Esperance was our next stop for a weeks rest from travelling. The weather was cold at night and rain periods as well. Odd jobs and shopping were attended to and we visited the local AG fair that was on at the show ground. We explored the town, pictures below.
the whale tail and esplanade areas of Esperance
Saturday, the weather was great so off to Cape La Grand National Park. We spent the morning at Lucky Bay walking along the beach to the lookout, a 5 km round walk. The colour of the water was amazing with several shades of aquas and blues and the sand was pure white, it is meant to be the whitest sand in Australia.
Similar scenes at Thistle Bay, with its Whistle rock formation.
Hell fire bay where we saw a kangaroo and it’s joey.
We walked partially up Frenchman’s Peak, John getting much further than me. When the track became sloping granite rock it was time to admit my knees wouldn’t like coming back down so I waited for John to continue climbing and just admired the scenery.
And finally cape Le grand beach
Sunday,
We started at the esplanade of Esperance, then a stop near the port and harbour. Here we saw the miniature stream train , clock tower and gardens around the harbour.
Todays journey is a 40 kms circuit which continues along the beaches to the west of Esperance then back inland past pink lake. The lake is no longer pink as salt levels have reduced while fresh water levels have increased causing the change of colour to a grey icy colour.
The day was really windy and cool but the beaches and granite outcrops magnificent to view. Beaches included Twilight beach, West beach and many others . Other stops are Observation point and the wind farm.
One stop was at the Esperance wind farm and I took photos of the wildflowers here.
Monday, was raining and cold. A hair appointment, odd jobs and the blog was caught up with.
A windy game of golf in arvo with the wetland areas of Esperance as a backdrop.
Final day was washing , and attempted some fishing at Brandy creek. No bites as usual so gave up and went out for lunch.
Before leaving Esperance, we had our stickers for the van installed, the name of our Van the same as our blog Here n There, which represents our travels in Australia and France. Thanks Marg for this suggestion, it was a good one!!
From esperance we travelled to Fitzgerald National Park via Hopetoun where we went through a white moth plague for about 150 kilometres which completely splattered the car and van. Why did we wash the car yesterday?? It took John many hours over several days to get all the splattered moths off the front of the car and van.
We stayed at Fitzgerald National Park for two nights and spent our time touring all the beaches in the east section of the park. These included
Four mile beach where our campsite was situated , West beach, Cave point , Hamersley inlet, Mileys and East Mileys beach, the east barren beach lookout and East Barren Mt walk. I didn’t get far along the track as the walk up east mt barren was clambering over rocks, yet again, but John went further up while I took photos of the wild flowers. Below is a mixture of views from the various lookouts, including our van parked in the campgrounds.
The wildflowers beautiful and varied, my favourite the Royal Hakea, left picture.
The scenery is rugged and wild around Fitzgerald park, more pictures below.
Above Mt barren which John climb partially up
A shelter area overlooking West beach was a great stop for morning tea.
The rest of our days here in Fitzgerald NP included a game of golf in Hopetoun with the flies so bad we nearly went mad and a visit to the township of Hopetoun. Again the the weather was very windy and cold.
Left Fitzgerald National Park on the morning of the 26th saying goodbye to the kangaroos that had come close to the van for breakfast.
Drove via Ravensthorpe a friendly RV stop with painted silos.
Then through great scenery of paddocks of grasslands and wheat looking though to the Stirling national Park, our stop for the next two nights.
While in the Stirling National Park , we visited Bluff Knoll and climbed a small portion of it. The stone steps stopping me after about third, or less, John continuing much further. Still some good exercise for one hour or more and the use of my hiking sticks very helpful for the knees.
Looking up at bluff knoll and the track before it got too hard, after top right photo.
We did a 100 kms drive through the centre of the park and around the edges with various stops at lookouts and another small climb at central lookout, John going all the way to the top.
Onto Porongurup National Park.
What a gorgeous area, the van park was lovely and the scenery in the Park amazing with large granite outcrops being a very prominent feature . First afternoon, we did the steep climb to Castle rock. I got all the way to the top with difficulty but with determination I made it. However, not the the top platform which meant scaling boulders with hand pulls followed by a steel ladder. The bottom platform had great views so I was happy and John managed the difficult clamber over the granite boulders and up the 6 m ladder. The walk was over 2kms each way, steep and lots of rock steps, a challenge coming down for the old knees.
John said climbing the boulders was really dangerous especially coming down, below photos of John scaling the boulders. He was very surprised there were no national parks officers up there to assist and advise people how difficult the last part of the climb was.
Above is views from Castle rock and the balancing rock.
That night we decided to have a rare dinner out at the local pub/ guesthouse and only a 500 m walk from the van park.
Next morning was an hour plus walk through twin creeks natural reserve, a nice flat walk through bushlands and parts of it overlooking farmland over to the ranges in the Stirling Natural park. Again the flies were very unpleasant and in plague proportions. However, on the positive side, the wild flowers were out but in small amounts only as the area had been affected by “dieback”, a water borne mold disease affecting the bush and land areas of the National parks. There are signs up in all the national parks about it, it has become a widespread problem in the parks.
We then toured a few local wineries in the afternoon
and returned for happy hour with our caravan neighbors from Brisbane.
Our last day in Porongurup included a walk to the tree in the rock,
followed by a trail uphill for 1:75 km each way called the Wansbrough track, at the end of this trail John continued on completing the Devils slide climb which was a further 750 metre climb up a steep peak. I made my way back down the trial , past a snake (urg) and waited at the bottom for John.
The pictures above were taken by John at the top of Devils slide peak.
Loved our visit to the national parks and it’s now onto Albany, where the next blog will start.
