Beached AZ

 19/04/2024 - Esperance - Great Ocean Trail

Today we travelled the Great Ocean Trail on our bikes.  We started at the tank jetty and cycled along the Esplanade before making our way up the hill to Dempster Head lookout, providing spectacular views across Esperance and to the Cape Le Grande National Park.

Just Chill'n.

Tanker Jetty.

The Archipelago.

The trail led us along the coast to several bays including Blue Haven, Salmon Bay, Forth Beach, and Twilight Beach (they are spoilt for beaches in Esperance). 

On Twilight Beach there are remnants of a petrified forest preserved by limestone.

Petrified forest.

We left the coast and continued inland across the sand dunes and into the native forest to Pink Lake.  The trail was fun to cycle as it was undulating and you could ride it like a roller coaster it wasn't busy so you didn't have to worry about other cyclists or walkers.

Heading inland.

Sadly the Pink Lake is no longer pink, as it has been cut off from Lake Waldron which supplied it with the mineral salts that helped the algae to grow to turn it pink.

Great Ocean trail.

After the Pink Lake, we returned to Esperance after completing about 30 km, then headed off to the Lucky Bay Brewery to sample their wares.  This time they had plenty of beers to my liking. 

As we were leaving we saw the kids entertaining themselves by climbing into plastic barrels and rolling down the hill.  We were amused as it seemed like good old-fashioned fun.  We finished off the evening with a lovely meal at the local Thai Restaurant.

Looks like fun.

20/04/2024 - Esperance

We had a lazy start today.  We drove into town and had coffee and cake at a cafe at the Marina, checked out the ships in port and chatted with a couple of local fishermen who were hauling in King George Whiting.  

Bulk carrier loading.

Esperance marina.

After lunch, we drove further down the coast and spent the afternoon walking along beaches and looking in rock pools.

Eleventh Mile beach

We weren't the only ones looking in rockpools.

Limestone.

?

More Petrified Forest.

Twilight beach

 
21/04/2024 - Cape Le Grande National Park

We couldn't get a camp in the National Park as it's been booked out since January so we drove in from Esperance to have a look.  We've loved the beaches around Esperance and thought it couldn't get any better.  Well, it did.  White sand, red rocks, and clear blue water, and unspoiled by development.

Lucky Bay beach.

Lucky Bay.

We spent the day walking along the beach in the water with very few people around.  We got to do one of our favourite things and drive along the beach.

Rossiters Bay Cairn.

Bird watcher.

Tourist.

Rock.

Thistle cove.

We dropped in at the Lucky Brewery on the way home to pick up some supplies and had a great chat with a young girl who is doing a lap with her family.  Reminded us of our trip when the girls were young.

22/04/2024 - Cape Le Grande National Park

The weather isn't as nice today the clouds have descended upon us.  We went back to Cape Le Grande National and walked from Thistle Cove to Lucky Bay.  It's not a long walk, but it's a climb up and down the granite hills. We checked out the Lucky Bay campground before returning to Thistle Cove.  

Thistle cove.

On the way to Lucky Bay.

Orange Flower.

Look what I've found.

The rain was finally here and we drove to Hellfire Bay for lunch, our final stop was Cape Le Grande before heading back to Esperance.  

Hellfire Bay.

Cape Le Grande.

23/04/2024 - Ravensthorpe

It's not really coastal weather so we've headed inland to Ravensthorpe, It's a small community that survives on cropping and mining.

The Local.

Ravensthorpe Silos.

We visited the information centre and the old folks there gave us enough paraphernalia and information to keep us going for a week.  The old fella recommended the Archer lookout so we could see the Lithium mine and drive the Ravensthorpe Ridge track and take in the views across the plains.

The Ridge track.

Pincushion Hakea

24/04/2024 - Ravensthorpe & Hopetoun

Still a bit chilly but we headed 30 mins down the road to Hopetoun which is on the coast anyway.  The coastline is more rugged than what we saw at Esperance.  We walked along 2-mile beach which has sea anemones that have been washed up on the shore along with some very interesting-looking seaweed.

2-mile beach.

Anemones.

Anemones.

5-mile beach was quite rocky and not good for walking at high tide. There was more petrified Forest. the coast along here has quite a bit of it.

5-mile beach.

Petrified forest, 5-mile beach.

5-mile beach.

On our way back to Ravensthorpe we checked out some of the Farm Gate Art and then stopped off to do a walk in Kundip nature reserve to take a look the relics of the old train line.  Unfortunately, the track has not been maintained and the bush is slowly reclaiming it. Parts of the track were impassable which meant we had to do a few detours and got lost a couple of times to take a look at the old bridge.

Farmgate Art

There's gotta be a track around here somewhere.

All that hunting for this. (Rail bridge across the creek)

25/04/2024 - Ravensthorpe to Bremer Bay  

We continue our travels west to the seaside town of Bremer Bay. On the way, we stopped off at the Kukenarup Memorial a site that recognises the people killed during the early years of European settlement.  During the 1870's a conflict arose between the Noongar people and the settlers. The result of the conflict was the massacre of the Noongar people.

Kukenarup Memorial.

We could see the remains of the old Cocanarup Station from the memorial site. On the way out we took the turnoff down the road that passes the old homestead. Turned out to be a hell of a track to take the van down. It's on private land so we couldn't explore it. 

https://www.noongarculture.org.au/1880/

Our next stop was Jerramungup. It's a small town it was quiet with only the little supermarket open.  The picnic area has a great mural of the Anzacs.

ANZAC mural.

We are now camped in Bremer Bay we did a late afternoon walk on the beach before heading back to camp.

Bremer Bay camp

26/04/2024 - Bremer Bay

It was a lazy start this morning. A bike/walking trail starts/ends at the caravan park we are staying in.  We cycled into and around Bremer Bay.  The trail goes through some beautiful bushland and is undulating, it was like riding a gentle rollercoaster into Bremer Bay. The trail runs alongside the estuary where we spotted Pelicans and numerous other birds having a feed.  

Bremer Bay bike path.

We ended up at Paperbark Park and had lunch.  The last stop was the Bremer Brewery and then back to camp.

Paperbark Park.

Optus Wildlife Habitat project.

27/04/2024 - Bremer Bay

Another lazy start today, the sun was shining and it was just nice to relax at camp reading a book.

In the afternoon we went for a drive along Bremner Bay beach, after parking up we then walked along the beach for a couple of hours, hardly a soul to be seen. There was a crazy dog who loved running in and out of the sea. He was next to his owner's car and crashed into Linda as he spun around along the shoreline.

WA roads.

Another pristine beach.

On the way home we stopped for fish and chips at the roadhouse, we'd heard good things and weren't disappointed.