Our last night in Fowlers Bay (24th April) was very wet. We had an extremely heavy down pour which extended into the next morning. As the road out to the main highway from Fowlers Bay was dirt we headed off with great trepidation. Slipping and sliding all the way to the main highway then onto the Head of the Bight lookout.
At the Head of the Bight
Head of the Bight
From there we headed for Eucla and the WA border crossing and despite the fact that WA is part of Australia we had to provide the correct paperwork for Covid-19 which had to be obtained on line prior to arriving in WA. In addition the inspection of all our fridges and food storage to ensure we were not transporting prohibited produce across the border.
We camped the night at Eucla then set off the next morning for destination unknown. Arriving in Caiguna around 3 pm (4.30 pm SA time) we decided to camp for the night.
The following day we headed for Norseman where we turned South with the little hamlet of Salmon Gums in our sights. This is a fabulous little town of 191 People with a quaint campground. A spot where Chris and I had stayed on our WA adventure in 2014.
From Salmon Gums we headed the following day to Esperance. Phil and Julie, who had been set up in the main Caravan Park for a couple of days, suggested that we would not have any problem getting a couple of sites together, however on arriving that was far from the case. After a number of phone calls Dianne secured us 2 sites together at the Bathers Paradise Caravan Park. Well, while we were wondering what the park would be like it turned out to be the best. It was a lovely small park with very friendly hosts, the type that we prefer over the large regimented commercial parks.
The next day (29th April) we teamed up with Phil and Julie and headed for a day of sight seeing at Cape LeGrand National Park. It would have been great to have campsites at Cape Legrand (Lucky Bay) but you have to book a long, long way, ahead, and know your exact arrival date which is simply not our way of touring.
After dropping in to “Stonehenge” we continued on to Cape Le Grand and checked out Rossiter Bay, Lucky Bay, Thistle Cove, Hellfire Bay and Cape Le Grand Beach. With a very pleasant lunch at Lucky Bay in the company of a couple of Kangaroos that appeared very nonchalant hoping for us to drop the odd morsel of food.
Stonehenge
(Some details for “Stonehenge”
- Full Size Replica of the original Stonehenge in UK as it would have looked in 1950BC
- 137 Stone of Pink Granite quarried opposite the property where it stands.
- Each of the main stones weight between 38-50 tonnes.
- Lintels weigh 18 tonnes.
- The structure is aligned with the summer solstice sunrise for Esperance WA)
The following day we did a tour around Esperance area taking in some beautiful scenery including some fabulous beaches and the “Pink Lake”. Not nearly is pink as ours west of Horsham. Wasn’t even worth getting the camera out.
Scene From Rotary Lookout – Esperance
Looking towards Twilight Beach from Rotary Lookout – Esperance
Coastline West of Esperance
Part of the tour included a defunct wind farm they claim is a tourist attraction. Wind farms apparently last 20 years, and then remain in the scenery as a tourist attraction.(WTF). I kid you not; there are several wind farms in WA that remain standing but are of no use and produce no power as they are past their use by date. Don’t get me started, but I do ask the question. What is going to happen to the wind farms that have been and continue to be constructed across our fair land? Should not the cost of demolition be part of the cost of the wholesale power charge? In 20 t0 30 years time we are going to have non operative winds farms strewn across the country destroying our wonderful scenery only to have new ones constructed to further blemish the view. GOOD GRIEF!!!!
Next Stop Hopetoun and the fabulous Fitzgerald River National Park.
Hopetoun is a very friendly town with a population of around 900 people and is on the edge of Fitzgerald River National Park.
The unique vegetation in this area of the country is truly amazing. (Sorry we don’t know all the correct names). One would have thought we were on another planet.
We were lucky that as we were headed back to camp from the National Park the heavens opened up and we drove home in the rain. The rain and poor weather seemed to be following us which started at Fowlers Bay. (In fact it followed us all the way to Exmouth)
We stayed for 2 nights then headed for Bremer Bay where we also stayed for 2 nights before heading for Albany.
Bremer Bay Caravan Park was something else, “Yep, no worries, just wander in and find yourself a good spot and set up camp.” The layout was most peculiar and with a fair amount of backing and maneuvering we finally set up camp.
Wellstead Museum Guard House
Fabulous Stone work – Bremer Bay Wellstead Museum
One if the locals
View from Native Dog Beach
Next stop Albany and some issues with the weather.
Vicariously loving this…..