Day 51. Esperance

Let there be light...

And the clouds parted, and the sun shined down on Esperance once again.

Yeah! The sun was out today, and we revelled in it! We couldn't wait to get out of the van and start exploring, and that's what we did!

We wanted to do the "Esperance - Great Ocean Drive"; which is a 40km circuit west of Esperance that takes in the local highlights along the coast.

First stop was the Rotary Lookout, which was a great place to start as we went for a short walk around the headland thats just outside Esperance. The coastline along this part of Australia is beautiful, and stopping at every lookout certainly takes your breath away.

 

Next was 'Twilight Beach'. For the life of me I still don't know why Bec wanted to stop here? Apparently its got something to do with some movie that Bec absolutely adores! Go figure! :-)

Observatory Point was our next port of call, and it didn't disappoint. Bec and Scarlett decided to take the less travelled low road (which consisted of about a million steps down to the beach and rocks), and I decided to take the high road to the lookout. What a view! While I'm up at the lookout trying to spy Bec and Scarlett far down below, I could see them pointing above. So I followed their directions and saw the biggest Sea Eagle flying high up on the thermals that I have ever seen in my life! It was amazing!

There is a Wind Farm located along this drive, so we decided to stop and have a look. Bec explained to Scarlett what a wind turbine was and how it works and what it produces, while I went off taking photos!

We came across Pink Lake next, but was not impressed to find that it isn't pink at all. It does however turn pink when there is a certain amount of algae in the lake that is produced in sunlight and heat. Unfortunately we have had little of either during our stay in Esperance, so we didn't witness this natural wonder.

After returning to the van, Scarlett took off to play in the playground with multitudes of children who happened to be there when we returned. I cleaned out the Pajero, and then took it down to the car wash provided by the caravan park to wash off all the sand and seawater that we drove through yesterday. Wow! I couldn't believe how much pure white sand came out from under my car! Its so fine, like talcum powder, and it was in everything!

After washing the car, Bec took us all back down to the jetty to see if we could see 'Sammy' one last time before we leave Esperance. At first we didn't think he was there, but within minutes he turned up to check out what we had to offer him. Too bad for him, as Scarlett only had bread crumbs, although Bec was excited she took more photos of him!

We leave Esperance tomorrow to head further west. To where exactly we aren't sure yet, but that's the fun thing about our trip. We don't have to make any plans and can just 'up' and 'go' where and when we please...