My hands are curled around a steaming mug of tea, the gentle warmth of the morning sun rousing me from my sleepy state. It’s a crisp and clear morning, typical of late summer and early autumn in southern Western Australia. I take a sip from my mug, and over the rim, I lock eyes with our neighbours. They’ve been milling about on our lawn since daybreak, and I have absolutely no intention of asking them to leave; it’s rather a joy watching them.
At least ten kangaroos are grazing just beyond our patio; flyers, joeys, and muscular boomers. It’s a flyer and her joey that I’ve drawn the attention of, but they’re seemingly unperturbed by my presence. Slowly, they get through their mouthful of grass and hop along a few inches in search of another.
On any given morning at home, I’d be glued to ABC Breakfast news. But here, at Private Properties’ aptly named Roo Corner, the post-dawn entertainment is very much indicative of Denmark’s laid-back, country lifestyle. And it doesn’t end at the resident mob of kangaroos. A fairy wren dips in and out of a blooming shrub on the porch edge, and a shingle back lizard shuffles along the wood-chipped flower bed to find the slowly shifting patches of sun.
If it weren’t for the call of Denmark’s impossibly clear bays and quaint cellar doors, nature watching from the porch would have been a perfectly reasonable activity for the remainder of the day.
Discovering wider Denmark
Roo Corner is neatly centred in a parcel of bushland, accessible only by gum-flanked gravel track. Conveniently, it’s also only a short drive from the town centre and William Bay National Park, the latter being our first port of call for the day.
Under the late morning sun, the sand at Greens Pool reflects a brilliant white and the water gemstone blue. The bay and adjacent Elephant Rocks are tourism campaign fodder, rivalling even the most beautiful of Maldivian beaches. Unlike the islands, these beaches haven’t seen the influx of tourists and development that made them a ‘bucket list’ destination. Instead, the beaches and surrounding scrub are still wonderfully raw, and there’s a distinct community feel.
That feel translates to the region’s distilleries and cellar doors, most small-scale, owner-run operations like our next stop, Singlefile Wines. We take our time bumping down the corrugated track that leads to the hillside cellar door, spotting kangaroos and stopping to take photos of golden farmland. We’ve well and truly subscribed to country time.
Urgency isn’t a feeling that comes up often down this way; our only brush in with it when unscrewing the cap on, what is arguably, the region’s best Chardonnay. It was the top pick of the tasting, poured sparingly so as to be responsible drivers. The rest of the bottle — and another for good measure — is for sipping on the porch back at Roo Corner.
Roo Corner
The afternoon sun streams through the westward-facing glass, effective natural heating for the sprawling kitchen, dining, and living area. It’s not trademark Denmark winter chilly yet, but the warmth of the sunlight adds an element of cosy to this understatedly grand stay.
With four fully-appointed bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a separate TV room for the kids, there’s enough space to entertain a multi-family stay. But it’s just the two of us staking our claim on the master wing and living spaces. And we’re making good use of it.
In lieu of switching on the TV, I hit play on the portable speaker, reach for two stemless wine glasses, and take them and the remaining wine out to the porch. Late afternoon looks even more beautiful on the backyard view than dawn does. The trees on the hills yonder are cast in a golden glow, their shadows reaching longer toward us the further the sun drops in the sky. Soon, it’ll have disappeared behind them entirely.
In the fading light, the neighbours reappear one by one on the lawn, picking up where they left off this morning. I take a sip from my glass and savour the moment, soaking up every last little bit of the evening’s slow entertainment.
Roo Corner is one of six Private Properties‘ stays in the Denmark and Walpole region. Their portfolio spans across Australia’s South West, boasting only the finest in large luxury stays.
*The writer was a guest of Private Properties*
Lead image: Monique Ceccato for So Where Next
