Cosy Corner to Esperance

December 4 to December 11

Great view from Mount Adelaide

We arrived in Albany Sunday morning, and drove up to the ANZAC Memorial Lookout. This is a great lookout to appreciate the coastline and protected bays that surround Albany. I must admit to my ignorance of Albany’s significance of the Gallipoli campaign, only really becoming aware when they celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the departure of the ANZAC fleet to 2014. Over 41,000 Australian and NZ troops and horses were assembled and departed in two convoys to join the Great War.

Part of the 2014 commemorations was the opening of the National ANZAC Centre. On Monday we visited the Centre and were more than impressed. We had expected to spend a couple of hours there, but after slowly immersing ourselves in the history, very well told through re-enactments of soldiers observations, we eventually spent most of the day there.

The ANZAC Centre has been built on Mount Adelaide headland where much of Albany’s defence history is accessible to visit. I was very surprised to visit the gun fortress built in 1893, before Australia’s federation.

The Gap walkway out over the cliff

Tuesday morning we visited the Albany Hospital to have Leah’s wrist checked for how it was healing. Fortunately we timed it well and didn’t get delayed too much, and Leah’s wrist got the “thumbs up” and the cast was removed. Although the doctor was (as the Perth orthopaedic doc’s were) concerned with the type of break and whether it should have been plated, he agreed most of her mobility will return with time and rehabilitation. We were very impressed when he rang the following day to see how Leah was coping and to make sure she was taking the rehab slowly.

Leah happy without a cast on her arm

After the hospital we drove to The Gap and Natural Bridge. A spectacular viewing platform has just opened to take you out over The Gap to look down some 30 metres to the wild ocean below. We also drove to the Historic Whaling Station and the Blowhole (a 1km walk each way, to find out it wasn’t “blowing”).

Late in the afternoon we continued our travels, heading east about 80km and stopping at the Green Range Rest Area for the night. The next major centre is Esperance, about 470km east of Albany, but about half way is Ravensthorpe, surrounded by the mineral rich Ravensthorpe Range. Originally attracting gold miners in the early 1900’s, numerous mines still operate in the region today. It is also the bottom end of the wheat belt, and harvesting is in full swing. The roads are busy with mine trucks, grain trucks, and, as the photo shows, harvesters. When they come at you on the road, it’s best to pull over.

Harvester making the road look narrow

Ravensthorpe offers free 24 hour overnight stays right in town, so we wandered the town (didn’t take too long), and planned to eat at the (only) pub that night, about 50 metres from our park. All the miners seemed to go there for dinner as well, so a continuous queue of workers kept the place busy. After dinner we were “treated” to a Christmas parade by the local police. Still two and a half weeks before Christmas, in a small town, they drove all the streets and handed out lolly bags. So many unexpected things occur when you’re travelling.

Ravensthorpe Police Christmas "Parade"

Thursday we drove to Esperance, we arrived mid-morning and checked out the Visitor Centre and walked through town. We treated ourselves to lunch at a Dome restaurant (as it was my birthday). For you “Easterners”, Dome Restaurants are everywhere in WA. They are similar to Coffee Club’s, but larger, and more focused on food. We had seen them in surprisingly small towns as well as nearly every suburb in Perth. The more we saw, the more Leah wanted to try one. Very good food, and good value, they would do well over east.

After lunch we visited Mermaid Leather, the only business in Australia tanning fish skins into (surprisingly) tough and decorative skins for wallets, hats, shoes, etc. We had an interesting talk from the owner, and demonstrations of the tanning process. Very smart idea, turning a waste product into a fashion item.

Woody Lake Wetlands Walk

Previously Mermaid Leather had allowed self-contained RV’s to stay overnight in their car park, but in the last six months the Esperance Council (which also oversees Ravensthorpe, which is very RV friendly) shut down all low cost or free camp options in town. We had planned to stay a few nights anyway, so found a great caravan park and settled in.

Stonehenge without leaving Australia

Friday we hiked the Woody Lake Nature Reserve, a wetland region with abundant birdlife, then visited the Stonehenge. This full sized replica was built in 2011, with granite mined from the local area. Originally the project was destined for Margaret River, but ran out of money, so a local farmer bought the business and constructed it as it would have looked in 1950BC. It is correctly aligned for the local summer and winter solstice.

Coastline west of Esperance

It was very impressive, I have no idea how the original could have been built!

Saturday we drove the “Great Ocean Drive”, a loop drive around Pink Lake and along the coastline west of Esperance. Pink Lake wasn’t pink (the algae must have died), but the coastline was spectacular (I’ve probably overused that word, but certainly fitting here). We stopped at a number of bays, watched paragliders, walked Twilight Beach, and just enjoyed a warm, sunny day.

Great site for paragliders

In the afternoon we visited the local Cannery Arts Centre, where they had a fundraising afternoon featuring local musicians and supported by Esperance’s Lucky Bay Microbrewery. I can confirm the beer was of excellent quality.

Sunday we checked out of the caravan park and headed into town to buy groceries etc. It will be a hot day, expecting 36⁰C, and the Esperance Christmas celebrations are on, so will be staying around town until the evening before driving north.