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Having an early start off the Nullarbor run yesterday (Saturday), we headed south to Esperance Info Centre to get our National Parks pass for the time we will be in WA. It is $8.00 per day, $40 per month, or $50 per year. Since we will be in WA for 3 months and visit several parks over the time, we opted for the annual pass.
Armed now with our access, we headed east from Esperance for 50 odd ks to Cape Le Grand. It is a grand and interesting place. The high granite rocks (345 meters from sea level) are thought to have been islands now pushed up out of the sea. (Or are sea levels now 50 meters lower than the past)
The landscape has many boulders that have dropped off the peak, and others that are much like Murphys Hay Stacks, granite rocks which have eroded down cracks and crevices leaving the granite icebergs standing tall.
Lucky Bay, well lucky for some has the whitest sand of the coast and a very popular camping spot in the national park. There were camping spaces available, but we decided to take some pictures along the coastal strip and
Cape Le Grand
Rainbow over the heath head back to Esperance for Saturday and Sunday nights. No phones or internet at Cape Le grand which is OK except we wanted to be in touch with family on Mothers Day. The weather was cold, windy and passing showers. None the less we were blessed with bright spots as we enjoyed the views.
The Cape is dominated by Mount Le Grand. Have a look at the photos and you will see that there is an open arch close to the peak. This suggests that the rock's peak may have been tidal in its past. Did we climb up to have a look? That would have been a death wish due to the strong winds and cold temps.
We stopped at Lucky Bay, Thistle Cove and Cape Le Grand beach. We drove down to Hell Fire Bay, but there is quite a walk from the car park to the beach. We decided that we would stay out of harms way! Actually, there is no hell fire here, but rather locals have told us it is the best and prettiest beach on the cape. Maybe next time we will spend more time in this corner.
Esperance
is located on a very pretty and sheltered bay. There are lots of small islands (just like the granite Mt Le Grand) that protect the deep water harbour from the Southern Ocean. (You may know this as the Indian Ocean, but Australia calls it the Great Southern Ocean.) This is a grain and iron ore port so we have seen both trains and road trains delivering bulk freight to the port. There is plenty of evidence that the last cropping season here was a boomer. The silos and overflow silos seemed chock to the top. The bad news here is that the gold mining has been scaled back. This will further impact on Norseman which is, as we commented yesterday, already suffering.
I must mention a couple of unusual places to visit in Esperance. One is Mermaid Leather. This is a unique shop where the locally tanned and dyed fish skins are made into very attractive leather goods. Sounds fishy, but I can assure you the fish leather is soft and beautiful.
For my Pommy friends, you can now get up close and personal with the rocks of Stone Henge. Well, it is newly quarried granite matching your
original structure which you cannot now get up close with. So, now you have a reason to celebrate summer solstice at Esperance. Located on the road to Cape Le grand. Too late in the day for us to go in sadly. Next time!
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Mum & Dad
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Another batch of good photos
Great looking country still lots of rocky outcrops though. Good to see some farming country though