Esperance means hope, and for twelve years now we have been told how beautiful Esperance is, and have been hoping to see it. On our first trip with the kids twelve years ago, when we crossed the Nullarbor we had the choice of going north to Kalgoorlie or south to Esperance. Although it was late December, the weather was cold, so we headed north. There followed several weeks of good weather, but as we did our loop and got to Esperance again the weather turned cold...

We had been to Albany twelve years ago with the kids, and absolutely loved it. We saw the whaling museum, the ANZAC memorial, and the old brig, as well as other historic buildings. We saw the rock formations on the rugged shoreline, and took some spectacular photos of the crystal blue waters and the white rocks glistening in the sunshine under the clear blue sky. It had been really busy, being school holidays, and the caravan park had squeezed us into a tiny site...

The road between Walpole and Denmark initially continued dense and wooded, with turn-offs to the Giant Tingle Tree and the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. We had had enough of woods and forests, so pushed on resolutely. After a while it opened up to farms and wineries, and turn-offs to the south to various beaches. We did check a couple of these out on the way - specifically Green's Pool. It looked absolutely spectacular, but it was too cold to swim. Denmar...

We left Augusta on the Saturday morning aiming to get to a town called Manjimup which had advertised a farmer's market that morning. As soon as we left Augusta and headed east the terrain changed completely. We found ourselves in timber country - with narrow roads that wound up and down the hilly countryside, and thick forests of very tall karri trees. On the way we passed through another small town called Nannup (what is it with all these '..up' names? Must mean...

We left Busselton, heading further south towards Augusta (not Port Augusta), the town at the bottom southwest corner. This was famous for its very tall lighthouse and various caves along the way. We had done both the lighthouse and the caves twelve years ago with the kids, so decided to concentrate more on the town of Augusta itself and the little towns in between. First town was Dunsborough, just west of Busselton. It consisted almost entirely of cafés, and o...