Denmark at Easter
This is roughly what happened but days tended to blend into each other as I don't keep a diary !!! Anyway here is my version of the April trip chuckle
Oh! Firstly Josie didn't warn us about a soft toy monkey in a bag she gave us for Silvia, chuckle! I got a real fright when I packed the bag in the boot - I'd been packing it and left the boot open and thought an animal had got it, I gingerly opened the bag and I discovered a chattering monkey doll that makes screeching noises when bumped!!
I forgot to mention it to Maisie and when we were travelling down, she kept hearing this funny noise and wondered if a mouse had got in the car. After her hearing it a few times, I suddenly remembered it couldn't be the wind getting past the door rubbers as I had suggested to her, it must be the toy monkey again! chuckle. I stopped and dug him out from under a pile of things, smacked its bum and it went into this hideous monkey chatter and we both roared with laughter!
You see while I'd been packing, the toy bag had got buried under some other stuff so the noise was only just audible. After we arrived, Maisie asked John if he wanted it for kids . Being shown what a loud noise it could make, he declined, so we now have it as a mascot on the sun-visor!!! chuckle!! He doesn't make any noise there unless you flick him on the bum :-D and the occasional speed bump sets him off too!!
It is a long drive south and we had arrived tired but it was so nice to see all the family. Sure it was much cooler down here, but nice for walking and the forest and the beaches are so beautiful.
We arrived at about 4.30pm and Emil and John were soon playing ukulele's and Maya dancing and Benjamin clowning to make us laugh. Then a big lamb roast dinner! How the time flew and we retired for the night very tired.
Next morning I was late getting up and out but got a walk to the town, about 7 kms through some of the lovely forest. I met Maisie in the town and we shopped for food and went round the second-hand Op shops as I wanted a jumper!!! Its cold here after Perth!!!! We of course bought more things too, chuckle, then as the time was getting on we bought a pie each and sat by the river in the car and yes …fell asleep!!!. I think its the change of air!!! Chuckle and I also think there are a lot of witches live down here, and the hippy culture is very strong too! Our West Australian Denmark is on a river that soon runs into a big shallow estuary that gets cut off from the sea by a sand bar in the summer. It had just opened to the sea this month.
Next day instead of walking as we had planed, we took the car and found a superb beach with a sandy bay, cliffs, rocks and crashing waves and watched them for sometime, but the rain came in so we retired to the car again and dozed once more. (I didn't think we would sleep that night but we did!) Waking up we drove back to Denmark and had a fabulous coffee and cream cakes in a cafe!!!
We arrived back at the house and the grandkids kept us amused till bedtime, Emils ukulele playing is very good now.
The following day we had to get more organised as Maisie and I were on call to help look after the children and one other child. So I was out by 7am and I walked to the beach of the next bay, Lights Beach,
this is a super spot and I guess about 14 k from John's house.
This part of the country and its beaches are so different to
those to the north. Denmark is due south of Perth and about 500 kms in a straight line and therefore colder as we are on the bottom of the globe and further south the nearer to the Antarctic. As you turn that point you see on the map and get to the Southern Ocean, the shore gets so rugged and beautiful, maybe not to good for swimming but great to see.
Today it was very beautiful with big waves but a little cloudy. I had a flask of tea and sat on the rocks and drunk it. Sadly I had to get back so I left my pounding sea and spray to continue its relentless job of polishing the granite rocks and I left my comfy seat turned around and came back home, a 3-hour trip. The kids were good and no problem and we had great fun playing with them again.
The 4th was a cold morning but nice. Maisie and I took the car as far as the old disused railway river bridge.
The forest around the river was lit by the most beautiful morning light, 
and the water was like a mirror but until the sun got through the trees it was quite chilly but coffee in town was very good and warmed us up chuckle. It was not many kms as Maisie came and we had to pick up the children and take them home at 11 am. Back home soon it was quiet as the youngest two sleep for a couple of hours after lunch.
We were having a great time. My son John and his wife Silvia were very involved in several shows of dance and music over the holiday and most nights and many days they were rehearsing one or another and we baby-sat when we could, to help.
I think the 5th was the first time we all had the time to do something all together! The idea was to walk some of the old rail track alongside the inlet.
First I took the car to Crusoe Beach at one end of a long 7 kms walk and I walked back towards town on the old rail track, meeting them nearer the town an hour later. Then we all
walked to back to where I had left my car, only Benjamin got a ride in the pram. The children had great fun playing hide and seek and running and going down to
the tiny little beaches along the way. I could see they were all very tired so I went ahead got my KA and drove a bit nearer back to them. With walking and car ferry we all arrived at the lovely Crusoe beach. After a rest and a snack there, Maisie, Silvia, Emil and I drove back to their starting point leaving Silvia there to take their car back to the others on the beach as my car was not big enough for all of us and the pram! So Maisie, Emil and I drove to town for a coffee!!!!!. The children were very good but were very tired and had a good afternoon sleep when we got home home.
6th
The next day I walked to Lights beach in the morning 14 kms and in the afternoon Maisie and I walked to the nearest beach, that is Ocean Beach about 6 kms there and back.
On the way I got some photos of the kangaroos! 
I was damn tired that night and realised I was still not up to walking 25 kms a day!!! Indeed I fell asleep all the rest of the afternoon!
On the 7th Maisie and I had a short walk, we started in the town and followed the river inland. It was a beautiful walk but we went a bit too far for Maisie, tut tut!! When we got back we had coffee and toast on the river bank park then bought some groceries and drove home.
8th
I seemed to be having trouble walking any great distances! Still the views were fantastic and the weather so far had been good walking weather.
I walked a section of the Bibbulmon track to town but after some 10 kms I got a phone call from Maisie to say the family were coming by in the car past where I was and I cheated and took a lift home! All my walks had been with a full rucksack but this day my shoulders were aching like hell!
Maisie went with John and Silvia to Maya's kindy Easter Parade. A lot of effort had been made by all the mums to make the Easter hats! Maisie will put a short video clip on Maisie's Blog.
On the 9th we drove to Albany the biggest town down here, and spent the day looking round the shops. We had a picnic in a shelter on the sea front, it rained as always when we come here. We spent a lot of time in the music shop and somehow I got Maisie out without buying another ukulele!
Albany is only 45 kms further down but seems to get all the rain and cool weather.
Sill it is green and the coast is lovely. In the photo you can see the Sea Salmon fishermen camping on the beach.
Back in Denmark tonight was the start of the Easter celebrations and the Aborigines started this off with a lot of welcome dances by the riverbank. It was very good I took a bit of video on my camera and a couple of good photos.
Silvia and John had shows to do next day. Silvia is directing one based on stories told by local lady writers and John is dancing in another, he also played instruments in different things too so there was lots for us to go see over the holiday. On the 11th I walked about 6 kms then we went to the matinee of the show.
It was very good both Silvia's show that started it and Johns dance group production in the second half. Both had the crowd stamping for more. I took a lot of video and photos but not all came out as successful as I hoped but were not too bad. See Maisie's Blog videos.
I started Easter Saturday by walking into town and back about 15 kms on my return we all piled into the cars and everyone went back to town to the
Ester market and more dance displays, one young lady (with blue hair) performed on the far bank then swam across the river to meet the other dancing witch on this bank !!!! 
not a very warm way to start a dance!!!! Then the children pelted them with white flour balloons!!! All part of the act and great fun for them chuckle!
The market was very off beat with hippie stuff. This place is full of the "Different life style people!" Emil busked alongside Silvia's sister's craft stall. Also Denmark was suddenly full of tourists. John's house was full too, as two friends of John and Silvia had also come to stop! Silvia's parents had also arrived but were stopping in town
That evening we saw them all off to the show while Maisie and I baby sat and we and the children dusted flour on the doorstep so the children might see the Easter bunny footprints next day. The kids were excited but well behaved and were soon all abed while we watched TV.
12th "The Easter Bunny must have come in the front door!" said Emil and Maya excitedly. "Look the footprints are only going out the back door - see? where we dusted it!" A big hunt had discovered chocolate Easter eggs all round the house! In the evening We, Silvia and Emil went to the Big Show where John and his two friends Dave and Michael - all known as the Uken Brothers - played 4 comedy numbers at the start os the show, which went down very well, the crowd shouted for more! (there will be a short viedo clip on Maisie's blog). Afterwards Silvia took Emil home to relieve the babysitter and we and John went on to the Festival Club where anyone can get up and have a go! John played his uke again and sang a couple of Spanish songs and everyone got up to dance! He also did a bit of 'jamming' with a friend who plays guitar. It was a very good evening.
13th
What with shows, swimming, and beaches we had great fun but very little walking. Now we made plans to go on the following day to the zoo with the children and John. Silvia had a workshop to go to so would stay behind. Therefore more fun and less walking practice was the order of the next day too!
14th
John drove his car and we took Silvia's sisters youngest boy, Aden, with us too. The children loved it, rather than a zoo this was a farm with animals to pet.
You should have seen the 
children running from one to the other with beaming faces and they were able to feed them with pellets and cuddle them! Being unable to stop him in time, Benjamin found that the little round pellets goats dropped that he had found, tasted horrible!
See Home page for more photos
Life down here was hectic. The next day, John and family went to Albany for some 'big' shopping while we had a fairly quiet day with a ride out to Light's Beach, but we were out again that night!!! This time we were invited to have a meal at the 6333 restaurant, with John and Silvia in town. to celebrate, belatedly, our Anniversaries, as we had been driving down on ours. It was a superb meal with, perhaps, a little too much wine! The waitress was the owner's wife and the chef/owner had previously been a top perth chef. We had a very pleasant chat with them after the meal.
Thursday Emil and I washed the car and Maisie packed up the stuff ready to be loaded for our journey back. In the afternoon I did a no pack walk over the mountainous terrain to Monkey rock and back along the road while Maisie cleaned up the flat a bit.
We had a pleasant drive home on the Friday. Taking our time we did it in about 8 hrs I think. A great holiday, and so much fun with the grandchildren.
On the Saturday night Maisie collected her Bowls prizes and certificates at her club's dinner dance, but my knee played up a bit so we didn;t dance as much as usual! - see her bit on our web page
Now I had to get ready for the Camino and new boots were wanted. It was now that things started to go a bit wrong for me. Sure we found some boots on Monday but they gave my knee problems after walking my 12 kms on Tuesday! I rested for two days and modified them a little and its much better but I'm hoping it will be ok before I have to leave!
In the evening we went with Jo, Simon and family and Tricia to the Elephant Hut Indian restaurant for a meal to celebrate Jo's birthday. It was very nice. Maisie will put up photos as usual in the latest albums.
Since then I have been doing jobs around the house which needed to be done before I go - yes! the pool managed to play up once again, but I seemed to have solved the problem, I have hurt my knee too and this flu epidemic and other unforeseen things have the chance of changing all my plans for this walk but I am hoping to be able to do a bit of 'blogging' while I'm away so if you want to keep up with me (no photos till I get back) it will be called Mozarabe Camino 2009. I just hope I can walk at least some of it. Thanks for the words of wisdom and offers of help and the encouragement you all give me. Have a great month of May and good luck to those of you who like me are or will be away on vacation.
Abrazos amigos Michael
This is roughly what happened but days tended to blend into each other as I don't keep a diary !!! Anyway here is my version of the April trip chuckle
Oh! Firstly Josie didn't warn us about a soft toy monkey in a bag she gave us for Silvia, chuckle! I got a real fright when I packed the bag in the boot - I'd been packing it and left the boot open and thought an animal had got it, I gingerly opened the bag and I discovered a chattering monkey doll that makes screeching noises when bumped!!
I forgot to mention it to Maisie and when we were travelling down, she kept hearing this funny noise and wondered if a mouse had got in the car. After her hearing it a few times, I suddenly remembered it couldn't be the wind getting past the door rubbers as I had suggested to her, it must be the toy monkey again! chuckle. I stopped and dug him out from under a pile of things, smacked its bum and it went into this hideous monkey chatter and we both roared with laughter!
You see while I'd been packing, the toy bag had got buried under some other stuff so the noise was only just audible. After we arrived, Maisie asked John if he wanted it for kids . Being shown what a loud noise it could make, he declined, so we now have it as a mascot on the sun-visor!!! chuckle!! He doesn't make any noise there unless you flick him on the bum :-D and the occasional speed bump sets him off too!!
It is a long drive south and we had arrived tired but it was so nice to see all the family. Sure it was much cooler down here, but nice for walking and the forest and the beaches are so beautiful.
We arrived at about 4.30pm and Emil and John were soon playing ukulele's and Maya dancing and Benjamin clowning to make us laugh. Then a big lamb roast dinner! How the time flew and we retired for the night very tired.
Next morning I was late getting up and out but got a walk to the town, about 7 kms through some of the lovely forest. I met Maisie in the town and we shopped for food and went round the second-hand Op shops as I wanted a jumper!!! Its cold here after Perth!!!! We of course bought more things too, chuckle, then as the time was getting on we bought a pie each and sat by the river in the car and yes …fell asleep!!!. I think its the change of air!!! Chuckle and I also think there are a lot of witches live down here, and the hippy culture is very strong too! Our West Australian Denmark is on a river that soon runs into a big shallow estuary that gets cut off from the sea by a sand bar in the summer. It had just opened to the sea this month.
Next day instead of walking as we had planed, we took the car and found a superb beach with a sandy bay, cliffs, rocks and crashing waves and watched them for sometime, but the rain came in so we retired to the car again and dozed once more. (I didn't think we would sleep that night but we did!) Waking up we drove back to Denmark and had a fabulous coffee and cream cakes in a cafe!!!We arrived back at the house and the grandkids kept us amused till bedtime, Emils ukulele playing is very good now.
The following day we had to get more organised as Maisie and I were on call to help look after the children and one other child. So I was out by 7am and I walked to the beach of the next bay, Lights Beach,
this is a super spot and I guess about 14 k from John's house.
This part of the country and its beaches are so different to
those to the north. Denmark is due south of Perth and about 500 kms in a straight line and therefore colder as we are on the bottom of the globe and further south the nearer to the Antarctic. As you turn that point you see on the map and get to the Southern Ocean, the shore gets so rugged and beautiful, maybe not to good for swimming but great to see.Today it was very beautiful with big waves but a little cloudy. I had a flask of tea and sat on the rocks and drunk it. Sadly I had to get back so I left my pounding sea and spray to continue its relentless job of polishing the granite rocks and I left my comfy seat turned around and came back home, a 3-hour trip. The kids were good and no problem and we had great fun playing with them again.
The 4th was a cold morning but nice. Maisie and I took the car as far as the old disused railway river bridge.
The forest around the river was lit by the most beautiful morning light, 
and the water was like a mirror but until the sun got through the trees it was quite chilly but coffee in town was very good and warmed us up chuckle. It was not many kms as Maisie came and we had to pick up the children and take them home at 11 am. Back home soon it was quiet as the youngest two sleep for a couple of hours after lunch.
We were having a great time. My son John and his wife Silvia were very involved in several shows of dance and music over the holiday and most nights and many days they were rehearsing one or another and we baby-sat when we could, to help.
I think the 5th was the first time we all had the time to do something all together! The idea was to walk some of the old rail track alongside the inlet.
First I took the car to Crusoe Beach at one end of a long 7 kms walk and I walked back towards town on the old rail track, meeting them nearer the town an hour later. Then we all
walked to back to where I had left my car, only Benjamin got a ride in the pram. The children had great fun playing hide and seek and running and going down to
the tiny little beaches along the way. I could see they were all very tired so I went ahead got my KA and drove a bit nearer back to them. With walking and car ferry we all arrived at the lovely Crusoe beach. After a rest and a snack there, Maisie, Silvia, Emil and I drove back to their starting point leaving Silvia there to take their car back to the others on the beach as my car was not big enough for all of us and the pram! So Maisie, Emil and I drove to town for a coffee!!!!!. The children were very good but were very tired and had a good afternoon sleep when we got home home.6th
The next day I walked to Lights beach in the morning 14 kms and in the afternoon Maisie and I walked to the nearest beach, that is Ocean Beach about 6 kms there and back.
On the way I got some photos of the kangaroos! 
I was damn tired that night and realised I was still not up to walking 25 kms a day!!! Indeed I fell asleep all the rest of the afternoon!On the 7th Maisie and I had a short walk, we started in the town and followed the river inland. It was a beautiful walk but we went a bit too far for Maisie, tut tut!! When we got back we had coffee and toast on the river bank park then bought some groceries and drove home.
8thI seemed to be having trouble walking any great distances! Still the views were fantastic and the weather so far had been good walking weather.
I walked a section of the Bibbulmon track to town but after some 10 kms I got a phone call from Maisie to say the family were coming by in the car past where I was and I cheated and took a lift home! All my walks had been with a full rucksack but this day my shoulders were aching like hell!Maisie went with John and Silvia to Maya's kindy Easter Parade. A lot of effort had been made by all the mums to make the Easter hats! Maisie will put a short video clip on Maisie's Blog.
On the 9th we drove to Albany the biggest town down here, and spent the day looking round the shops. We had a picnic in a shelter on the sea front, it rained as always when we come here. We spent a lot of time in the music shop and somehow I got Maisie out without buying another ukulele!
Albany is only 45 kms further down but seems to get all the rain and cool weather.
Sill it is green and the coast is lovely. In the photo you can see the Sea Salmon fishermen camping on the beach.Back in Denmark tonight was the start of the Easter celebrations and the Aborigines started this off with a lot of welcome dances by the riverbank. It was very good I took a bit of video on my camera and a couple of good photos.
Silvia and John had shows to do next day. Silvia is directing one based on stories told by local lady writers and John is dancing in another, he also played instruments in different things too so there was lots for us to go see over the holiday. On the 11th I walked about 6 kms then we went to the matinee of the show.
It was very good both Silvia's show that started it and Johns dance group production in the second half. Both had the crowd stamping for more. I took a lot of video and photos but not all came out as successful as I hoped but were not too bad. See Maisie's Blog videos.
I started Easter Saturday by walking into town and back about 15 kms on my return we all piled into the cars and everyone went back to town to the
Ester market and more dance displays, one young lady (with blue hair) performed on the far bank then swam across the river to meet the other dancing witch on this bank !!!! 
not a very warm way to start a dance!!!! Then the children pelted them with white flour balloons!!! All part of the act and great fun for them chuckle!The market was very off beat with hippie stuff. This place is full of the "Different life style people!" Emil busked alongside Silvia's sister's craft stall. Also Denmark was suddenly full of tourists. John's house was full too, as two friends of John and Silvia had also come to stop! Silvia's parents had also arrived but were stopping in town
That evening we saw them all off to the show while Maisie and I baby sat and we and the children dusted flour on the doorstep so the children might see the Easter bunny footprints next day. The kids were excited but well behaved and were soon all abed while we watched TV.
12th "The Easter Bunny must have come in the front door!" said Emil and Maya excitedly. "Look the footprints are only going out the back door - see? where we dusted it!" A big hunt had discovered chocolate Easter eggs all round the house! In the evening We, Silvia and Emil went to the Big Show where John and his two friends Dave and Michael - all known as the Uken Brothers - played 4 comedy numbers at the start os the show, which went down very well, the crowd shouted for more! (there will be a short viedo clip on Maisie's blog). Afterwards Silvia took Emil home to relieve the babysitter and we and John went on to the Festival Club where anyone can get up and have a go! John played his uke again and sang a couple of Spanish songs and everyone got up to dance! He also did a bit of 'jamming' with a friend who plays guitar. It was a very good evening.
13th
What with shows, swimming, and beaches we had great fun but very little walking. Now we made plans to go on the following day to the zoo with the children and John. Silvia had a workshop to go to so would stay behind. Therefore more fun and less walking practice was the order of the next day too!
14th
John drove his car and we took Silvia's sisters youngest boy, Aden, with us too. The children loved it, rather than a zoo this was a farm with animals to pet.
You should have seen the 
children running from one to the other with beaming faces and they were able to feed them with pellets and cuddle them! Being unable to stop him in time, Benjamin found that the little round pellets goats dropped that he had found, tasted horrible!
See Home page for more photosLife down here was hectic. The next day, John and family went to Albany for some 'big' shopping while we had a fairly quiet day with a ride out to Light's Beach, but we were out again that night!!! This time we were invited to have a meal at the 6333 restaurant, with John and Silvia in town. to celebrate, belatedly, our Anniversaries, as we had been driving down on ours. It was a superb meal with, perhaps, a little too much wine! The waitress was the owner's wife and the chef/owner had previously been a top perth chef. We had a very pleasant chat with them after the meal.
Thursday Emil and I washed the car and Maisie packed up the stuff ready to be loaded for our journey back. In the afternoon I did a no pack walk over the mountainous terrain to Monkey rock and back along the road while Maisie cleaned up the flat a bit.
We had a pleasant drive home on the Friday. Taking our time we did it in about 8 hrs I think. A great holiday, and so much fun with the grandchildren.
On the Saturday night Maisie collected her Bowls prizes and certificates at her club's dinner dance, but my knee played up a bit so we didn;t dance as much as usual! - see her bit on our web pageNow I had to get ready for the Camino and new boots were wanted. It was now that things started to go a bit wrong for me. Sure we found some boots on Monday but they gave my knee problems after walking my 12 kms on Tuesday! I rested for two days and modified them a little and its much better but I'm hoping it will be ok before I have to leave!
In the evening we went with Jo, Simon and family and Tricia to the Elephant Hut Indian restaurant for a meal to celebrate Jo's birthday. It was very nice. Maisie will put up photos as usual in the latest albums.
Since then I have been doing jobs around the house which needed to be done before I go - yes! the pool managed to play up once again, but I seemed to have solved the problem, I have hurt my knee too and this flu epidemic and other unforeseen things have the chance of changing all my plans for this walk but I am hoping to be able to do a bit of 'blogging' while I'm away so if you want to keep up with me (no photos till I get back) it will be called Mozarabe Camino 2009. I just hope I can walk at least some of it. Thanks for the words of wisdom and offers of help and the encouragement you all give me. Have a great month of May and good luck to those of you who like me are or will be away on vacation.
Abrazos amigos Michael
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