beautiful Esperance

25-26 April 2018

Our souls urged us to spend a couple of days winding down in Esperance, to get over the long kilometers travelled and hospital trauma we'd had since leaving home.

Once we set up in the caravan park, I baked muffins in the webber for the first time and Chase continued with his knitting project. He found a kindred knitter in the caravan next to us and she seemed happy to help him pick up his dropped stitches.

We wandered along the foreshore, visited the harbour and climbed on the rocks by the broken town jetty, where the boys tried to catch crabs.

Esperance is an amazingly beautiful place. You could not tire of the views. The eastern states may spruik their beaches, but WA's are simply breathtaking.

The state has had some problems with marine life since a pod of whales beached themselves along the coastline, creating a buffet for sharks. The cancellation of the Margaret River Pro surfing classic this year due to shark activity, created a frenzied critique of the shark management strategy and its effect on tourism.

A ranger was putting up beach closure signs at West Beach when we visited. He told us that there had been a large shark sighting. We noticed the surfers packing up their boards to head elsewhere for the day.

The Dempster Head lookout provided a good view of the bays. Twilight Beach, renowned for it's crystal clear waters and snow white sand, didn't disappoint. We climbed the boulders and stared out across the beautiful bay. The kids frolicked in the foaming water and played in the sand. Even Ollie, his leg still braced, managed a lopsided gallop along the beach.

We enjoyed the growers' market on our way out of Esperance. The kids excitedly wandered the stalls without us, while Drew and I checked out the visitors' center. The boys had found honey and some snacks for us to buy when we caught up with them.

It was a difficult place to leave so quickly and one we'd like to visit again.