27/3/19 Down to the Duke

  Today , Wednesday , the sun was shining , it was the pick of the days - today was the day . We packed lunch & gear and headed off for a drive to Duke of Orleans Bay . We'd been told about this place and how good it was - prior to yesterday we hadn't heard of it - no advertising , nothing ! 

 Well as it turns out this place has beaches that rival Lucky Bay . The drive took us through grazing land and of course wheat fields , before taking us to the coast again . The first track was to Table Island , separated from the mainland by a thin strip of shallow water that can be walked through at low tide , or anytime if you don't mind getting a bit damp . This is the view of the island and duke of Orleans Bay .

 Another rather large granite rock poking out of the ocean .

 We jumped back in the ute , it was too windy to fly the drone - shame - but the next stop took our breath away ! We left the bitumen and headed up a gravel road over the hill to this view . I climbed onto the back of the ute for a better view .

 This is Little Wharton Beach at the end of the gravel road , we parked down on a rock shelf 5m from the water . A short beach - about 300m long - ended at some more rocks , although there was a track that went up the hill and further on to some other locations - probably equally as stunning as this !!

 Banksia's love this place too - wall to wall down to the water .

 The wind had dropped - ohhh what a shame , the drone came out again , check these out !

 Little Wharton Beach is down on the left of photo .

 We had some lunch , talked to a couple from Brisbane , then a couple from The Gold Coast , before heading back up the track . There was a track that we didn't even see on the way in , so in we went . We had 360 degree views from the top of another granite dome . This is an island that got my attention - it seemed strange that it had sand dunes on top of a granite rock ! Behind the island is Frenchman Peak and Cape Le Grand NP .

 Just because we can , we did , here we are !

 Just over the hill was Wharton Beach - a superb stretch of beach curving into the distance .

  We made our way down onto the beach , yes onto the beach - Lyn loves a challenge - it wasn't much of a challenge however , this sand is so fine and it packs down that well , we hardly left any tread tracks .
 Yes the drone came out again after a bit of a walk up & down the beach , people were swimming and stand up paddle boarding and playing on the beach , others were attempting to catch fish . Here as well , was a pod of dolphins that had been interacting with people  - they would swim up to and around the people then swim away again - apparently this had been going on for a few hours .

 And here they are , there was about 12 dolphins cruising around .

 They were swimming on their sides , upside down , jumping and playing , just beautiful .

   We dragged ourselves away , suffering from visual overload - we had got to the point where it was getting too much . 

  Back down to Table Island , the drone came out again , this is the view down over the shallows from above the island . 

 We headed back the 65 klms to the van totally satisfied with our days exploits - what an amazing place - we would rate Wharton Beach as BETTER than Lucky Bay - no wonder we hadn't heard of it before , the locals don't want anyone to know about this part of the coast .
 To be fair , it was perfect weather , Lucky Bay would have been just as good today - nearly ! Hahaha
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wavI-FGc8-7aMp3efliHKNH989gbJX1p&usp=sharing

29/3/19 Camping the Cape 2

  Awake to overcast skies again , but it started to clear so after breakfast we headed over to Hellfire Bay - hell of a name magnificent place . This is another place that words can't describe well enough , great beach , sand , water , rocks etc etc etc . 

Heading around the rocks to the left , we got views around the corner & out to sea . It must be a popular fishing spot as it has stainless steel eye bolts and D shackles installed into the rock so fishermen / women can tie themselves to it to save being washed into the water !

 Looking back round to the beach and the heavily bush covered dunes , we had some photo bombers make their presence felt .

 A pod of dolphins happily played around for about half an hour before waving goodbye and disappearing into the deep blue water . There are 3 playing together in this shot .

 A drone may of had a bit of a fly around here as well - hope you enjoy , we did !

 We wandered up to the carpark and decided to go for a walk around to Little Hellfire Beach . It's on the coastal walk trail that runs for about 20 kms from Rossiters Bay to Le Grand Beach .
 This is the view of Hellfire Bay from the top of the hill .

 The walk takes us up the hill and then down the other side on a well formed gravel track through a banksia grove 3 to 4 m tall . Banksia's are in all stages of flowering , from the beginning to the end .

 There were some flowers out as well .

  The track went parallel to the beach and emerged at the end of the beach on some more rock . Crazy little lizards were having a ball scooting around the place at high speed , depending on the rock colours , they blend in very well - great camouflage !

 And here is Little Hellfire Beach - we had it all to ourselves for an hour or so .

 This is one of the most beautiful places in Australia .

 May be one happy little drone pilot haha .

 We could only soak the view in for so long , and headed back to the ute - we are suffering a bit of visual overload at the moment - don't worry it's treatable , we will get over it - maybe .

  Around to Le Grand Beach for a look - it stretches into the distance for about 20klms .

  There was an easterly wind blowing , making the waves look sensational , sea spray blowing over the backs of the waves .



  We chatted to a couple from Brisbane who were also at Hellfire Bay with us , they'd been for a drive east to Duke of Orleans Bay and told us about a few other places - but we'll leave that to another day .

 We'll skip a day to Thursday which was the day we were supposed to leave Lucky Bay . We managed to book another night and stay so we could walk up Lucky Bay Beach to the lookout 2.5klms up the beach - then there was also the 400m from van to the beach on top of that .
 The day dawned overcast and quite dismal with the sky threatening to rain . Did that stop us , not a chance . Loaded up the backpacks with drinks , some eats , camera and wind/shower jackets and off we went .
 The locals greeted us as we went past - must of thought it odd that we didn't stop and try and approach them like all the tourists do .

 The sky started to clear , we were walking along quite happily , a bit breezy & cool but dry ! The camp area can be seen on the hill to the right of photo .

  We made it to the rocks and stairs at the end of the beach and hurriedly made our way under the walkway , hastily putting on our spray jackets and taking a seat on the sand to spend the next 15 mins as the drizzly rain came down . This was the only shelter between the campground and the lookout - 2.5klms of beach with nowhere to hide - we were going to be wet or partly wet if lucky !!

 As the rain eased off , we made our way out from under the walkway - it was a surprise to see 3 young males walking down the steps - they were also surprised to see us !! Anyway it was not raining  now , so up to the lookout . The little beach to the left looked great , the islands further out form some sort of protection for the bay from Southerly winds & seas .

 This is the view back to the camp - just left of centre - you can also see how wet it was , showers scudding through .

 A couple arrived in a car , they also went for a look up the lookout , we headed off again with the thought that maybe , just maybe they might offer us a lift back . They hung around at the lookout for a while before driving back - straight past us without even the thought entering their heads that we might need a lift !!! To be fair the car may have been full of their travelling gear etc , but that's besides the point !!
 We made it back and had a rest at the sheltered beach side tables , before getting that last 400m done - it was time for a sit down in a comfortable chair . Needless to say the afternoon was spent relaxing / recovering .
 Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=152U4brzGg7jCWFztBQnwPOqyKP-Y5mri&usp=sharing

29/3/19 Camping the Cape

 After a less than scintillating game of golf on the beautiful Esperance Golf Course we packed up on Sunday and headed off . The golf course runs around a lot of lakes - mostly salt lakes , but the one in the photo has hundreds of black swans on it . 

  Okay , this is the start of a magical 5 days camping at Lucky Bay in Cape Le grande NP . You now have to book to stay here , and it can be quite busy and hard to get into - we booked 4 days ahead and got 4 nights straight up , we also extended a night as well - someone had cancelled 2 days - we got to book it on the late afternoon on our last day - you can be lucky !! 

 So this is our spot up in the newer section - an 11m x 6m site all to ourselves - they are spaced nicely so you're not camped on top of each other . Facilities are excellent , the camp kitchen is just to the right of our van in the photo - sinks , bbq's and a gas stove . The toilet block is the best drop toilet we've ever seen - tiled floors , mini orb corrugated sheeting , stainless steel framing , disabled facilities , showers - quite stunning - it matches the scenery !!

 There are granite mountains/ peaks everywhere , some of which run straight down into the ocean , others are land bound or are islands in the Recherche Archipelago. Access is easy with a little bit of climbing here & there . This is the view of Lucky Bay Beach .

 The rocks are very similar to the Remarkable Rocks on Kangaroo Island SA - weather beaten and eroded into wonderful shapes , some are smaller like this next one , others you can walk through .  The rock in the right of the next photo was where the previous photo was taken .

 As you can see , the weather wasn't at it's sparkling best , but good enough to see how white the sand is here , in amongst the washed up seagrass .

 The locals are a friendly bunch , coming round in the mornings and afternoons - looking for something to nibble on - they leave hungry from our site . I think they put this ones head on backwards though Hahaha .

  Small nectar feeding birds are regulars here , darting from bush to bush at great speed . This is the New Holland Honey Eater .

  That ended day 1 , this next photo is Frenchman Peak and rises up to 262m asl , it has a cave near the peak that you can see through - apparently caused by the ocean - ( all this area was once underwater ) and wind erosion . You can climb it - the track is on the right hand side as it is a more gentle slope .

 And that was our trek for today , to climb Frenchman Peak - in the brochures it says a Grade 4 walk which is getting up there in difficulty . We get to the carpark and the sign there says Grade 5 , but looking at it we decide to go for it anyway . We were there at 8am , only a backpacker having breakfast was the only other person - I'm thinking he may have been there all night though !
 The walk from the carpark is an easy track through the coastal vegetation , there are still flowers about , here's  a few of them .

 The track turned into a boardwalk - in need of some TLC - then led to the first stage of the climb up the granite peak . The rock is very grippy , so we didn't have to worry about slipping on loose rocks , it varied from a reasonable slope to steep in a couple of places , but nothing that was too much of a concern for us . After climbing for a while we reached the lower cave on the western side and stopped to take in the view .

 I don't know how , but we ended up with this drone shot of the lower cave and the smaller one that goes right through the peak - we are standing just below it .

  This is inside the cave that goes right through - it was huge - about 80m across the front and about 40m across at the back - spectacular !

 This is looking out to Hellfire Bay and the Southern Ocean .

 Found a couple of lizards cruising around the rocks - about 30cm long .

 Views are toward Esperance , the beach is Le Grand Beach - you can drive quite a long way back toward Esperance on it apparently - we didn't try that out however .

 Some of the bushes have been growing up here for an eternity looking at the size of the trunks .

 We climbed the next 20 m to the peak and sat taking in the views for a while till the first few other climbers started to arrive . After a while we started back down again , getting passed by fit young 20 somethings - some nearly appeared to be running down in comparison to us haha .

  Going back down was easier than we thought and we made it back down without any bumps or grazes , all in one piece .

  We headed back toward the van for lunch , but turned into Thistle Cove and Whistling Rock . The wind wasn't the right direction for the rock to whistle though . We checked out the swirling waves on the rocks before heading back for lunch .

 After lunch the weather had improved with some sun coming out , so we headed back around to Thistle Cove - a 5min drive away .
  Making our way down to the beach , we came off the granite rock onto the sand . There is a small stream of water flowing out of a little lake behind the dunes .

  Funny , these drone shots keep finding their way into my posts , The views from above the rocks were stunning .

 And from about 120m above the water as well .

  The lake is visible behind the dunes in this photo - whistling rock is one of the larger rocks on the right hand side of the beach , it does whistle when you are standing in the right spot - you can move a metre one way or the other and it stops - quite amazing .

 Some more of the small granite rocks here .

 This totem pole stands near the whistling rock , a lot of dedication by the sculptor - wind & rain does amazing things to granite rocks hahaha .

 That's its for the first 2 days - needless to say we've slept pretty well . Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LxtbwysIxIzlY-WFD5IAIANYp2enSERe&usp=sharing