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Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Denmark Animal Farm and Pentland Alpaca Stud


When we first started talking about heading back to the Denmark region, Mikah's first question was 'can we go back to the animal farm?'. The Denmark Animal Farm and Pentland Alpaca Stud was the major topic of conversation between Mikah and Lachelle while we were packing the van and all the day down to Peaceful Bay, so it should come as no suprise that we didn't just pay one visit to the animal farm this trip, but two.

Your entry to the Animal Farm includes a bag of feed, suitable for all the animals on site, with the exception of the baby goats and the Shetland pony, who are on special diets. Here's Cathy feeding one of the alpacas that the animal farm is known for.



In the main alpaca enclosure there are also a number of kangaroos that are also friendly and happy to take your feed from you. Mikah and Lachelle would have used up their bags of feed here if we hadn't reminded them they had barely seen any of the animals on the farm at this point.

















After feeding pretty much every animal on the farm, Mikah and Lachelle went back to their favourite spot, hanging out in the guinea pig and bunny enclosure. We were back here again a couple of days later as they insisted on seeing all the animals again. We figured we'd dragged them to enough wineries to make up for it.

Friday, May 13, 2022

Denmark Good Food Company and Elephant Rock Cider Co


Elephant Rock Cider Company is on the South Coast Highway, between Denmark and Peaceful Bay. The venue is also home to a soccer golf course and has a burger bar and ice cream stand.

The range of dips and sauces here is pretty impressive, whenever we visit, Lori picks up several jars and they're always great. I tend to trust her instincts when it comes to choosing which ones are going to work for us, and just grab a cider and wait, and maybe take some photos.

The cider company has four types of cider on tap and more in bottles behind the bar. You can go for a tasting paddle like you see here being poured for Dave, but I went for a traditional apple cider instead as I'd tried the others before and knew which I preferred.

Dave Lori and Mikah. Lori is between mouthfuls of ice cream, Mikah reckons she looks like an alpaca in the photo below.



The peacocks here are a hit with the visitors. They just cruise around the grounds, sometimes stopping long enough for a photo or two.



The cider company venue is co-branded with the Denmark Good Food Factory referring to all the non-cider offerings also available here.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Irwin Inlet - Peaceful Bay

Our first full day in Peaceful Bay consisted of a quick trip to Walpole to poke through a few gift shops, grab some firewood and head to the local IGA for supplies. We then headed back to the caravan park for a bite to eat. Mikah and Lori had been bugging us to go to the beach and our mates Warren and Sara had told us how amazing the Irwin Inlet area was, so we were keen to check it out too.

As you can see in the following photos, Lori and Cath thought it was quite chilly down the beach, and I agreed, but Mikah and Lachelle weren't bothered by that and both hit the water for a quick dip.







We came back the next morning just after breakfast (we're not really morning people, so it wasn't as early as that makes it sound), and this time we brought the Kings paddle boards as well.



The water here is beautiful and the inlet is quite well protected from waves. We were just at the mouth of the inlet, which is mostly quite shallow, although with a few deep holes to catch you unaware.





Mikah had brought with here a $8 KMart kite, which held up really well in quite a strong breeze, so now Lori's going to go back and grab a few more to leave in the caravan for future trips. Lori, Mikah and Lachelle all had a go flying the kite on the beach.

Lori and Cath had packed a few snacks for us to enjoy and are here chilling on the beach at Irwin Inlet while Mikah and Lachelle are busy with the kite.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Road Tripping to Peaceful Bay with the Jayco Starcraft

Lori, Mikah and I recently headed down to Peaceful Bay for a little getaway, we also took Mikah's mate Lachelle and travelled with our mates Cath, Dave and Lucy. Unusually for me, I didn't get the laptop out once while we were away, so all the photos were edited once we got home. We were travelling in Lori's Holden Trailblazer with our trusty old Jayco Starcraft in tow.

There are several way to get to Peaceful Bay and of those, the routes through Manjimup and Williams are about the same travel time. We decided to head down through Williams and stop at the Williams Woolshed to grab a coffee with another stop at Mount Barker to grab a bit to eat, hit the local IGA for some last minute supplies and stretch the legs. We have previously stopped at the Woolshed for lunch and been quite impressed.

The Williams Woolshed is also home to the 1905 Roasting Company and has a few other stores as well when you can pick up a new pair of Emu ugg boots or a Didgeridoonas oilskin cooler bag amongst other things. We had only brought ground coffee on this trip, and I needed some whole beans to grind to make Turskish coffee's in the mornings. I find this to be one of the better ways to get a decent coffee when we're on the road so it's my preferred breakfast drink when we're in the van or camping, but requires a finer grind of coffee than what Lori had brought along to use in her Moka pot. I chose the 1905 Columbian beans which went down a treat in Peaceful Bay.

The random buildings shown below are some we saw while walking the main street in Mount Barker.


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