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Published: December 12th 2005
Lonely Planet
Shaz is hoping to get a job in advertising when we get back!Picture this… we’re basking in the glorious, mid afternoon sunlight, on a pink & grey sparkling granite breakwater. Alan’s fishing away and I’m just lounging, taking in the delights of the spectacular nature around us. Behind us are rows and rows of pine trees bordering the perfectly white pristine beach of Esperance. To the right of us is a frisky sea lion, belting up and down the line of a wooden jetty, attracting the attention of nearby fisherman - he’s hoping for a freeby dinner! To the left of us are three of the most beautiful wild creatures we’ve ever seen in their natural habitat - gorgeous dolphins - 2 adults and a baby, just grazing away up and down the coast where the dark meets the light of the bright clear waters. Paradise found - could it be any better than this? We’re not so sure.
Esperance is pretty far away from just about everywhere. It’s a 4 hour drive to the nearest decent sized town (that’s Alan driving by the way - so that’s about as fast as you could make the trip), and it sits right on one of the most southern tips of Western Australia. In
Ocean Drive
30 odd kilometers of ocean scenery like this - just along the coast from Esperance. each direction are stunning national parklands, most with fresh blue tides hitting the shorelines - sometimes relaxed, sometimes menacing and aggressive.
We arrived late last Friday afternoon, and walked into town via a lap of the pier watching the sun say goodnight. The sunsets here are amazing - such different colours to what we get in the UK - lots of yellows and oranges mingling with the regular reds & purples. It’s a small town, with a small town feel - admired for it’s sense of community. We found it to be very quiet - probably a bit quiet for us, with limited choices for eating and socializing. That said, we had the best meal for ages in a little place on the harbour called the Taylor Street Tearooms, which served up grand food, and that reminded us of the way Acanthus in Edinburgh used to be in the good old days when the waiters wore their black and white outfits.
Being in such a low key place, requires a super chilled approach - so that’s how we played it, and did practically nothing but go for leisurely walks, fish, potter about, eat (thats what Eggs are good
Pink Lake
Complicated scientific stuff makes this lake turn pink - there was just a hint the day we took this, but apparnetly sometimes its super pink. at).
I must mention one other thing….. we saw our first shark in the wild. Well, we saw its shadow crawling along just on the bright side of the turquoise line of shore, but it was definitely a sharky! Du du du du du du du du DURULULUUUU!!!!!!! (that’s the Jaws tune BTW). How do we know it was a sharky? The National Park rangers were out in force checking it out, and some lunatics were jumping into the water with their snorkelling gear after it, shouting Shark, Shark!! Some folk don’t have the brains they were born with.
Gotta go for now, a curry calls this evening, and we can’t wait!
A&S. xxxx
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Steven RW
non-member comment
Idylic paradise!
Looks like a very relaxing area of Australia u are in now. I never made it to the east coast of Australia and your blogs are suggesting that it is a more relaxed area of wilderness and beauty than the east coast. I think you might be in for a shock when you end up back in the big smoke of Sydney for NYE! Reading your blog on a monday morning in Gogar is some motivator to get on with my work! ;) NOT! Cheers Steven