Another incredibly beautiful day – not a cloud in the sky – and the promise of a little bit more heat – but still, we’ve really been lucky. We have arrived at anchor earlier than anticipated, so the tender operations were well under way around 7:00am with announcements every 15 minutes or so telling people there were no lines for the tenders! That’s something new!
But – it is only 7AM and we can’t even get our car until 8:30 – so no rush. But of course, we do go out early – about 7:45 or so – and take the 15 minute tender ride into town. We ride with one of the Customs Agents coming back off the ship who is a font of local information. He tells us about Lucky Bay in Cape le Grand National Park – the best beach in the area – which is where we are going. He says the sand is so fine it squeaks when you walk and is never hot, no matter what the temperature.
He also tells us how Esperance is circled by a ring of over 100 islands but only 3 are accessible (which makes his job easier he says!). And there is one island where a herd of mountain goats live – and no one is quite sure how they got there. Not by swimming, that’s for sure! This is also a prime whale watching area in season (beginning in March, we’re about a month too early). Our new friend tells us that there are whales everywhere – so much so they are actually a pain for the port traffic. They stay in the bay, near the pier and the agents and port officials have to go out and try to shoo them away with the tugs to get the ships in! He said one guy goes out on a jet-ski trying to shoo them away – they don’t pay attention to him though! No kidding!
Pretty funny, and very entertaining for our tender ride. As we are getting ready to disembark, he tells us to go to Cat Coffee – just down the park – for the best coffee. That’s where he’s heading. We thank him for all the info and head off to the Avis building, figuring we’ll do the coffee after we return from our little excursion. Even though 8:30 is the appointed opening time, here again, the rental agency has opened early for our arrival. We’re now 3rd in line and we’ve already seen a car go out. Great service! We get our car (oy vey! It is a BRAND NEW Hyundai I20– only 29 km on the odometer. Well, at least there are no parking garages in our future today. We should be good to go!) and find out that they have somehow overbooked by 4 cars – so first come first served and only if you have a reservation – hate to be the last 4 people in line for their cars! We hit the road by 8:30 and head out toward Cape Le Grand National Park.
Esperance is a cute little (and we mean little) town on the seashore, and we clear it in a couple of minutes. We’ve plugged into Alicetta (GPS) the National Park – and she’s given us some route that will take 1 1/2 hours? Huh – no way. CPS to the rescue! Turns out Alicetta didn’t know some of the roads to the park even existed, so she had us going way the heck out of our way and then back over hill and dale to the park. Turned her off in a hurry and just followed the signposted directions and the CPS map! We were there in under 45 minutes!
And wow, what a ride – through very “outback-ish” looking land. Miles and miles of flat grassland with shrubs (bush!) and stunted trees and cows. The road is flat and mostly straight as an arrow – and fast. A much easier driver today – yay! 20 minutes into the drive we pass a replica of Stonehenge on our left – it is a completed structure, not in ruin like the original. It is also $10 each to get in – not! We’ve seen the real thing, don’t think we need to see a replica for that amount of money – even if we can walk all the way through it.
As we progress further and further out of civilization, the fields just stretch on forever. There are road hazard signs for wild horses along with a sign indicating children – wild children perhaps? There are also real road hazards, such as the 3 foot lizard that is crossing the road in front of our speeding little I20. Good maneuvering Ed!
We arrive, unscathed, at the Park entrance and wait for a couple of campers to register before paying our fee and driving into the park. Interestingly, there are signs everywhere prohibiting dogs. One at the Park entrance even says “If there is a dog in your vehicle, turn back now”. They are serious! We’re thinking it is because of the wildlife here – and the kangaroo colony we are hoping to find at Lucky Bay.
Into the park – we head immediately to Lucky Bay – past Frenchman Peak – where you can take a 1.5 hour hike of “hard walking” to the peak. Nah, think we’ll pass! But we do stop at the overlook for pictures. It’s just stunning – the granite peak surrounded by heathland. Beautiful.
Then it’s off to Lucky Bay. OMG – our customs agent friend was right. We come up over the hill, head down toward the caravan parking and are presented with one of the most achingly beautiful beaches we have ever seen. Blindingly white – with dunes ringing the heathland and a shimmering crystal blue bay. All we keep saying is wow. Wow!
And its virtually empty! No tours here yet, just us and the campers! 
And are there ever campers! The lot is filled with caravans (campers of all varieties – mostly vans packed to the brim with every possible possession!). There is a communal kitchen down here, and a couple of guys with guitars strumming away. Tents pitched, kids riding their bikes – a regular little community found through the wooded canopy trail that leads to the restrooms.
The trail also leads us to our first kangaroo in the wild sighting! These two cute little roos – mom and joey – are just languishing about near the campground. Not really worrying too much about the tourists taking pictures of them. We could get really close – a couple of feet away – and they never budged!
Back to the beach, we walk for 30 minutes or more, heading around the bay taking in the beautiful scenery, the water, the incredible weather and the wonderful emptiness of the beach.
The sand is just amazing. So fine, it is almost paste-like. And it definitely squeaks. We don’t even have to take our shoes off and it squeaks. And the contrast against the heath covered dunes and the blue water keeps our attention the entire walk.
We are also entertained by a group of guys running their 4WD in the surf. We can not figure out why they are in the water until we are closer and see that they are trying to “water ski” with a surf board. “Surf Ski”. Hey – inventive. They try and try and try and this one guy finally gets a good run going! Well done mate!
We head back after the Surf Skiing and find busloads of people. The tours have arrived. Good time for us to skeedaddle. So we reverse our course and hit all the little bays and coves along our way out of the park. Each stunning in its own right. Pictures are below.
Thistle Cove:
Above Thistle Cove is the Whistling Rock which has an Aboriginal story attached to it. The rocks make a crying sound when the wind blows – so we walk all around it, look out at the bay and listen to the wail imagining the story below. Really cool.
We also chase a lizard for pictures….
Then my Aussie mate revs up our ride and chauffeurs me off to the next scenic view point!
We complete our Park exploration driving down to Le Grand Beach. Not the prettiest of all the beaches we’ve seen, but it’s still pretty nice and with fishing possibilities! Along the way the heath stretches for miles until it reaches the peaks of the 3 mountains in the park. Just spectacular scenery.
Time to head back to town for a bite to eat and more exploration.
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