CAPE ARID NATIONAL PARK

 Cape Arid National Park is about 130 klms east of Esperance on the Southern Ocean. What a fantastic place this is and what a great time we had there. It is quite isolated but worth the journey. The beaches, the beaches, just magnificent. No telephone or internet access out here.

 

 

 

View from the loo

 Moon over campsite

 Dolphin Bay

This kind lady provided us with dinner. Yum!

 

We are told that the Great Southern Whales frolic here Sept, Oct. Combine that with the wildflowers that would be out here, a place to come back to.

Driving along the beach

 

 We teamed up with some friends and headed out to Israelite Bay for a couple of days. It really was isolated out there. The Ranger insisted on taking all our details and was heading in after us if we failed to show up in 48hrs. We made it. How's that for living on the edge.

 Track to Israelite Bay

Salt lake on the way

We took these photos of some old ruins and then unfortunately the camera's battery went dead. Will we ever learn.

ESPERANCE WA

School holidays over and we hit Esperance. Esperance is located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of WA on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately 720 kilometres from Perth. Home of the Great White, we are thankfully yet to locate one. It was good to have a swim, water is very cold. The foreshore of the town is beautiful and we managed to get the bikes out and ride all over the town. 

 

 

 

 

 

Located a short drive out of town is a full size replica of the original "Stonehenge" in the UK as it would have looked around 1950 BC.

 

 

ONWARDS TOWARDS ESPERANCE

Left the forest country again and headed south east, our intentions being to stay inland away from the coast until the holiday silly season was finished   (the things you have to put up with!!!!). We had to pull into Albany to do some business hoping to be in and out in a day but as always it took longer and became an overnight stay. Headed towards the Porongurups and Stirling Ranges. Magnificent scenery but ooh so hot. 2 days in there and we were heading for the coast. We would love to be down there in wildflower season. Ventured further along the South Coast Highway and Hopetoun, on the Southern Ocean, looked to be a good spot. The Inn was full and the local governments around there are not too keen on free camping. Further south east we went searching for a nice coastal stopover but the curse of the holiday season was well and truly on. Everywhere was jam packed. By accident we came across Stokes Inlet National Park. It's not a swimming beach but it is a beautiful spot to camp. Nice cool shady campsites with a sea breeze. We have been here for over a week now and will leave on Monday when the school holidays are finished.

 

 Nyamup. There are lots of these old timber towns scattered about the South West.

Lake Muir. Dry at the moment but apparently a haven for wildlife.

Stopover in Albany. Not a bad view from the campsite over Princess Royal Harbour

 Stirling Ranges. Hopefully when we  come back through here it won't be so hot.

 Moingup Springs

The beaches around Hopetoun were fantastic. 2 Mile Beach & 5 Mile Beach

Stokes Inlet National Park

 Fish for dinner courtesy of a neighbour

 Young River entering the Inlet

 Mouth of the Inlet into the Southern Ocean

Shorebirds fossicking about