Day 28 - Saturday 2 June 2012

Esperance

03.06.2012

Still windy - 15 to 20 knots off the water. Temperature started at 14 and reached 21 by lunch time. There are plenty of whitecaps on the bay, but we get some shelter with the trees in the park, and our awning is holding up well. Drove into the town centre for the papers this morning and David updates the Blog while Di did a couple of loads of washing. After an early lunch we made a quick visit to the supermarket before doing the Great Ocean Drive, which follows the coast to the west of Esperance.

The scenery along this part of the WA coast is just magnifcent - We think that we might come back in the spring in a few year's time. David was talking to a surfer on one of the beaches, and when he commented that the beautiful beaches with the white sand went on and on, the surfer said that these beaches go all the way to South Australia.

The Great Ocean Drive started at the Rotary lookout near the town centre, then took in West Beach, Blue Haven, Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach, Twilight Beach, Observatory Point, then 9th, 10th and 11th Beach, before returning to Esperence via the Pink Lake (which was not pink).

On 9 December 1792 the Recherche under the command of Captain Antoine D'Entrecasteaux and the Esperance under the command of Captain Huon Kermandec sheltered in the lee of Observatory Island - those Frenchmen got about a bit! Anything that they did not find and name was named by Matthew Flinders.

Di at Rotary Lookout