Esperance offers a wonderland of beaches, simply stunning, and there are 2 or 3 that we would rate the best in Australia, certainly better than the famed Whitehaven Beach. Esperance is also the stepping stone to Cape Le Grand, an amazing place, with a few contenders for the best beach. The town feels good and we really enjoyed our few days there.
We stayed at Esperance on 14, 15, 16 October 2018
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Ravensthorpe > Esperance ~ 183kms
History
First Nations people have been in the Esperance area for over 20 000 years, and the Aboriginal name of the area is “Kepa Kurl”, which means “the place where the waters lay down like a boomerang”.
The Wudjari were a First Nations people of the Noongar cultural group of the southern region of WA. The Wudjari’s traditional lands are estimated to have extended over some 18,000 km2, encompassing the southern coastal area from the Gairdner River eastwards, as far as Point Malcolm. The inland extension was to about 30 miles. Kent, Ravensthorpe, Fanny Cove, Esperance, and Cape Arid all have been developed over the old Wudjari lands.
French explorers made the first landing in Esperance, whilst sheltering from a storm in 1792. The town was named after a French ship, the Espérance (French for ‘hope’). In 1802 British navigator Matthew Flinders sailed through the Bay of Isles and named key Esperance locations. In 1841 Edward John Eyre with his First Nations guide Wylie, met Captain Rossiter aboard the French Whaler “Mississippi” in the bay now known as Rossiter Bay. Wylie Bay was named by Eyre to honour his guide.
The Esperance town site was first settled by the Dempster brothers in the 1860s, when they walked from Northam to Esperance with their families, First Nations guides and over 3,000 head of stock. The Esperance town was formally gazetted in 1893 and farming and agriculture were the key industries.
The town continued to flourish as a farming community, and in 1962 work commenced on the Port Authority, which saw the Esperance economy diversify. The urban population of Esperance was over 10,000 as at the 2016 Census. Its major industries are tourism, agriculture and fishing.
Day 1 – Sun 14 Oct – Drive to Esperance and initial tour
We woke early. It was very cold and a little bit of drizzle as we were packing up. It was damp but not soaking. We were out by 8.15, with me taking the first shift. There were not many flowers to start with, just scrubby bush and farmlands. We started to see some wildflowers about half way – and grain facilities.
We stopped for tea/coffee and watched tiny birds nesting in the rafters of the shelter. The table was a mess! We swapped drivers and the road got rougher. There were also lots of vans coming against us. We saw big sandhills off to our right in the distance, and an ugly big mine.
We got to the van park in Esperance around 10.30. The check in was easy and the nice lady from the office directed Kerry into place on a site without a slab. So easy to back the van in. I think we have to practice deciding exactly where we want the van to be before we start backing in.
After lunch, we drove into town to look around. It has a good feel to it. The foreshore had been recently revamped. The tea rooms look nice and we saw that a miniature railway was running through the area. There was a very large kids playground. As it was a Sunday, the general shops were closed. I was surprised that there weren’t lots of kids lining up for a ride on the little steam train. It had been restored beautifully.
We drove up to Wireless Hill and the lookout. There is a metal tower up there to give a bit of extra height. The wind was getting stronger by the second and it was very cold up there. But the views were great, showing promise of gorgeous beaches ahead.
We started the the Beach drive around Twilight Beach Rd. We came around a corner to first see the western side of West Beach and it looked awesome. The colours in the bays are amazingly beautiful.
We parked and walked the clifftop, brilliant fine white sand, fringing rock shelf protecting turquoise waters in the shallows. Islands scattered on the horizon. Really beautiful.
We then moved to the eastern end of the beach – just as lovely.
The next beach around is Blue Haven, a delightful beach and headlands.
Salmon Beach is a long beach with rocky headlands at each end.
The beauty continues at Fourth Beach.
And then we get to Twilight Beach, WOW! This is a beautiful long curved beach with some stunning nearby islands at the eastern end. I can’t stop taking photos.
While we were there we saw a massive storm coming in, so we skedaddled to Woolies and the main IGA, which were both closed. The French bakery was open, and we then went to the other IGA on Pink Lake Rd, which was open. Back at the van, we sat out the storm.
Day 2 – Sun 15 Oct – Esperance
It was a blustery day, but not cold and the storms of yesterday had dissipated through the night. We started the day looking at the beach next to the van park, which has some interesting old timber from a previous jetty.
We then went to the old and broken town jetty – actually The Tanker Jetty. This was key to the town for over 30 years until it became obvious, because of the strong growth of agriculture and the discovery of nickel at Kambalda, that more was needed. In 1962 a new jetty was opened and progressively extended. Attempts to remove the old jetty have received strong objections from the community. So many of these old curved jetties are beautiful. A pity funds are not available to restore them for recreation.
Then we were back to Picnic Beach to continue the drive along Esperance’s stunning beaches. We had a good walk along Picnic Beach, and on the way back collected plastic debris. As usual it was surprising to see the amount we collected, particularly the micro stuff.
Then we were at Observatory Point and there are stunning views in all directions. In 1792 two French ships were forced to shelter behind Observatory Island close to the shore by severe storms. Names from that encounter remain – the ships were named “L’Esperance” and “La Recherche”. An influential ensign was a man named Le Grand.
Just next to the Point is Observatory Beach. Suddenly Kerry called out that there were a pod of dolphins in the water, surfing down the waves. They are really great to watch – but my zoom lens was in The Cruiser. Des went scurrying back to get the lens. Thankfully, the dolphins were still around when he returned.
Further along is 9 Mile Beach, a wonderful long beach with beautiful rock pools. How we would love to swim there.
Then we came to 10 Mile Lagoon. More rock pools on either side of the central entrance to the lagoon. This would be bliss on a warm summers day. I assume no big sharks would come over the bar so would make fantastic snorkelling and swimming.
11 Mile Beach was the final one on the drive, and it is brilliant. A massive rockpool is so inviting, if only we could have had a swim – but the water was freezing.
We then made our way around to the Pink Lake, although as most people know it is no longer pink. This is mostly cause by a decrease of the salt in the system. But not muddy brown water, rather a silvery grey – which does not quite come through in the photos. It was hard to tell it was actually water… with the sunlight on the silver it looked more like low cloud. Quite stunning and probably nicer than being pink.
From there it was into town to stock up on supplies and to get a birthday card for our grandson Knox – lovely lad. That afternoon, Lillian and Jon arrived – great to see them again and to catch up. Shared some wine and nibbles. Lillian produced some fresh bread with dukkah with balsamic oil. Delicious.
Day 3 – Sun 16 Oct – Cape Le Grand
Cape Le Grand, about 50km from Esperance, was established in 1966. The area is an ancient landscape which has been above sea level for well over 200 million years and remained unglaciated. As a result, the area is home to many primitive relict species. Our drive out was through a varied of landscapes – farm lands, forests and flowers, with mountainous formations in the background.
We went directly to Le Grand Beach, a long, long beach with a high rock headland on the southern side. This is a big-statement beach, and we had a good walk on the silky smooth white sand. We got a lot of plastic there and the ranger we met at the bins was very impressed.
Hellfire Beach was the next we visited, driving around a mountain with a quirky top to get there. It is a perfectly shaped curved beach between 2 large headlands, white sands and turquoise waters. Lovely shrubs of blue flowers as well.
We had a lovely walk along the beach – felt like we were on a tropical island.
We walked up the sloping rocky headland on the western end, getting great views back down to the main beach, as well as around to Little Hellfire Beach. There was a man fishing there but he said he hadn’t caught anything. Just then he got a bite and the line went out a long way, but then the fish obviously came in close under the rock overhang and he lost it – and his bait.
At Thistle Beach, the path from the carpark took us to a viewing point on the headland – brilliant views, especially with distant islands. It is a bit tricky how to get to the beach from there, but we just made your way down the sloping rock face. A bit of a smelly creek follows the edge of the rocks as it makes its way to the sea. We had a good long walk on the beach which is just magic.
We also got a good load of plastic. As well as what looked like a mosquito net head cover.
Next to the car park is the Whistling Rock. This is a large protruding rock with holes and ridges at the top, which any decent wind will cause a whistle. When we were there it was more a low moan than a whistle.
At Hellfire Bay, we had seen an information panel from the Walich Dreaming Story told by the Nyungar Aboriginal people, used to encourage children to behave:
“Be still and listen carefully…when the wind blows amongst the rocks of Hellfire Bay you may hear our ancestors crying for two children who were carried our to sea by mother Walich the eagle.
She was angry when she saw that the children had stolen her eggs and taken her future from her. The early morning dew on the rocks and hills are the tears of the parents and family who watch and wait in vain for the children to return.”
There are good views from the Whistling Stone.
The next beach around was Lucky Beach, a very long curved beach, again with islands not so far away. There was no way we could walk very far on this beach so we drove The Cruiser on the sand about half way along.
Finally, we got to Rossiter Bay. As we approached it, the landscape progressively got flatter as the mountains and headlands disappeared. So the beach at the Bay does not have the dramatic backdrop of the other beaches. We certainly do not have the same feeling there, especially as the section we were at was covered in seaweed. But lovely masses of white flowers on the way in.
On the way back out to Esperance, we went past the quirky mountain again. Kerry has insisted that there was a hole at the top – and she was right. It’s obviously not solid rock – rather remnants with a breeze-way.
We had an uneventful drive back to the van park and started to get ready for tomorrows departure.
But this was a place we will never forget – the most stunning of landscapes, a wonderland of beaches.
To see the overall photos, click here
To see photos from Esperance town, click here
To see photos from the Beach drive, click here
To see photos from from Le Grand NP, click here
To see a video for this post, click here