Esperance to Hopetoun

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This morning … we all had a hot shower to start our day!

After eating breakfast and re-packing the vehicles our first stop today was at Aurelia’s Ice-creamery & Café to buy some rolls for lunch. The hot bread bakery is closed on Sundays, but we noted yesterday on our ice-cream run that they had a variety of filled rolls for sale at the ice-cream shop.

Today’s itinerary was to drive 192 kilometres to Hopetoun via Stokes National Park and while in the park to attempt the 6.4-kilometre return Stokes Heritage Trail. However, on our ‘Esperance Wonders’ information sheet we had learnt about Lake Monjingup just 15 kilometres west of town. With the promise of a brand-new boardwalk trail and the opportunity to do some birdwatching, wildflower spotting and trail walking we decided we could spare an hour or so to stop in at the lake.

When we arrived at the reserve, we took the first turn into a vast grassland area which all looked rather less developed than the material on the internet had led us to believe. As we drove in, we had noticed a sign indicating the lake was another 500-metres along the road. OK, we’ll go as far as the lake and then make a decision to stay and explore or be on our way.

Proceeding down to the lake it all looked a bit more promising. We checked out the information board adjacent to the car park which showed the layout of the bushwalk/boardwalk. We set out through the shoe cleaning station and took the first left which had us crashing through the undergrowth to reach the shore of the lake within moments … near one on the bird-hides and look, there’s a boardwalk to the bird-hide that we probably should have used?? Probably essential when the level of the lake is higher than it is at the moment.

Back on the path we were making our way towards the loop track when we had our first snake sighting of the holiday. Ugh! Of course, Bernie was blazing the trail in his shorts and sandals!! Send the most vulnerable member of the party first to clear the snakes! Only Bernie and Tracey saw the very small snake (probably a Western Crowned Snake we learnt later) and it wasn’t hanging around, it was slithering off into the underbrush to get out of the way of the humans.

Despite the presence of the reptile, we continued along the path and soon found ourselves on the first boardwalk section. We were surrounded by banksias in their natural habitat which was amazing. They can be grown in Melbourne gardens as a specimen tree, but to be surrounded by banksia bushland was certainly something we’ve never experienced before. Of course, the showy banksia flowers were attracting Red Wattle Birds and New Holland Honey Eaters … that we could see. We are sure there must’ve been many more birds around that we couldn’t see.

At our first T-intersection we had to make a decision left, or right? Cathy had had the foresight to photograph the map at the entrance so after perusing that it was decided we should turn left. The path was a bit indistinct in places and there were calls to go back the way we had come, but Bernie was adamant that he would get us back to the path we had started on to continue to the second boardwalk.

At the next T-intersection Bernie turned left, despite protestations that we HAD to go right. Tracey said she was happy to defer to Bernie given his considerable bush-walking experience. But then, with a foot in both camps she also said she was happy to defer to the person with the map. Basically, happy to follow whoever thinks s/he knows where we’re going? Soon we reached the second boardwalk, and everyone was fairly confident that we were going to make it back to the Environmental Centre and toilets … and we did.

After our banskia interlude, we drove back out to the South Coast Highway heading for Stokes National Park where we planned to do another hike. What is it with our plans to visit National Parks?? Before long we were seeing lightening ahead of us and then the rain started. We arrived at the very minimally signposted turn off for Stokes NP. We pulled in to be confronted with unmade road immediately. Is this the right entrance? We know there is a 4WD track into the eastern part of the park and another that takes visitors to the north-western side of Stokes Inlet. Believing that this was the 4WD entrance we pulled back out onto the highway.

With so much faith being placed in the SatNav Tracey (belatedly) managed to find the correct side of the WA South Coast Walpole to Esperance Road Guide. That would be the side covering the Esperance to Hopetoun section. Hmmn, she said … if we just drove over Young River and past the turn off for Neds Corner Road then the national park entrance that we thought wasn’t right, was.

With the rain absolutely bucketing down we pulled into a rest area, and all piled out of the vehicles and into the sheltered area to consult/decide what the hell we should do in this horrible weather! The shelter had a lovely picnic table, but it was covered in guano, so we had to stand around looking at the map and looking out at the rain pelting down! To top it off there was a ute already in the rest area with a frame over the tray from which were hanging a selection of dead sheep and roos. To add insult to injury one member of our party sprinted over to use the facilities only to find them locked. Just as well we completed the walk at Lake Monjingup before the weather turned because it wasn’t looking like much else was going to happen today.

After our confab in the picnic shelter it was decided that there was no point heading back to the Stokes NP turn off because, one, the unmade road into the inlet would be awful to navigate in this weather and, two, the planned bushwalk would also be awful in this weather. So far, we don’t have a very good strike rate with the weather during our visits to the national parks. Disappointing! Or … are we just soft?

Needing to fill in time until we can check into our Hopetoun accommodation between 3.00pm and 6.00pm we also decided not to take the Jerdacuttup Road into Hopetoun (recommended by the staff at the Esperance Visitor Centre) but to drive to Ravensthorpe to (hopefully) look around there for a coupe of hours before heading south to Hopetoun. Although the outdoor points of interest that we had included in our itinerary – Ravensthorpe Range Lookout and some silo art - might also be compromised by the rain? Bernie checked the radar – oh look, the weather front looks like it will soon clear Ravensthorpe (heading south) we should be fine to have a look around Ravensthorpe!! Fingers crossed.

And indeed, about 20 minutes out of Ravensthorpe we had blue sky, fluffy white clouds and some sunshine! We pulled into the town and made our way to the BP to refuel the vehicles. At least that was a silver lining on an otherwise dull day because Bernie had been resigned to having to fill up at an Ampol in Hopetoun.

We drove up the hill to the grain silo at the corner of Dance Street and the South Coast Highway. This silo was painted by Amok Island in 2016 and depicts the ‘Six Stages of Banksia baxteri’ from flower buds to full bloom, to seed pods developing, then drying out and opening. This banksia is native to the area between Esperance and Albany. The animals depicted in the mural are the Honey Possum and New Holland Honey Eater, both of which are important for the pollination of this particular plant.

Looking for a picturesque spot to eat our lunch Bernie Googled and found Rangeview Park described as a grassy day rest area with plenty of shade. When we arrived at the small area opposite the high school there was not a blade of grass to be seen!! There were at least a few trees and some shade, and we were able to watch a parrot and some wattlebirds in the trees while we ate.

After eating we headed down to Hopetoun to find the bakery still open on Sunday afternoon. We all purchased cakes that we didn’t need to eat … again! Still killing time until check-in we wandered down to the beach and then drove up to Wilkinson Lookout. Hmmn, either the lookout is too short, or the surrounding trees are too tall as we couldn’t see the sea beyond the canopy of the trees, ha, ha.

To use up a bit more time we drove out to 2-mile beach and took a short walk on the beach with the weather deteriorating again. The worst of it seemed to be passing out to sea, but there was still some light rain falling in town too. Finally, it was 3.00pm and we were able to check-in and collect the keys to the Habour Masters Quarters. And that would mean that the accommodation sounds way more romantic than it is. It may well have been the Harbour Masters Quarters at one time in its history but nowadays it is a weird collection of rooms behind the bakery.

At least the house is well situated in the middle of town. Hopefully we won’t be woken early when the baker starts work??! And, in a bit of an oversight, Bernie and Tracey booked this place with only one bathroom. Oops, it happens at least once every holiday. Sometimes the descriptions on Booking.com or Stayz or whatever site we are looking at can be a bit confusing and/or misleading! We will manage. It’s only for two nights. With it being a two-way (Jack and Jill?) bathroom let’s hope no-one accidentally walks in on anyone else.

Everyone felt very lazy even though we did not undertake anywhere near as much physical activity as was planned for today. It’s funny how a lazy day can wear you out so much. We filled in time until about 5.30pm and then headed over the street to Simon’s Market Café as a former colleague of Cathy’s had highly recommended the fish and chips. With the shop due to close at 6.00pm we thought we’d better pop in at 5.30pm rather than 5.59pm. Even though we thought we’d avoided going in at the last-minute Simon (if he was Simon?) was less than impressed about serving us. He very unenthusiastically cooked fish and chips for four.

We toted our freshly cooked flatty tails and chips back to the house. We certainly could not complain about the amount of food we had. Each serve must have been five flatty tails and we had a veritable mountain of chips that we managed to plough our way through. I think I will have to stop recording our meals because we are consuming way too much junk.

We played a game of Bolivia this evening with Cathy and Steve the winners. Tracey, Bernie and Cathy followed up with Quiddler with Bernie, the Crossword King, the winner of the word game.

With our Exercise and Move goals eluding us we ventured out after dark for a quick turn around Hopetoun to clock up a few more steps. Thirty minutes of exercise ticked over while we were out and Tracey’s dedicated keying here has resulted in her kilojoule (Move) goal being achieved before bed time. Bernie achieved his Move goal earlier because he made more trips in and out of the houses at both ends packing and unpacking the truck!



Steps: 11,866 (7.85kms)

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