Day 19 – Monday 16 June – Esperance Day 1
Esperance (pop. 12000) has an enormous amount to offer the 'outdoors' traveller. That had to wait while we had a sleep in and then did our exercises after breakfast.
The 'real' activity started with some food shopping then a drive around to most of the murals around town.
After lunch we followed the 'Great Ocean Drive' whose views would rival the 'Great Ocean Road' of Victoria, albeit somewhat shorter.
A sample of our day follows.
Morning - mural photos ......................
Afternoon - Beach photos ......................
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| Eleven Mile (Clothing Optional) Beach - [Beach 11, Walks 13] |
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| Twilight Cove Beach - [Beach 13, Walks 15] |
For more beach & bird photos please click here.
There was even more to see...........
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| Historic Clock Tower Chimes Every 15 minutes during the day |
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| Tankers being loaded at Esperance |
Esperance has quite a busy port as it has a deeper harbour than Albany. The main exports are grain and iron ore and the main imports are fertiliser. The grain is moved to Esperance by truck and the iron ore arrives by train.
It was a long day and we were happy to sit down to a BBQ steak for dinner.
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| Steak on BBQ. Wine in hand |
Day 20 – Tuesday 17 June – Cape le Grand - 255 km
Today we drove 255 km to, between and returned from a collection of beaches that could claim to be the best collection of beaches in Australia. We have seen a lot of Australia and what we saw today was somewhere above magnificent. If you wish to debate the above claim please add a comment to this blog page.
We did a load of washing, had a cooked breakfast and headed off just after 8:30 am. Our first stop was Lucky Bay. Please remember that NONE of the following photos do justice to what we saw today.
Wow!
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| Lucky Bay - [Beach 15, Walks 16] |
Next was Thistle Cove and Whistling Rock - the latter 'whistling' when the wind blows through its crevices.
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| Whistling Rock |
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| Thistle Cove - [Beach 16, Walks 17] |
Once that was avoided we headed onto the beach at Hellfire Bay. This was another great example of fine squeaky white sand.
The crow followed us for a while, in vain hope of us feeding it something that it was not born to eat.
Like all the other beaches there were few or no people in sight.
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| Beach at Hellfire Bay - [Beach 17, Walks 18] |
Although the beach has lots of potential the seaweed ruined the Cape Le Grand beach.
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| Cape Le Grand beach - [Beach 18, Walks 19] |
It was a 50 km drive to the eastern extremity of Cape Le Grand and the sands of Wharton Beach.
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| Wharton Beach - [Beach 19, Walks 20] |
We did not see much fauna (apart from the crow) but the flora was in abundance. There were many flowers among numerous types of plants. The image below shows a few of the colours. There were many others.
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| Some flowers of Cape Le Grand |
On the way home I added to my collection of interesting signs.
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| 2000 km east would be close to the Clare Valley wine district in SA |
We stopped at Bunnings on the way home and were back in time for a 3:30 coffee. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. The clothes on the line were dry.
Day 21 – Wednesday 18 June – Esperance Day 3
After two busy days today was declared a quiet catch-up day. Exercises. Car wash for removal of Norseman red dirt and salty sprays. Found two remaining murals. Visited an art gallery with "The Lester Prize" finalists on display. "The Lester Prize" is the WA equivalent of the Archibald Prize. Click here if you want a sample of what we saw.
We bought two pies for lunch.
After lunch. Rest. Book reading. Revisit town clock to hear the 15-minute chimes up close. Walked on Esperance 'town' beach.
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| RSL - Light Horseman Mural |
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| Town Beach [Beach 20, Walks 21] |
Day 22 – Thursday 19 June – Esperance Day 4
I was so optimistic about the weather that I donned shorts for the first time this trip. Around 9:30 am we headed out to Stonehenge WA, which is apparently an exact replica on what Stonehenge UK looked like when it was first built. We are missing out on the winter solstice by two days - but that would be a day with constant forecast rain.
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| Stonehenge WA looking from east to west |
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| Stonehenge WA inside looking towards the altar |
On the way back to Esperance we admired a couple of metal sculptures.
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| Esperance version of the Loch Ness monster |
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| We all have a dinosaur in our closet |
Next stop was the rebuilt Esperance Jetty, rebuilt with the same curve and length of 400 metres.
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| Esperance Jetty |
Not much of note happened after that, apart from moving back to jeans about 4pm.
Day 23 – Friday 20 June – Esperance to Hopetoun - 295 km
I thought that Shirley had a boyfriend in Ravensthorpe as (for the first time in 15 years of big winter trips) she was ready before me. Wow.
The 185 km to Ravensthorpe (pop. 2100) had four main features - excellent grazing land for prime sheep & cattle - crops - mines and bush. It is an interesting drive.
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| Rich grazing land between Esperance and Ravensthorpe |
Our main feature of the day was the "Farm Gate Art Trail" which has 32 installations of metal art made from pre-loved farm materials. A few are included below.
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| Art in Ravensthorpe |
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Above & Below - Both sides of the Ravensthorpe Silo Art |
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| A mural in Ravensthorpe |
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| The big lollypop in Ravensthorpe |
We checked out the silo art at Ravensthorpe then chatted to the tourism guy in the "I". He suggested that Hopetoun was a better place to visit so we did - seeing more farm art along the way. We also saw a few parrots.
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| Australian Ringneck, or Twenty Eight, or Port Lincoln Parrot (depending on where you find it) |
A local 48 hour RV campsite was promoted so that was where we parked the caravan. The beach was 50 metres behind us.
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| Hopetoun Beach 50 metres behind the caravan [Beach 21, Walks 22] We could walk to the 'local' about 400 metres along the beach. |
We had lunch then went for a drive in to the "Fitzgerald River National Park". Like "Cape Le Grand NP" the beaches were magnificent, the cliffs rugged and the flowers pretty to look at.
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| Four Mile Beach in shadow [Beach 22, Walks 23] |
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| Miley's Beach [Beach 23, Walks 24] |
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| The view from Barrons lookout. Four Mile Beach in the middle foreground. Culham Inlet middle left. Hopetoun top right of the photo. |
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| A collection of the flora that we saw in the National Park |
It was late afternoon by the time we rested.
Day 24 – Saturday 21 June – Hopetoun to Bremer Bay - 292 km
Our day started with no firm plans in place except to check out a few more local beaches. The caravan was left at the RV park as we did our research. As the gale force winds persisted - and were freezing cold - the beach research did not take long.
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| Two Mile Beach [Beach 24, Walks 25] |
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| Twelve Mile Beach [Beach 25, Walks 26] |
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| Five Mile Beach [no rating as a beach] |
After a cuppa we decided to up stumps and press on. We headed north for 46 km, then WSW for 114 km, then south for 55 km, then east for 41 km. After around 280 km we were within maybe 80 km from where we started.
The first two legs were fought against gale force winds, the latter two legs we floated along in front of the wind. We ended up at Bremer Bay. It was around 14 degrees, with wind providing a poor chill factor.
Along the way we saw more "Farm Gate Art". Click here to see the entire collection of my "Farm Gate Art Trail" photos.
Over the past week or so we have passed a lot of areas that have been subjected to serious fires - and mainly in National Park areas. The heat was so intense in many parts that many plants have died. The following photo gives an example.
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| Fire ravaged landscape on both sides of the road |
Camp was established by 3pm in Bremer Bay (pop. 230), maybe 100 metres from Wellstead Estuary - not far from where it reaches the ocean.
After a coffee and a short rest we went exploring and were able to get a few more beach photos before the rain set in. That was it for the day.
The rain got heavier, the wind got stronger, we were more resolute to stay warm.
Dinner was lamb shank stew & rice.
Day 25 – Sunday 22 June – Bremer Bay
It seemed to either rain or drip off the trees for the entire night, so we were in no rush to do anything. The BOM had recorded 34 mm of rain to 9 am - and 67 in the previous 7 days.
A rain shower whilst in the shower seemed heavier than the water coming out of the shower head - although that was excellent.
It was too wet for beach walks, but OK for a drive to just look. That happened and the sun shone through long enough to get a couple of photos of superb beaches.
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| Blossom Beach - Bremer Bay [Beach 26, No walk] |
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| Native Dog Beach - Bremer Bay [Beach 27, No walk] |
It was time for some culture so we headed to Peppermint Grove, the home of the original family who settled in Bremer Bay in the 1840's - the Wellstead family. Peppermint Grove still has some lovely old stone buildings. Much to our disappointment, the museum and cafe were closed.
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| Two buildings in Peppermint Grove |
Next it was time to check out the original Telegraph Station, which has been refurbished and is now a cafe and restaurant. The coffee and carrot cake were excellent. Local legend has it that the original telegraph operator was probably the first woman to operate as a telegraph operator in Australia - and she was from the Wellstead family.
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| The refurbished Telegraph Station |
After lunch we took a punt on a break in the weather and went beach hunting. We were not disappointed. A number of birds also posed for the camera.
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Above - Bremer Beach from the beach [Beach 28, Walks 27] Below - The same beach from a lookout |
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| Left - Endangered Pied Oystercatcher Right - Sooty Oystercatcher |
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| Above - Short Beach looking north [Beach 29, Walks 28] Below - Short Beach looking south |
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| Pacific Gull with fish scraps supplied by a fisherman |
We returned to base and still trusting our luck we went for a 2 km walk along the estuary and through a paperbark forest along the side of the road. Flora and fauna were caught on camera, as well as a rainbow.
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| Estuary leading to Bremer Beach, with rainbow |
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| Grey Fantail - Front & rear |
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| Some flora |
As we settled in for the night the rain returned.
Day 26 – Monday 23 June – Bremer Bay to Albany
After 55 mm of rain in two days we drifted out of Bremer Bay around 9am. We did not see Bremer Bay at its best, but we saw most of the best of Bremer Bay.
Decorum does not allow me to adequately describe the driving conditions. A strong south westerly buffeted us as a head/side wind. Rain came and went in bursts. The road was excellent so that was a positive.
We stopped for a break at a small place called Wellstead and smiled at the 'vermin' scoreboard. More foxes than rabbits?
Onwards we pressed through fire-ravaged country and magnificent scenery. It is a rich piece of country with (currently) plenty of water.
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| Fire-ravaged country |
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| A typical country scene - through the rain |
We detoured through Mount Barker to see the work of an artist - Sobrane - who we have previously seen in Broome and Tungamah (Victoria). She has bought an old bank and converted it into an art studio/gallery.
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| Sobrane studio/gallery |
The bakery reportedly had the best pies within cooee so we stopped for a pie for lunch - and they were magnificent.
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| Our first kookaburra of the trip |
After a visit to the "I" we settled in for a very windy night. We had to stand two rubbish bins upright before they could be used - presumably toppled by the wind.
Summary
So far we have been on the road for 26 days and travelled 5237 km. The average of 200 km per day will gradually drop over the coming weeks.
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Above - Route for the trip to date Below - Route for the trip for Chapters 4 & 5 |
*** This chapter is now complete - tomorrow we explore Albany ***
Last updated at 8 pm on Monday 23 June 2025 (WA time)
We agree the Great Ocean Drive at Esperance really does pretty well equal our Great Ocean Road. Amazing beaches in that area of WA.
ReplyDeleteYes Jan & Stuart, the amazing beaches just keep on going and going.
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