Esperance

Hopetoun beach

After a great nights camp at the Overshot Hill Nature Reserve just 9km north of Ravensthorpe, where we enjoyed watching the sunset over the green country, with emu's pecking amongst the wheat field just next door and a campfire to toast our marshmellows.
We woke to another fine day and travelled south to meet the coast at Hopetoun. Once again we enjoyed the white sandy beaches and clear waters of the coastline, stopping for morning tea, a swim and soak up the sunshine on the beach. We did the great ocean drive to Esperance enjoying the true beauty of this coastline and the mass amount of wildflowers and so many varieties, they were beautfiul. We found a camp just west of Esperance for the night.

Great ocean drive coastline

So many wildflowers

Sammy the Seal

The next day we woke to an overcast day, with scattered showers. There was not much to explore in Esperance, just the beaches and find Sammy the seal swimming around the jetty. The girls were so keen to find Sammy so we headed straight for the jetty and walked out to the end. There was no wind or rain which made it a more plesant walk, we looked and walked right to the end of the jetty and did not find Sammy. A bit disappointed, but we had a chat to different people who were fishing off the end of the jetty for squid then headed back to the beach. Just as we got back to the start of the jetty Darrin spotted Sammy, it was very exciting, there happened to be two seals so we got to see two Sammy's. We were there for about 45minutes just watching the seals swim and eat. As far as the girls were concerned thats it we had seen what we came to Esperance for - Sammy the Seal.
Although the rain had cleared and there was still no wind, it was overcast and there was a severe storm warning for the erea due to hit that night. So we opted to go to the town centre and visit the tourist information and do some shopping then book into a caravan park for the night just incase the storm hit. There were lots of kids around the park because of the school holidays so it was not long before the girls had made some friends and were busy playing for the afternoon.
That night after dinner in the camp kitchen meeting other holidaying familes we had movie night in the camper. Lucky the storm never hit that night but we did wake to the same weather conditions of overcast, but there was no rain or wind so we decided to pack up and move on to Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid National Park.

Lucky Bay - Cape Le Grand National Park

As we drove east of Esperance to Cape Le Grand National Park the rain started to fall. We drove through Cape Le Grand National Park with the rain sprinkling and it still look amazingly awesome in the wet weather. Once out of the National Park and further east towards Cape Arid National Park the sky was clear blue with not a cloud about so things were looking good. We wanted to camp at the Poison Creek section of the park so headed down the track towards this section. It was a 4wd recommended track and as we turned onto the road it started to become a track which was narrow. We came to a large puddle in the road and I hoped out to take a photo while Darrin drove thru it, but it was deeper and the clay mud was very sticky so the Troopy stopped in the middle. Out came the trusty winch once again to get us unstuck, we had been warned about the tracks in this area being impassable after rain so we were a little concerned about the track further on. But looking on the GPS we then realized that this was a minor track to the Poison Creek section and there was a more major road to choose, so we drove on and found the good gravel road to Poison Creek. Finally we could see the ocean in the distance driving thru the low lying scrubs towards the sand dunes which revealed white sandy beaches and clear blue waters. We found the clean well maintained campground amongst the paperbark trees with massive sand dunes between the campground and the beach. The sand was so clean, white and made a squeaking sound when we walked on it. A walk along the beach and play in the sanddunes as the sun was disappearing then dinner back at camp with the nearly full moon shining bright and the sky remaining clear and promising for tommorrow.

Bogged in the sticky clay mud puddle

Driving thru Cape Arid National Park

We woke to perfect warm weather conditions, so put on our swimmers ready to hit the beach. Firstly we drove along a few kilometres to Seal creek where we could then drive onto the beach, then along the top of the sand dunes which gave great views of the water. We spotted so many whales, some were playing showing their tails and body some mothers and their calf's, it was great spotting all the whales. Looking for a good swimming spot with some waves for the boogie boards, we thought we would go check out the the other end of the camping ground.

Driving along the sand dunes from Seal Creek

Seal creek



Watching the whales and dolphins

 We could not drive onto this beach so we went for a walk to see what the beach revealled. Darrin was first to get to the protected bay and yelled 'there is a whale in the bay'. It was right in the small bay just metres from the waters edge and at first it looked like a rock boulder in the middle of the bay but watching it move it turned out to be a whale and a calf. We were all mesmerized at how close this whale was and how enormous these creatures are. You could even see the barnicles growing on the whale it was that close. Then we spotted a pod of dolphins also swimming with the whales. We watched the whales head come up out of the water and the calf was rolling sideways and show its tail. We walked to the rocks on the edge of the bay to watch the whales and dolphins as the swam back out to sea and then they turned bay and went back into the bay. Whale watching could not get any better, an awesome experience to have.

Walking along the rocks to watch the whales and dolphins

The rest of the day we enjoyed relaxing on the beach, swimming and building sandcastles. Cape Arid was our last WA destination to discover and proved to be a memorable and fantastic place. Now to tackle the Nullabor.

Kate having fun with her boogie board

Catching the waves

lunchtime