Esperance – Fitzgerald River NP

30 June – 6 July

 

We pulled into Esperance on a cool, drizzly afternoon. First stop was to call in at the local dive shop. I guess unsurprisingly given the distinct winter vibes outside, there wasn’t too much interest in their dive charters. The guy however was able to point us to a good shore dive at Lucky Bay which was handy as we were heading to Cape Le Grand National Park anyway. Being late in the day we decided to pull into a caravan park in Esperance. We opted for the one closest to town, which whilst being in a rather uninspiring location (we were camped next to the sound wall of a truck route through town) it had the perk of being within walking distance of the shops. We decided to splurge and head out on a ‘date night’ – drinks at the local club, fish and chips inside a warm restaurant and then to top it off a night at the movies! What a novelty.

 

The next day it was onto Cape Le Grand National Park east of Esperance and to Lucky Bay which at some point of time was apparently voted the ‘Whitest Beach in Australia’. To give credit where credit is due it was pretty white, and the bright winter’s sun made the 14deg water look very appealing. So on with our multiple layers of neoprene and we headed out for a dive around the rocky headland on the sheltered inside part of the bay. We were surprised at the abundance of fish – schools of trevally and herring as well as lots of other fish. There was a fair bit of surge and whilst we were promised there are Leafy Seadragons (found only on the southern coast of Australia) we didn’t know how to spot them with all the weed moving around. On the way back into shore we spotted a good 800mm long Australian Salmon lurking in weed at around 6m. No wonder everyone in the campground had rods with them.

 

 

It was really neat to get out for a dive, even better that there was still some lukewarm water in the solar heated shower system to defrost our toes when we got out. For the rest of the afternoon and the next day there was sunshine so we could dry out all our gear which helps with the practicalities of diving whilst on the road.

 

The next day with the sun charging our solar panel we decided to head out and try our luck fishing off the rocks where we had been diving the day before – at least we knew there were fish out there. Sure enough the bay lived up to its name and we had a great time fishing. Every cast got a bite and most came back with a fish, Marcel even managed to catch two fish on his two hooks with one cast. We decided that we had plenty of fish once we’d caught 9. No idea what type of fish they were, but we were reassured by another family out fishing that they were good eating. Now for the fun part – gutting and filleting nine fish. It was then fish for lunch, dinner with some even left over for later nibbling. W,e had a go at some surf fishing for salmon later in the afternoon, but alas no bites. Instead we enjoyed the beautiful colours of the sunset with the white beach.

 

The other well-known feature of Cape le Grand park is Frenchmans Peak with its distinctive outline that was thought to resemble the hats worn by French troops in the 1800s. The climb up was steep, and imminent rain was threatening but it was a neat walk with good views.

 

 

Our next destination was Fitzgerald River National Park. Part of a wider UNESCO recognised Biosphere, the park has a large and diverse range of flora with 1883 plant species identified so far, 75 of which are found nowhere else. We based ourselves in the park at Hamersley Inlet for two nights, again having the place to ourselves the first night and a single other tent the second. Being based in the park let us get out for a couple of good walks. First up we walked a section of the coastal Hakea Walktrail that took us down past the narrow sandbar separating the inlet from the sea and then along low cliffs by the coast. It was a beautifully sunny day and we spotted three groups of whales including some breeching in the distance which was very neat to see.

 

The next day we walked up East Mt Barren which gave us great views out over the Eastern part of the park. Walking and driving through the park the diversity of plants was evident. At times it almost felt you were walking through a garden with lots of different flowers, vegetation, and colours all within a small area, and we weren’t even visiting in the height of wildflower season. We’ve really enjoyed our time in and around the national parks of south eastern WA.

 

 

E