Week 22/52- Esperance - dazzling white sand & sparkling blue water

Hi everyone, welcome to Week 22 of our 52 week tour Down Under Western Australia.

This week we travel 107 kilometres south of our last destination (Peak Charles) to Esperance on Western Australia’s south coast, midway between WA's capital Perth and the South Australian border.

Isolated by distance, (721 kilometres, approximately a nine hour drive or one and a half hour flight south east of Perth) Esperance has retained a laid back life style which welcomes visitors to enjoy its Mediterranean climate, escape and get away from it all on wide sandy beaches or by exploring its National Parks.

Originally known by the Aboriginals as Gabba-Kyle, ‘the place where the water lies down like a boomerang’, Esperance lies nestled on the shores of Esperance Bay and the Recherche Archipelago. Today known as the “Bay of Isles”, much of Esperance’s tourism centres around the water. It is a paradise for beach lovers with kilometres of pristine beaches, spectacular coastal scenery, national parks, islands and an abundance of wildlife including seals, sea lions, dolphins, sea eagles and whales during their migration to southern breeding grounds. Esperance’s beaches are ideal for fishing, surfing, boating, sand boarding or just relaxing. The crystal clear water surrounding the 105 islands and 1500 islets of the Recherche Archipelago allows snorkers and divers to enjoy the marine life in this aquatic wilderness.

Here we are at Twilight Beach - a popular beach near town.

From Life Images by Jill

The combination of the dazzling white sand and the sparkling aqua blue water under the canopy of the brilliant blue sky is a feast for the senses. The sand is so clean it squeaks when you walk over it. A soft breeze blows. The ocean beckons. It hits me with a chill that has come all the way from Antarctica. We are all alone on a stretch of beach at Lucky Bay in the Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance
(well perhaps not such a brilliant blue sky the day we were there, but it sounds good!)

From Life Images by Jill

In fact Lucky Bay was judged in 2006 by a national committee of scientific experts through Geoscience Australia to be the whitest beach in Australia followed by equal second Hellfire Bay also at Cape Le Grand and Tallebudgerra Beach near the Gold Coast in Queensland, so Esperance can justifiably claim to be the home of Australia’s best beaches.

Here we are driving along the beach.........you can actually drive a long way along the south coast east of Esperance.

From Life Images by Jill

And for something a little different to the usual scenic shots, some seaweed on the startling white beach.

From Life Images by Jill

Thanks for looking everyone. A hope you have enjoyed these few photos - it is just magic to be able to walk along such gorgeous isolated beaches.

Here are another couple of pics from around Esperance.

Another view of Lucky Bay - this time with people!

From Life Images by Jill

This one is Thistle Cove....

From Life Images by Jill

And some wild flowers - this is the Showy Banksia....

From Wildflowers

And the Pincushion Hakea - when the flower comes out they start as the little ball you see on the top LHS, and then the little sections uncurl and the flower becomes as you see in the red.......

From Wildflowers

Thanks for looking everyone. I hope you enjoy these few pictures. From Esperance we are going to head back home to Bunbury, and then we are heading north on the inland road through the the midwest and Pilbara and then up to the far north to the Kimberly.