Esperance - Wednesday 21st to Thursday 22nd November 2018 - Another damp & overcast morning making everything look very green, even the birds seem quiet today. However, our spirits are lifted as we leave Stokes Inlet, heading to Esperance where we have been told has some of Australia's finest beaches.

Wednesday - By the time we arrived in Esperance the sun was shining and we took the opportunity to spend the day catching up on chores.

Thursday - We drove around The Great Ocean Drive, a 40km route showcasing some fantastic beaches and lakes surrounding Esperance. Each and every beach had bright white sand with beautiful clear turquoise water, sloping granite cliffs and sand dunes covered with stunning colourful wildflowers in yellows and orange.

The beaches visited:

West Beach with shallow lagoons and breaking surf along the Reef.

Blue Haven at the bottom of a winding staircase with beautiful tranquil turquoise water sheltered by sloping cliffs and white sand.

Salmon Beach with a small ridge of rocks between the bush and the shore that had long sweeping turquoise waves crashing up on to the beach.

Fourth Beach another beautiful place that appears to be endless as it sweeps along the coast where the waves are bigger and popular with surfers.

Twilight Beach a favourite for us with its spectacular crystal clear water and white sand interrupted by small outcrops of large and small granite boulders, another popular place for surfing. We stopped and walked around the edge of the sand dunes down onto the beach marvelling at the colours of the ocean; clear to turquoise to azure then blue all in one place surrounded by rocky outcrops and white sand dunes.

There was another part of this beach that we couldn't get to because it was closed due to filming of Dirt Music from a Tim Winton book that is about a poacher who is chased through the Australian outback after his affair with a woman is discovered; due to be released sometime next year.

Observatory Point that gave panoramic views along this lovely coast and where two french ships the Recharge under the command of Antoine D'Entrecasteaux and the Esperance under Huon de Kermacdeo are commemorated.

Ten Mile Lagoon where a rocky shoreline acts as a natural breakwater that had formed a tranquil pale turquoise lagoon surrounded by high white sand dunes. We sat in the shelter of our vehicle high on the cliffs overlooking the stunning scene before us and had our lunch as the wind blew all around.

Pink Lake that was actually white and had not been pink for about 50 years due to climate change with not enough salt and too much water.

Finally, we visited the Lucky Bay Brewery to try some of the local beers before returning to camp.