Our plan was to spend the next few days exploring Esperence and its surrounds. The weather was a little unsettled with showers and wind predicted. Esperence is a fairly major town of South West WA, so we took advantage to get the car tyres replaced and rotated after the Nullabor incident. We found a local Cooper Tyre dealer who was really helpful and gave us some great advice particularly on tyre pressures when towing. I had to take a seat when we heard a new tyre was $140 more expensive than if we bought it in Brisbane though. As the mechanics were fitting the tyres, one came in to say that basically whoever put the tyres on, put them on far too tight. The back wheel nut I couldn't get off and bent needed an industrial air spanner to be removed. Read here, it was never coming off and I wasn't simply a weakling. In addition to this, a bolt on one of the tyres completely sheared while they were rotating the tyres. Essentially we were extremely lucky this happened in the shop than on the road. With new tyres on the front we were now off to the local Toyota dealership to have the bolt replaced which would mean the car would be out of action for the remainder of the day.
Everyone used the time back at camp to catch up on emails and schoolwork. In May the sun starts to set quite early around 5pm, so by the time we picked the car up and did a little tour of the town and harbour that was it for the day. Unfortunately for us, Esperence is having some major development done to it's main foreshore and jetty which was all closed. Not the best Mothers day we had hoped for mum. We tried to make it up to her by taking her out to dinner for a nice meal at the local pub (not many restaurants were open in the off season before I hear you all screaming cheap cheap!). Mum even received a free glass of champagne so everyone kicked a goal!
Esperence Harbour
Hanging around
Happy Mothers Day mum!
The great ocean drive from the town out to Pink Lake and back east into town along the coast is incredible. Due to the showery weather the lake had lost some of it's pinkness but having seen it a couple of days ago we new it's true potential. We then stopped at various lookout points along the way - 11 mile, 10 and 9 mile beaches were some of the prettiest we'd seen on the trip so far. I'd never seen surf breaking onto reef and then filling into a lagoon only for the surf to crash again onto pure white sand. The heavens opened again as we arrived at Twilight Beach (voted WA's most popular beach). As we entered the car park Maria lamented if only the rain would stop this place would be magical. As if through some divine answer to our prayer almost immediately the clouds parted, the sun come out and Twilight beaches' full beauty was on display. We stayed for the rest of the day playing in the sand and climbing on rocks. Maria and the kids even swam while I caught heaps of Salmon Trout and Silver Trevally. We then finished the drive along the coast back towards town along some very picturesque coastline.
11 Mile Beach
Twilight Beach - Lachie coined it best. The sand is like icing sugar!
Whilst reluctant to leave Esperence, we were eager to get to Cape Le Grand National Park, which is about 60km east. There are 3 main campgrounds at Le Grand Beach, Lucky Bay and Rossiters Bay. We chose Lucky Bay as it was the best protected from the current south westerlies. Ok, so I said the previous beaches were beautiful. I lied. compared to the beaches of Cape Le Grand they are hideous! As we drove over a hill we could see Lucky Bay from a far and Maria audibly gasped and nearly came to tears quite literally. The sand is whiter than white the turquoise waters even richer and the coastline breathtaking.
Lucky Bay camp ground was surprisingly empty so we setup as the caretaker later put it, in the penthouse. Maria and I woke each morning to a view directly out over the bay which we could watch lying down. Not a bad way to start the day I can assure you. We said hi to a few fellow campers. One couple we met, Paul and Sue had seen a whale that morning in the bay itself only 100m offshore, whilst fishing for Salmon off the beach. Paul also had caught a few fish. Even the caretakers said they had been coming for years and this was extremely rare and fortunate. You can also drive onto the 7km beach most of the time as the tides aren't large here. Local resident kangaroos can also be seen lazing around the campground or down on the beach.
This is Lucky Bay! This is not a postcard...
We took a trip out onto the beach in the afternoon which started getting a little windy and the fish had left so we took a drive around the area including Hellfire Bay and Frenchman peak. That evening we again spoke to Paul and Sue who said they'd caught more Salmon at Hellfire. As I was becoming slightly obsessed with catching a salmon, Paul and I agreed to go for a fish the next morning.
The day dawned with the most spectacular windless, cloudless sky. We headed down to Hellfire Bay. While Paul and I fished, Maria and the kids took the 45min walk over the head land to Little Hellfire. The water was so clear you could see quite deep into the water and the Salmon were there and they were big.
View from the cliff behind Hellfire Bay
Close up
Paul cast his line into the water first and instantly hooked up. You could actually see the fish take the bait, it was an amazing site. These are big brutes of fish who fight well above their weight so pulling in a 3-4kg fish took us about 10 minutes. Just letting the fish tire itself out. I had to wait till the school came back as they were just cruising back and forth long the beach break.
The fishing platform
I lobbed a pilchard out into the channel where I presumed they would be heading and didn't have to wait long. Another big fish took the bait and the fight was on. After another long fight I landed it with a massive grin from ear to ear. Target species acquired. Both fish were 75cm and weighed 3.5kg. I also hooked another big fish of similar size but this was released. Just as we were about to get into more fishing a sea lion came along chasing the school. It was a real thrill watching it leap through the water and waves catching salmon. On the downside that was it for the session.
Tossing lures at Thistle Cove - a hookup every time. You could see the salmon fighting each other to take the lure. Awesome fun.
In the afternoon we took the 12km drive down from Lucky Bay to Cape Le Grand and Le Grand beach. From here at low tide you can actually drive back down the 22km towards Esperence. It was a beautiful afternoon. We setup about a kilometre down the beach beside a freshwater creek and had lunch and a swim. After a very relaxing time, just as we were about to leave some wild brumbies came down for a drink in the freshwater creek. It appeared to be two adults with a foal.
Cape Le Grand
Happy Days on the beach
After just about a perfect day we agreed that if the next day was as nice we'd stay on another night. Unfortunately it rained overnight dawned overcast and windy again. Reluctantly we broke camp and we were just able to close the camper as the rain began to tumble down. I think I could spend a month in the Cape Le Grand National Park and not get bored. In fact, there are 12 caretakers who each stay a month at the campground each year. Ours had been coming back each May for 15 years! Food for thought for our twilight years perhaps:-) We now need to start making some serious km's if we are going to be in Broome by June 23 in reasonable shape. There is so much to see in WA's south west we are only going to be able to scratch the surface. Next stop is Albany which is nearly 500km west.
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