Esperance Roadtrip: Days 4-6

We started off the morning strolling around the Esperance town center and doing a spot of shopping. Some tea and an amazing Maple Walnut Danish pastry later at Downtown Espresso and we made our way to the National Park!

Cape Le Grand National Park is renown for its sand: blindingly white and so fine that it squeaks underfoot when you walk on it.

Hellfire Bay

Next up was Lucky Bay. Look who we found there!

We decided to do a "short, easy" hike between Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove in the park. We expected it to be a 1km hike and for it to take an hour. It was actually a 5km round trip and took us closer to 2.5 hours with all of our stops to take in the views, swim, and soak up the local flora and fauna:

"Take a photo without my hat so your family won't be mad at me!" - Weronika, removing her Yankees cap for the picture

We headed off to the Duke of Orleans Caravan Park to camp for the night and watched the sunset from Wharton Beach

Dinner at the Condy Tavern just up the road and then off to bed for an early travel day.

Quick stop at Little Wharton Beach before leaving

We stopped into Lucky Bay for a second visit before leaving town and then hit the road for Denmark.

We left around noon, stopped in Esperance for some road snacks at the fancy grocery store (hello, expensive organic hummus), and then spent the afternoon driving to Boston Brewing! Had a really yummy salad dinner and then found our way to a free campsite nearby. It was located right on the beach so we fell asleep listening to the waves crash.

Next morning we were up early (sleeping in the back of a car on a thin foam mattress will do that), so the sunrise was an accidental benefit.

We were supposed to meet Nat and Wiebke in Margaret River by noon, so the early start was a good idea. We stopped into the Denmark Bakery for some breakfast (incredible pies, y'all. And the quiche was next level good) and then got back on the road.

We got such an early start that we figured we could stop off at Lights Beach for a quick stroll... And then stopped again to enjoy some wildflowers... And then stopped again for a bathroom break and a cuppa tea in an adorable town called Nannup... And next thing we knew, we were late. Surprise surprise.

Nat and Wiebke are beautiful, so they let us off the hook for being late and we headed straight to Cheeky Monkey Brewery for some lunch. After that, on to Vasse Felix, the first winery established in the Margaret River region!

Vasse Felix

We went to The Common Bistrot near Margs for dinner and were stoked to find out they had a band performing! They were so good, it was an amazing end to day one of the Girls Weekend!!

The Common: a nice photo

Weronika wanted to wear her sun glasses for our group photo and I didn't approve:

Esperance Roadtrip: Days 1-3

I have some updates for you in the pipeline from my dive on the Navy Pier (I finally did it!) and my 4 days in Karijini National Park (incredible hikes through watery gorges), but right now I'm on a road trip with Weronika and after today we realized that this is gonna be a multiple-posts trip. So! New plan: send updates from this trip and then circle back to the others!

Sunday afternoon I flew down to Perth from Exmouth. Weronika picked me up at the airport and we spent the evening hanging out in Attadale with Wiebke and Nat and their new housemate Elisa who is delightful. Had some excellent Indian food and generally reassured Wiebke that we wouldn't have TOO much fun without her. She and Nat will meet up with us on Friday anyway, halfway through our trip.

My rosemary plant in Attadale is thriving without me!

Yesterday morning we grabbed a rental car and hit the road by 9am to drive the 8 hours to Esperance on the southern coast of Western Australia. Halfway through the drive is an Australian icon: Wave Rock. Obviously we stopped for a photo.

Collecting the rental

Wave Rock!

Made it to Esperance a bit after 5 and we were HUNGRY. Stopped by the local pub, The Pier Hotel, for some dinner and then headed to our Airbnb to get settled in. It's an adorable garden studio and I would happily live there forever.

Went to the beach, a 5 minute walk from the Airbnb, and then headed off to bed.

Today we stopped into the Esperance Hot French Bread Bakery for breakfast and fell in love. So many pastries. Strolled around town for a little while and then began the Great Ocean Drive. It's a 40k circuit road and has some of Australia's best beaches along the way (who voted on this I could not tell you, but I understand why they were elected).

Snake in the road

We saw a pod of maybe 25 dolphins while we were here!

Taking photos of wild flowers

Twilight Beach was maybe my favorite

Twilight Beach

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the drive (so many stairs!), so Weronika took a little cat nap while I showered back at our rental. Off to a locally-recommended beach for sunset and then did a 25 minute drive to a town north of here, Gibson, for dinner at another local recommended pub.

Tomorrow: Cape Le Grand National Park and Lucky Bay!

Charles Knife Canyon

A few weeks back (during school holidays) I was SO PUMPED to find out that I had two days in a row off from work and thought briefly about going camping to make the most of the time. I was going to just head south and wander; see where the wind took me. That became a really literal thing, though, when I checked the weather reports and realized I was like to blow away if I went. The winds were going to be really strong and I couldn't imagine it was going to be fun to be trapped in my car in order to avoid blowing sand. I re-imagined and briefly considered going to Karratha, one of the closest cities to Exmouth at 5.5 hours away, to visit and check things out, but all the accommodations were booked solid (due to it being school holidays). I also wasn't totally convinced it was worth the drive considering that most people, when asked what there is to do in Karratha, immediately mention that it has a McDonald's and a KMart! Not super impressive, per my thinking. Eventually I decided a staycation was in order! Sandra and David had a friend visiting, Nugget (yes, that's his nickname), so we had been spending a lot of time hanging out around the house and generally burning the candle at both ends; I was borderline sick, so sticking close to home and resting up seemed like a good idea. 

There's a canyon in the Cape Range that I've been hearing about for ages but haven't gotten my act together to visit. It's called Charles Knife and it's actually located on the Gulf side of the peninsula. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet but Exmouth is located on the eastern, Gulf side of the peninsula. To get to the west side, the Indian Ocean side where the Ningaloo Reef is located, you've got to drive around the perimeter of the thing; there aren't roads that cut through the Cape Range which runs down the center of the peninsula. Here's a little map I stole from the interwebs:

The blogger who made this handy map must not have done the Charles Knife hike but it's located about halfway between town and the Learmouth Airport on the lower right side. Because it overlooks the Exmouth Gulf to the east, it's supposed to have spectacular sunrise views, so I got it into my head that I wanted to see it! I woke up at 5 and got rolling. 

Important to remember that it's springtime here: our days are getting longer and starting earlier. I didn't keep that in mind when planning and woke up to find that the pre-dawn was in full swing. It's probably a 25 minute drive to get into the Canyon from town, so I was really really pumped that I made it before the sun popped over the horizon. Barely. Next time I'll need to get up a bit earlier to properly enjoy the color show before dawn!

Moon over the Charles Knife Canyon

It was really, really beautiful and well worth getting out of bed for. But I didn't want to just passively enjoy the views, I wanted to get my feet on the ground. So I hopped back into the car and drove into the canyon until I found a trail head for the Badjirrajirra Bush Walk. 

Spinifex plants as far as the eye can see

Shothole Canyon as seen from the Badjirrajirra Walk

It was a beautiful hike and close enough to town that I still had cell service and could call and show it to Mom and Dad live. I had taken precautions - informed friends of my plans, left a note in the car with my departure details, had plenty of water and snacks, etc. - but it was still nice to be able to call and share the views with M&D even from half a world away. 

On the drive back to town, I encountered an Exmouth traffic jam:

Mama Emu and her chicks after crossing the road

Nature in Exy

The Cape Range National Park is part land and part sea; the range itself can't really be called mountains but it's definitely hills, and the Ningaloo Reef just off the coast is part of the park as well. The land itself was under water when local Aboriginal tribes first settled in the area; they have an oral tradition that goes back to when the whole peninsula was still seabed. When the sea receded, it left all kinds of caves and gorges in the limestone that make for great exploring. One of the oldest pieces of jewelry ever discovered, a shell necklace dated to about 32,000 years ago, was found in caves near the Mandu Mandu gorge inside the national park. I've been wanting to hike the gorge ("bush walk" it, in local parlance) for ages but didn't want to do it solo. As unfamiliar as I am with the local terrain, I wanted to be sure I had company in case of emergency. Fortunately for me, my friend Kayla has been wanting to hike it, too! So, when we discovered that we had the same day off  couple of weeks back, we made plans to get up early and do it. 

Mandu Mandu Gorge

The views of the Indian Ocean from the gorge were beautiful, the hike was just long enough to be fun without being too much, and we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at a beach nearby called Sandy Bay. It was basically the most magnificent beach you can imagine - white sand, turquoise water, hardly any people - and we just kept marveling that we live here. Sorry not sorry if you're tired of reading sentences like that on this blog :)

Sandy Bay, Cape Range National Park

Davo and Sandra recently bought a new boat - longer, wider, more powerful engine - and they've been taking it out on the water every chance they get. I had the same day off as David last week so we went out on the water for another attempt at fishing. 

Best life

Davo

I caught a fish, y'all!!!!! Pure accident, actually. The hook didn't even go in the poor fish's mouth; I hooked it on the belly as I was reeling in my line. And it was tiny. But I still caught my first fish since I was about 8 years old!

Days here at a blur of heat & sunscreen, reading in the hammock during the day & going to work at night, hanging out with friends & spending time alone. So many days I wish my Perth people were up here, too. But the people in this town are so beautiful. My co-workers love to go out for breakfast together, or to head to the beach when the days are nice. Work is full of banter and hugs and laughter. In a lot of ways I miss life in Perth, but in plenty more I'm grateful for this new experience of small town living. Here you build relationships by being present: getting tea at one of the cafes in the morning, stopping into the grocery store for just an item or two, reading a book in the park in town. I'm lucky that my housemates are lovely people, so home-time means being social, too, but this town makes a strong case for getting out and about to connect. I really like that. 

Puppy at the beach