Thursday 31 July 2014

Esperance (October)

Home for a month!

Esperance really did become home. There's still, nearly a year later, so many things that just remind me of being there.

It is a town of beaches. A short tourist drive takes you on a loop out of town to all the little coves.Twilight Beach; Observatory Point; 10mile Lagoon; 11mile beach; the secret surf beach, to name but a few. I became very familiar with some of these while Casey was working.

Twilight Beach is probably the most popular as it's only just out of town and really accessible. Many an afternoon was spent there. There's an amazing rock in the bay, just in swimming distance with a brilliant hole through. Supposedly there's often sharks just on the other side where the water's deeper. Didn't stop me swimming though. Neither did the two rays we spotted in the water.






We probably spent most time at Observatory Point though. Casey liked the fishing there and I liked the quiet beach. It had a great view for getting the bbq out and cooking in the evening too. We even spent a few nights there, though of course they don't allow camping or overnight parking.


We spent most nights in a campsite on the sea front though. Met a couple of great guys there and ended up spending most of three days out in a tiny, serviceable fishing boat. Now fishing is another activity I'm really not a big fan of. Stand on a rock/bank/beach, throw a line and wait. Not much appeal to me. But add to that the fact that we're out in a tiny, little boat and I had a great time. I caught my first ever fish and probably caught as much as anyone overall, though the boys nearly managed to reel in a small ray. Of course we had no idea what any of the fish were so we were throwing them all back.


Added to that I got to drive the boat and we were anchored just next to a small rocky island with sea lions on! 
All in all great time!



Most of our time in Esperance was very normal. We played mini golf- golf in a form I actually enjoy. I wasn't even too bad at it by the second time around.
We went to the cinema; had take-aways; went drinking with the shearers, which generally consisted of taking a carton (box) of beer over to their block on the industrial estate and having a few; went to parties, where I experienced my first spit-roasted hog; ended up in hospital on a morphine drip; and went for weekends away!

When we went away, it was to Cape Le Grand National Park. Home to yet more gorgeous beaches; kangaroos on the beach; and, Frenchman's Lookout, which is quite a climb but worth it for the views.

So all in all a beautiful time in Esperance and what I miss the most is my daily routine- a smoothie from the smoothie trailer for breakfast, a wander round, a coffee from the Coffee Cat trailer and a cake in the afternoon before driving out to yet another beach!




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