Cape Le Grande ... very grand!

Just south east of Esperance is the Cape Le Grande National Park. Again, stunning scenery... where does this country get all of it's stunning beaches?!!

Cape Le Grande



Cape Le Grande Beach - could've driven all the way from
Esperence on the beach, but wasn't sure of the 'softness' or
the tides, so stuck to the hard top and the rubble !



This day wasn't quite as 'perfect as the previous one, but not too bad. The breeze came up a bit in the afternoon (But the rain didn't start until the next day!).

Doing 'kid stuff'

If you've heard of kangaroos sun-baking on the beach in WA, this is where they do it - Lucky Bay. Not this day tho'. We did see kangaroos, but they had their winter coats and beanies on to keep warm!

Lucky Bay

Jed being "smart"!
(Try as I might, I could not get this photo to
turn the right way, so you'll have to twist your
head around to see it)

                  More 'kids stuff'!

Probably not all that comfortable for watching
the footy on a Friday night?? (Oh, that's right - it'd
be Collingwood anyway, so I probably wouldn't bother!)

Some holes are just made for it, aren't they? 

Hellfire Bay - the sand here was like walking on salt crystals and
"squeaky".



Banksias



Frenchman's Peak - altitude approx. 225m

The day had deteriorated a little, and was breezy, and very hazy, so the potential 'fantastic view' didn't really eventuate. Was still very impressive to look down and see tiny little cars driving on the road.

"Mum, do you have to tell me again, to be careful?"

View through the 'window' towards the coast. Boy! was the wind fairly whistling through here! I decided not to go any further, as I didn't want to get blown off the tippy top - but the kids and Jon scampered further
and did say (probably, just for my benefit), that the wind was much better right on the peak!! I was happy for them to have found that out!

Hmmm...! That was why it was a bit 'stressy'. It reminded me of Uluru without the chain.

 I think the climb was worth the effort?? My right 'quad' muscle was that sore the next day ...! Everyone else seemed to be okay?? We were rather pleased with ourselves when we made it back to the car in 50 mins, when the suggested time was 2 hours!

Esperance

Esperence is a pretty seaside town, of between 10,000 - 12000 people and a few more living in the outlying areas. Evidently, quite a number of farmers live in the town tho' and travel out to farms for work.

Foreshore of Esperence - complete with the traditional row of Norfolk Island pines.

The first day we were there, the weather was superb. However, the next day was just 'okay' with a building breeze and a bit overcast. Following that the "rot set in" and we had howling winds and rain! Don't you just love the southern, coastal conditions of this country - especially during the changable weather patterns of Spring??

(we've now had many more cooler, breezier days than warm sunny ones for quite some time!! - Take me back to Broome!)

Esperence has one of the nicest coastal tourist drives in the country, just to the west of the town, and we were lucky enough to strike the 'perfect' day to see it. With names like Turquoise Bay and Twilight Bay, how could it be anything else but paradise! I think there are 16 beaches in the local area that just go from one, to the next looking picture perfect.

...And the water was really as blue as it looks in the photos!

Jed trying to frame a rock formation.

Esperence also has a very active museum group, which shows in the development of the museum over a number of generations, the extent of the collectables, the way in which it is set out and the information contained about the town. A great way to spend an hour or so. (Even the kids, were happy for a while!)

One of the features of the museum, is the district's brush with NASA. As a 12 year old, I remember all the hype ... SKYLAB was going to crash down to Earth, from space! They predicted it most probably  would land in the Indian Ocean off WA somewhere, or ... it could be over land somewhere in southern WA . ( I was sure it was going to be on my head!!)
The 'maybe' turned out to be correct and on July 12th 1979, as the space station started to break up upon reentering the Earth's atmosphere, it left a trail of space junk over Esperence, among other places.
It slammed back to Earth near Balladonia, north east of Esperence on the Eyre Highway. Some of the pieces were 'rather large' and would have given someone a mighty headache (?!) had it landed on them.
It is stated that the local district 'powers that be' fine NASA $400 for littering! Which they paid.

Model of Skylab outside the Esperence Museum.

We also had another nice 'social encounter' while in Esperence. While in Broome we attended church and got talking to this guy who was travelling on his motorbike, from Esperence. He gave us his 'card', and invited us to 'catch-up' in Esperence. Jon gave him a ring when we arrived, after initially being away on the Nullabor fighting fires (he works for CALM), he rang us back and we spent a pleasant couple of hours with John and his wife, Stephanie at their home. They had only lived in Esperence for about 18 months, but were very active within the community and knew lots interesting "stuff" to tell us about. It's always nice to get some 'insider knowledge' of a place.
PS we really enjoyed Stephanie's cup cakes!

Amazing Coastline near Denmark and on to Albany

"Elephants" cruising on the coast...

"Does it look like elephants to you?" (It was called 'Elephant Rocks)


One side of Denmark there are the most beautiful forests of the Tingle trees and the other, there is magnificent coastline characterised by granite outcrops, white sandy beaches and turquoise blue water.

William Bay, on a stormy day. The reef of granite rocks made a nice
sheltered lagoon for the 'casual swimmer', or children whilst the surfies
could tangle with the big stuff, and the sharks out the back!



William Bay was beautiful on a stormy, grey day - I can imagine it would just be superb on a clear, sunny day. I'd love to come back here when the water is warm and the sun is shining. Another favourite spot! Photos just can't do some places justice.

Looking from the boardwalk back into Princess Royal Harbour

More steps... so many tourist
spots seem to have steps of some
 kind or another!! These were up
to the ANZAC memorial and
Lookout, over all of Albany.

Then it was on to Albany where we were lucky enough to be invited to stay with the parent's of Joanne Shaw, our Perth friend. This meant a bit of space, real beds, a dose of the "box" and being thoroughly spoilt by our kind hosts - Anne and John. We had a lovely time with them, were treated to Anne's yummy cooking and even participated in a family birthday, meeting more members of the family.

I enjoyed accompanying Anne and John on their morning walks around the streets and pathways of Albany. The only 'downer' was when John tripped over a kerb and put a tooth through his lip, requiring a few stitches. But ... you can't keep a good man down... and he was up and ready to go again the next morning!

As well as beautiful scenery, with the Albany harbour being in King George Sound, with quite a number of islands just off the coast, Albany is full of history.

• it was settled in 1827, as an outpost from New South Wales, to forestall French ambitions in the area. Albany is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia, predating Perth and Fremantle by some two years.



Replica of the Brig Amity, landed in Albany Dec 25th, 1926. With a group of military and convicts on board.
Sent from NSW to settle the western part of the continent. What a Christmas for them!!

• it was the WA's only deep water harbour for many years, and was the entry point to the Goldfields.
• the importance of the harbour declined when the Freemantle Harbour was developed, by which time the industries of agriculture, timber and then whaling took over.
• Albany has a strong tie to the countries involvement in the World Wars too. It was the last port of call for Troops heading to fight in WW1. There is a significant memorial site at the top of Mount Clarence for the war effort and ANZACs, and this was where the first ANZAC Day service was held.
• Whaling was a huge industry to the town, with about 100 people working at the whaling centre in it's 'heyday' and was carried out until 1978. At this time the murmurings about whale conservation were coming to fruition as well as a significant drop in the prices for whale oil, making it an unviable business.

The bay on which Whale World is situated - maintained and developed from the original whaling factory. The displays and descriptions were amazing, and enabled us to visualise the 'gruesome-ness' of this industry. Upon a successful whale chase and catch, 3 or 4 whales would be dragged back into this bay, and the water would turn red from the blood!

         
Whale World is a fantastically adapted and maintained museum/centre, as it was set aside for this purpose immediately after it was disbanded as a whaling factory. Hence it is the genuine "thing", adapted for tourists to see through the entire complex, where the different stages of the processing were carried out - complete with a 'whale chaser' boat, working engines, taped audios of happenings while standing on the "flensing" deck (where the whales were cut up), whale oil storage tanks and other artefacts. A fantastic portrayal, and preservation, of an important part of the district's history.
                                

Harpoon gun, on front of 'whale chaser' boat



Cheynes IV - the last of the Whale Chasers,
used by the whaling company



We were able to explore throughout the boat - from the deck, to the sleeping quarters, Captains rooms,
the bridge, in the engine room etc, etc. The kids enjoyed playing hide and seek!

                 

Skeleton of large adult whale, and whale calf - massive things!

The 'flensing' deck - where the whales were dragged up the
ramp with a pulley system, and cut up, ready to be processed
for the valuable whale oil. Which had a whole range of uses,
 from lamp oil, to cosmetics, to a derusting agent and many more.

Three of these large tanks were still on site. They used to
hold         litres of oil each, equivalent to the oile from     whales. Whale World has converted them into galleries for displays and cinema areas for short documentaries.



 The western coastline, around from Abany, has some pretty 'speccy' coastal scenery and a good
supply of wind! Hence, a great place for a Wind Farm.

      

The Gap - for obvious reasons. And local 'history' says
it is the spot to go, if you want to "jump"! Let's just say I was glad
the fences were there to keep the kids back a bit. Not a lot of joy
if you slipped.

                        

Natural Bridge

               



 Throughout Albany, were lumps of granite in the oddest of places - I guess the town just has to go around them. This one is affectionately termed "Dog Rock". And the adjacent shopping centre known as Dog Rock shopping centre. This we didn't quite get the significance of for a day or two, as we entered the car park from the other side. However, once I saw this rock, there was no mistaking why it was named that. (For a minute I thought it was a pet food version of "Cold Rock" or something like that!)

Albany's new skate Park, which Jed had read about
in one of the many skating/biking/car mags he has devoured
while away!

 Albany, like so many of these south WA coastal settlements, is situated on a piece of "curly" coastline. They have a very protected harbour, with the entrance via this narrow waterway. And then there is more of a bay, and King George Sound with many islands dotted throughout, and another inlet to the east, past Emu Point. This all makes it very 'pretty' and interesting.

Comfy seat!??

Looking out over Middleton Beach

Tree "Tops" and Ancient Empires

Sounds like a computer game... but far from it. Thank goodness!

<>

Lily and Jed high above the trees

It's a long way down!

Lily's account of the Treetop Walk:When we went to Walpole, after Pemberton, we went to the Valley of the Giants. We did the Tree Top Walk and the Ancient Empire guided walk. The Valley of the Giants area is located approx. 20km east of Walpole. It is in the forest of Tingle trees (with some Karri’s). The tree top walk was the first in the area; they planned the idea in 1994 and started building in 1995. The walk way was not built using any machines (E.g. helicopters or cranes) because the builders were not allowed to disrupt the growth of the trees, especially their shallow roots. Firstly, the pylons were erected by the builders/riggers using scaffolding. The spans were made in Freemantle and brought to the site using 4WD Utes and bolted together on the forest floor. They were then hoisted to their positions using winches and pullies. The spans were designed to sway slightly as you walked across it to give the effect of being in the forest canopy. The pylons were made of steel so it develops rust like colour to blend into the environment. The walk opened on the 6^th of August 1996. The entire Valley of the Giants project cost $1.8 million. By March 2011 the tree top walk had attracted more than 2.6 million people.

The 'Coffee Pot' Tree

Huge bases, gives their shallow root system some stability

The tingle trees are a large tree. One was measured to 18 arms spans around the trunk. They only grow in the south west of all Australia, in-between Walpole and Bow River. There root system is only small and is only 0.5-2 metres deep, to hold up straight and have balance it has a hollow base (the lady told us that if we put our legs together and sway we would have much less balance than  if our legs were apart). In the area there was a fire before the Valley of the Giants was constructed so they had to cut off some limbs so they didn’t fall.

base of another of the Giants

Altogether we had a good experience and learnt a lot. If you are over west sometime I recommend that you go there.