Hello out there. The farm land out to Kendenup was mainly crops with huge paddocks (some must have been 50 acres) of canola that was a mass of yellow. Our friends John and Wendy have a large farm of crops and cattle so an interesting tour around it filled in the afternoon nicely and we learnt a lot. They also have a vineyard so I was lucky enough to be given a bottle of their best red which I had previously sampled when we first met them and really enjoyed. We were treated to a home cooked roast meal with all the trimmings after a few drinkies and a chat about all our travels, fantastic ! After spending the night camped beside their house we bid farewell and cruised to our next destination of Ravensthorpe.
We were invited to camp in the driveway of our friends daughters place even though she was away in Melbourne and were told she had left the back door open and a note on the bench. Pulling up outside I wondered around to the back door and sure enough it was open so entered and started looking for the note which I could not find even after looking in all the rooms. On returning to the van I thought I should check at the pub where she used to work to make sure that we had the correct address. They denied all knowledge of her but after asking who I was they phoned her. There had been a mixup and I had the wrong address!!! Her and I had a good laugh about it. Could have been interesting if they had come home !!! After finding the correct address a few houses away we camped there after meeting one of her friends staying there for the night also and we neither knew the other was supposed to be there, strange but true. After breakfast and having her cat scratching the van to get in and her dog trying to bark us away we left this very small and different town.
I steered the van towards Hopetoun south of Ravensthorpe which was on the coast and lovely but we decided to spend the night in the nearby Fitzgerald National Park which has had a recent overhaul and about $40m spent on roads and camping sites, very nice. Heading out the next morning we came across a large snake parked in the middle of the road and as it was likely to get run over I decided to do a Steve Irwin and save it by trying to move it off the road. I touched its tail with a stick to try and move it, well it spun around and lunged at me with its mouth open. Boy are they fast! Ungrateful so'n'so and as it curled up in a defensive/attack pose it earned my respect so I let it be.
Steph had hidden in the bathroom in her own panic mode.
The drive into Esperance had that wow affect as you viewed the fantastic aqua blue sea against super white sand. It really has post card beaches, people friendly waterfront walk ways and dining areas. After a quick look around we booked into the seaside camp close to town then enjoyed a beachfront walk. The next day the temp was 33deg which we had not been used to. It was just too hot but we enjoyed sitting outside after dark cooking a bbq when it cooled down a bit. The tourist drive which followed the coastline took in about 6 unbelievable beachs all with that crystal clear aqua green water just so beautiful you can see why this town has such a awesome reputation for holiday makers.
Travelling east next morning took us to Cape Le Grande National Park where we had been told to stay at Lucky Bay. It has been voted the whitest beach in Australia where the sand is very fine and squeaks when you walk on it and of course it's super white. With the white sand and clear green water it's like a tropical Island that just draws you to walk along the beach with your feet in the water even though it's not what you would call warm but there were a quite a few swimmers as the day was really hot. You camp close to the beach with fantastic views over the bay and this camp is usually full most nights. Kangaroos wonder through the camp at will and do not seem to take any notice of people as there are lots of signs that say do not feed the animals. One had a joey who when let out jumped around like a week old lamb so cute. We were woken at 5.30 am next morning by a bunch of very noisey (fighting/mating) seagulls that had to be moved on three times from our roof, no chance of a lie in that morning! On the drive back to Esperance we called in at a few more awesome beach's where nice walks were called for to admire the amazing rock formations that seem to be all along this picturesque coastline.
Tomorrow it's time to head north inland towards Kalgoorlie. Chat soon, xxx