Among Western Australia’s Rainbow Coast’s best-loved landmarks Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool are easily visited from Albany and offer a beautiful stop on a road trip in the area.

We visited the Rainbow Coast on our road trip from Margaret River to Albany. It’s a decent day of driving, so in hindsight we probably should have continued to our accommodation in Albany and returned the next day. Still, the weather was not really looking good for the rest of the week, so we decided to detour while the going was good.

We had learned about these magnificent granite boulders after our daughter visited and shared her photos and from that point; it hit our itinerary. The walk from the car park to the beach is short and your first decision is which spot to go to first.

We suggest you head to Elephant Rocks first if you are planning to swim as Greens Pool is the safer swimming spot to you might want to settle there after you have viewed Elephant Rocks.

Elephant Rocks are in Williams Bay National Park just a short drive from Denmark in the south of WA, which makes a base for exploring the Rainbow Coast.

Related: National Parks in Australia

Elephant Rocks

You can view the “elephants” from the track and it’s a magnificent view, even in less than stellar weather at the end of a very wet day.

The cove was almost empty thanks to the weather and honestly, that feels like a win because being among just a couple of people here made it feel even more special. 

Local legend says that Elephant Cove was a popular birthing place for indigenous women and I certainly sensed some sort of emotional pull here, it felt like a special place and was hard to tear ourselves away.

A wooden staircase leads down to Elephant Cove beach where you can see the granite boulders from a completely different perspective. If you decide to swim among the elephants, stay aware of what the ocean is doing as it can be a little unpredictable here and large waves can seem to come from nowhere.

While we were keen to get close to the “elephants”, the ocean down here at the bottom of WA is cold, very cold, even in summer and today it was pretty miserable. It’s an easy walk down, but at high tide, I suggest you take off your shoes.

Greens Pool

From Elephant Rocks, you can retrace your steps back to the turnoff or you can walk along the rocks, We took the rock walk to Greens Pool, sometimes mistakenly called Green Pools.

Greens Pool Beach offered safe swimming and was a beautiful shade of blue on our visit. This beach can get very busy in summer, but with today’s rain, only a few of us brave the walk from the car park.

The boulders here and the ‘elephants’ are like those found along the coast of Tasmania and on New Zealand’s South Island. They are composed of metamorphic rock.

Today we were reminded that a bad weather forecast does not mean a bad day of sightseeing, so next time you wake up to the sound of rain- don’t cancel your plans – give it a chance.

Getting to Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool – These two sites share a car park located just off Williams Bay Road. The drive from the South Coast Highway is about 5km.
Where: William Bay National Park
When: There were no gates, so I assume it is open all the time

Find out more about the sites of Denmark – Official Denmark Visitors Guide 

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