ESPERANCE



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Looking over Esperance



Looking to the West of Esperance







The top photo Charlie is pointing at Charlie Island.







Esperance and the Cape Le Grand National Park

 





Esperance is known as the gateway to the West Coast and we have seen why. There are so many stunning bays with beaches that have crystal clear water. Out to sea the coast line is scattered with the Archipelago of the Recherche, which is 100's of islands.





Looking towards Twilight Beach on our bike ride



Swimming at Twilight Beach



One of the our favourite spots is Twilight Beach. It is home to the local  Surf  Life Saving club and you can see why when you see the beach. Twilight Beach itself is about 7km's west out of Esperance along a very pretty coast esplande that is host to other beautiful beaches; some better for surfing, fishing or just taking the dog for a run. We drove out to this glorious beach the first time and noticed a bike trail that wound its way through, up and over the dunes, the next day we rode it. It was no easy ride with very steep hills, up and down, but definately a wonderful experience Tom stacked going down the first hill but soldiered on to complete the ride safely.



The boys cooling down at Twilight beach on our ride


The Esperance peir, called Tanker Jetty is a must see if you dont mind a long walk and getting wind blown;it is quite unique with a curve in it. The waters around here are home to many sea lions , one in particular who hangs around the area where the fishermen clean their fish on the peir.



Sea Lion at Tanker Jetty





Tanker Jetty



 




We went for a day drive out to Cape Le Grand N.P and took Vector,( our car) for its first beach drive. The N.P has a few very popular places for people to come and camp, well I should say bring their caravans, motor homes and tents to stay in because it is only 50km's by road out of Esperance. The park ranger said that you have to be in by 9am to grab a site as people move out. There are some lovely bays to look at and have a swim, unfortunatley it wasn't warm enough for us to have a swim.

The boys standing on seaweed at Rossiter Bay

At Rossiter Bay, we had lunch and did some exploring around the rocks looking at birds which we thought were penguins but were only Blak Faced Cormorants. As we travel we are learning what the birds are with our bird book, very interesting. We have also seen many Pacific Gulls and Pied Oystercatchers around this area. The seaweed is very interesting here, not only is it like shredded paper it is stacked up quite high in places and unfortunately stinks like rotten eggs! We drove up the beach for a look and in search of some sand dunes to have a play in. The sand is so fine and white, it is almost like walking on corn flour and at times it sqweaks underfoot, cool, really!



Charlie sand dune jumping





Sue's jump





Tom's high jump





At Lucky Bay we drove around the beach to a look out then did a short walk to some lovely memorial plaques about Captain Matthew Filnders and their landing here in 1802. On this beach we were very surprised to see a family of kangaroos eating a dead penguin, you would of thought it would be way to salty but they were having a good feed!

Lucky Bay

A quick look at Hellfire beach, which was my favourite, peaceful and pretty, then around to Cape Le Grand beach and camping  area. From here we went back to Esperance via the beach, it was only 23km's and a much nicer drive. 



Tom and Charlie at Hellfire Beach





Driving back to Esperance on Cape Le Grand Beach