Esperance to Cape Le Grand and back again.

Esperance – Cape Le Grand National Park

Fri. Feb. 18^th

Imagine our shock when we arrived at the NP entrance to see a sign stating that the campgrounds were full! As we had made the 60km journey, we decided to go on to Lucky Bay, reputed to be one of the best beaches in WA, and spend the day there anyway. When we arrived at the campsite there seemed to be plenty of sites and we soon learned that we had simply arrived too early!

The beach was stunning with pure white sand and water of the brightest aqua hue. This was contrasted by the brown rocks and headlands at either end of the bay. Exquisite! The sun shone and we headed for a 6km walk to one end of the bay and back. After lunch I sought shelter from the wind at one end of the beach and after reading for some time I wandered over the rocks to a cairn that indicated that Matthew Flinders sought shelter in this bay in 1802 and was responsible for its name. His achievements were immense and the distances that he covered in mapping the coastline incredible. Later we completed another 6km walk, this time to Thistle Bay and back. GVS is walked-out J The evening sunset was beautiful and the cool wind allowed for a comfortable night‘s sleep.

Sat. Feb. 19^th

As the Sunday forecast was for incredibly strong winds, we decided to ride to Rossiter Bay this morning in case we decided to seek shelter back in Esperance on Sunday. The distance was 6km each way but as we rode over the incredibly bumpy, corrugated road we traversed many more than 6km each way as we tried to avoid the worst parts of the road and avoid the soft sandy edges. To add to this problem, the wind picked up, making the return up-hill ride into the force 9 gale a major feat. Well, it was at least a 25 knot wind. Thank you Phlip for your well-sprung bike! I’m sure that I was much more comfortable than GVS on his $10 recycling centre special.

Rossiter Bay was a much larger bay with an extensive sandy beach, but not as pretty as Lucky Bay. There were fishermen on the distant rocks and a cormorant busy working the shallows for small fry to enjoy.

Back at camp, we tried to find shelter from the wind and read the afternoon away at camp and on the beach. 4wd vehicles use the beaches, as they did in SA, but as the beach was only 3km long I was astounded at the number of people who chose to drive rather than walk to a good swimming spot.

Cloud cover again in the afternoon, strong winds and a cool evening.

Lucky Bay – Esperance

Sun. Feb. 20

A wild and windy morning so it was time to pack up camp and head off. Before we left we once again spent time at the camp kitchen, talking to the leaders of an Aboriginal tour group with whom we had spent some time as we cooked, ate and cleaned up after our meals over the past couple of days. Camp kitchens are great for meeting others. They were interesting people, out for an archaeological survey of the area with visiting archaeologists and anthropologists from Europe as well as with the local rangers and other interested people. They had been investigating the incredibly large caves in the granite, formed by wave action millions of years ago when the sea level was much higher. One of the men told us that they thought that they found a fossilised boomerang but would need to ask the elders what they wanted to do with it. The women cooked up a storm of carbohydrates which the men consumed in huge amounts. They were friendly and we discovered that Esperance is a friendly and warm community.

We visited Le Grand Beach camp site and it was also beautiful but the day did not lend itself to beach activities so it was back to Esperance ..... but as it was Sunday the whole town was shut. We took the scenic drive around the pink lake, another large salt lake but with algae that gave it a pink tinge. We then went to the information bay at the wind farm, a perfect location to be sure, and learned that these enormous turbines supplied 23% of Esperance’s power needs. The coastal drive revealed yet more superb beaches, particularly Twilight Beach, and we could only imagine what it would look like on a sunny day.

Later in the day I walked along the beach, into the wild wind, as far as the breakwater and on to the harbour. Some fishermen there on the sheltered side, a single abalone boat moored, however as the Coffin Bay abalone diver taken by 2 great white sharks earlier in the week was from Esperance, things may have been quieter than usual or the fleet could have been at sea.