and feeding experience. We got to see dingos howl, monkeys use tools, lemurs wrestle for snacks and learn about how they are combating the rhino horn trade.
After the tour, we had breakfast (more delicious food in the rainbow cave) followed by another 90 mins of hanging out with our tiger friends and people watching because this time…we could see all the people looking into the enclosure from the viewing spots! they had privacy barriers up from 3pm the day before but they do warn you they take them down in the morning.
Verdict
A few people on Facebook asked me “was it worth the money?”. I think the answer to this has a few parts. First of all, there are not many (f any) places with this level of experience and accomodation in Australia. So choices are limited. It’s also in very high demand, usually getting in during school holidays is pretty dang hard to do! There is also the aspect here of this particular facility being wholly privately owned and funded and the work they do is amazing….we feel it’s worth paying the premium to support such a dedicated organisation and staff.
Secondly, it’s definitely not an every day thing. We had 2 overseas trips planned this year and haven’t gone on either which is how I was able to convince B to even consider this amount for one night lol. So when asking was it worth it, B said he felt it was a fantastic one-off experience that was worth doing but not something we would repeat.
Finally, we chose to go top tier with the experience on advice from others. There are rooms at the lodge for approximately $1200 a night and the giraffe treehouse is $1500 a night. The advice we had from people who had stayed in these rooms was if you’re only doing it once….go all out. Geez, I am glad we listened!
B went off to enjoy his last day frolicking in the snow and I woke up with a sore throat and the sniffles – lucky me! I caught the shuttle into Hirafu Upper Village to enjoy my last morning soak at Hirafu-Tei onsen. After a very peaceful time on my own in the outdoor bath, I got dressed and headed over to be first in line for Tozanken Ramen again. Yep, the first time must have just been a not-so-good day because the pork ramen was once again DELICIOUS.
After my ramen fix, I wandered back up the hill to Niseko Alpen Hotel where I had been told they sell Milk KOBO at their small cafe. I had been hearing all about this amazing local cream product for the last week but getting to where it is (a dairy farm on the other side of the mountain) on a bus was a pain in the ass. Yesterday, our driver from Freedom Inn mentioned that this tiny hotel cafe often has it in stock – woohoo! They had Creme Catalana which was like icecream but not icecream – it really was delicious. Niseko Alpen Hotel also has feee visitor wifi which is a bonus.
I got the shuttle and walked back to our accomodation around midday, then I had a nap before B returned around 3:30pm. We settled up our account with Freedom Inn and confirmed our private transfer to the airport for early tomorrow morning before heading off to Mt Yotei onsen for one last soak. While we were there I bought some adorable handmade mittens (made by a disability collective) I had been eyeing off for the last week.
Then it was off to eat delicious ramen at Nakama one last time! This time B got the Ume Shio (with pork) which is their “Star flavour” and was recommended by both staff at the hotel and the Michelin guide. He was a fan although he eats pretty much everything.
Today B went off to Rusutsu (a different powder ski resort about 30 mins from Hirafu) to meet some Australian friends and ski for the day while I navigated the local train system to make my way to Otaru for a day trip.
B used the “Donan” bus service which had a special one running from Hirafu Welcome Centre to Rusutsu and back for the day – we just got our accomodation to call up and book a spot for him since we don’t speak Japanese fluently. The bus was about ¥1000 each way and was fairly easy to use. He liked Rusutsu because it was a bit quieter than Hirafu and the hotels had lots of weird critters.
I had worked out where the local “Niseko United” bus stop at the welcome centre was yesterday so we caught a local bus together from Hanazono Base (a 5 min walk from our accomodation) and then I got on the Kutchan bus while he departed on his day trip with a busload of other snow people. I got off at Kutchan Station (¥400) where I discovered they don’t accept the ICOCA card because they are classified as “rural”. Dammit. It was ¥1290 each way so about $17 and I bought my tickets at a ticket machine. Local trains are waaaaay smaller than usual and this one was pretty full.
The internet tells me “Otaru is a port city known for glass works, music boxes and sake distilleries. They were originally an important fish processing area in the 1920s so the cities series of local canals is a point of difference to other nearby towns.”
I got off at Otaru station and walked down to the canal bridge known as “Chua bridge”. The short walk from here to “Asakusa Bridge” is apparently the most popular for the canal and there were a lot of tourists taking pictures – me included.
From there, I walked about 100m back up to Sakaimaich Street where I started my walk along one side towards the music box museum. I had decided to start at one end and head towards the music box museum, then work my way down the other side of the main street back towards the canal viewing station….checking out all the cheesecake shops as I went. There were a lot of cheesecake shops. And sushi shops. If only I ate sushi! I definitely eat cheesecake though and I enjoyed free samples at every single branch of Le Tao I walked past haha. I also bought some Otaru handmade glass as that’s another thing the area is known for. These were the snacks I brought back for B from the cheese shops.
The music box museum looked cool on the outside but I missed the steam clock out the front by a whole 2 mins and there were A LOT of people inside. I had a quick look through but nothing really stood out as awesome. Apparently there are sections you can go in to where the older music boxes are displayed but there was no signage for this and I gave up trying to find it after doing a few laps.
I then walked back down the other side of the main street and caught the train back to Kutchan Station (it’s worth noting the train both ways is insanely busy and some people had to stand the whole 1hr 20 mins) and then the local bus back to the Hirafu Welcome Centre. I arrived about an hour before B was due back from Rusutsu so I checked out the Niseko Alpen Hotel Onsen while I waited for him. It does not have a no tattoos sign but I had mine covered with white bandage tape today. The outside onsen here also looks on to a ski field which was a nice way to pass the time. Costs ¥1000 which is pretty standard tourist pricing.
For dinner tonight we ordered what one of the workers calls “Japanese McDonald’s” which is known as Hotto Motto. They are all over japan and do cheap bento boxes and curry as take aways so our accomodation arranged to collect it for us and we ate in the room. Not bad for ¥590.
Last day on the snow tomorrow before we start the long trip back to Canberra!
Japanese food eaten: weird breakfast pastry, katsu pork curry, triple cheese cheesecake, cheese biscuits, petit almonds and strawberries from LeTAO
Mel's Travel Blog 