We had two fabulous days in Denmark, checking out the wineries, the gourmet trail, coastline and magnificent forests.

Coming to this region out of season is both a blessing and a curse – blessing because there aren’t many people around and a curse when the weather gods stop smiling in the middle of a walk!

Before this however, Natasha and I set up camp at a delightful spot on the Denmark River at Wilson Inlet.

This was the base for our visit to the Valley of the Giants and magnificent tree walk. A must visit. The tingle trees are a remnant of Gondwana Land, growing to 75 metres high with a girth of 20 metres. They live up to 400 years and require a metre of rain a year to survive.

We also spent some time exploring the nearby William Bay National Park famous for Elephant Cove and the Green Pools.

On the night of day 2, the heavens opened and with six days’ straight rain forecast, we decided to head north and follow the sun, abandoning our plans to see the rest of the south west.

Such is the ease of this van, we ‘decamped’ in record time and arrived in Hyden later that day for our visit to Wave Rock where we spent two days exploring the area.

While Wave Rock is a very interesting geological feature, we enjoyed our walks in the Humps, about 16 kilometres away, even more.

From Wave Rock we travelled to Kalgoorlie where we stayed for two nights, enjoying the heritage buildings, a great pub lunch on the verandah at the York Hotel and a must-see Super Pit gold mine tour. The overall size of this mine, the largest operating gold mine in Australia, is mind boggling.

From Kalgoorlie, we headed for Eucla, staying overnight at one of the many quiet bush camps about 300 metres off the highway. Definitely preferable to staying behind one of the roadhouses. And we still had all our creature comforts.

We arrived at Eucla in time for a visit to the ruins of the old Telegraph Station and bird colony at the jetty remains on a wild and windswept beach.

From our van window, we could see the beginning of the Great Australian Bight.

Next stop, the Flinders Ranges via Ceduna.