The amazing Esperance

A long time ago when Luke came to visit me/crash at mine for free he told me about all these beautiful places on the West Coast. So it’s kind of his fault I spent so much money on going to see them. But it was all worth it for Esperance. It was the ideal place to finish my trip because it was cold and pretty. A good combination.

I had to get a 10 hour bus from Perth to get there. I’ve logged almost 80 hours on a bus in two weeks now.

First of all my hostel was on the actual Esplanade facing into the bay where you could see hundreds of little islands. It was beautiful. Here’s some pictures of the sunset over the bay on the first night.

I got there at 6pm after the whole day on the bus so I booked a half day 4x4 tour thing in Cape Le Grand National Park for the next day.

Mike picked me up along with another couple from Perth and drove us along the beach in Cape Le Grand which was AWESOME. Our first main stop was the white sand dunes. I forgot my sunglasses so I literally couldn’t see they were so bright. I had to look at everything through my camera.

Then we headed out to Hellfire Bay where a carpet python sneaked up on me from the bushes.

After that we drove further to the famous Lucky Bay which is raved about for having the whitest sand in Australia (whiter than Whitsundays apparently). This beach was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, hands down. We stopped here for milo and muffins while Mike told us about the history of Esperance which was genuinely really interesting.

He then drove us up a 42% incline (you’re not supposed to go up more than 45% in 4x4s) that was literally a giant rock and we saw the breathtaking view of Cape Le Grand from about 250ft up.

On the second day I hired a car because I wanted to do the Great Ocean Drive. This is a 30km drive around the coast of Esperance along the endless beaches and bays. Even though my car was automatic again it was the nicest car I’ve ever driven. Which isn’t hard when you see what I drive back home…

My favourite beaches on the Great Ocean Drive were Salmon Beach…

and of course Twilight Beach (the tourist favourite).

Another reason I really wanted to go to Esperance was for the Pink Lake, which is exactly what it’s called. Or it used to be. I drove there and it turns out that the lake hasn’t been really pink for about 10 years (tourist trap again) and it was only slightly pink. Sigh.

I had to leave the next day to go back to Perth for the third time in a month.