Esperance: 5 days in Paradise

 Mr and Mrs Smith along with Ms C and I arrived in Esperance late in the afternoon and quickly settled into our new home for the next 5 nights - I really liked it and loads of room to spread out and enjoy our time.

Later that night another friend of Ms C's arrived via plane - she had travelled from Darwin via Adelaide to Perth and then to Esperance and would now be with Ms C and I for the rest of our road trip. Her real name is Helen BUT for some reason everyone calls her Squizz. She arrived with her luggage and loads of colour clothes looking very flash and stylish.  We soon became good mates as Squizz likes to get up early like me and kept me company each morning while Ms C slept n.

Ms C soon took me shopping to buy leg warmers and a beanie as it was getting colder and colder as we travelled south.

We spent a few days touring the area and saw SOOOOO many gorgeous beaches and bays - a few quite mad people were swimming and surfing - all wearing wet suites of course. No way was Ms C or her friends getting in the water. We travelled the Great Ocean Drive and then also went out to Cape Le Grande. 

Lucky Bay [which we visited] was just named the BEST BEACH IN THE WORLD FOR 2023.

It was very windy and cold.......

Check out what I found at a gate to a farm - a Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We also went and visited a very well known local artist - Cindy Poole. She makes a lot of her jewellery and art from recycled materials and has a  huge focus on sustainability. She worked in partnership to create a huge statue for the main foreshore - Whale Tale.

Cindy created a cow from an old drum and tiles etc. His name is Hugh and we soon became fast friends.

Cindy also made emu statues and named them after her parents [Maureen and Steve] - I also soon became fast friends with them.

Ms C also lashed out and bought a VERY flash new ring and some earrings. Just wait till she wears them all to school when we get back.

On our last day in Esperance we visited Stonehenge - an exact replica of the original in the UK. It was made of 137 stones of Esperance Pink Granite. It was HUGE and had amazing acquistics which made the voices seem strange and also gave us all LOADS of energy!

Sadly on our last day we had to take Mr and Mrs Smith to airport and they started their trip home to their home in Victoria. They were flying to Perth then to Adelaide where they left their car then driving across the border. It was so good to see them both again as they had bene great friends to us all at Alawa and to Ms C.

Continuing South: Onto Albany

 

On Monday we journeyed further south through Pemberton [but the Gloucester Tree I had heard about was closed for repairs, I was a tad disappointed as I wanted to climb it after hearing so much about it] and then onto Albany. Ms C was quite taken with Albany….a town of around 38 000 people and many services but also quaint in it’s own way. Lot’s to explore even on a wet and overcast day.

Torndirrup National Park had lots to see and explore – especially The Gap and Natural Bridge.  Lookouts at both provided outstanding views of the Sothern Ocean and the coast from Bald Head to West Cape Howe. I was a tad scared as it was soooo windy and I held on tightly to Ms C so I did not fall over the rails.

We also stopped in at the Whaling Station – an opportunity to learn a little about the 26year history Albany had with Whaling and the cessation of this industry back in 1978. This had a huge impact to the town which took 10years to recover from as 108 people had been employed. It was a very gory industry and I am share glad it does not happen anymore in Australia.

We enjoyed travelling the Albany Historic trail and checking out the Chainsaw Sculptures – very creative and so many to see as we drove around the area. Check out the Turtles and 3 Pigs.

I also got really brave and faced off against a reptile.....

We also visited a Wind Farm - the blades looked like they were turning slowly BUT the sign said between 130kms and 260kms per hour.

Heading south to Busselton

 

The next adventure on the road trip was heading south to Busselton. After a stop in Mandurah where Lib and Eric found one the ‘Giants’ we moved onto Bunbury.  There are a few around the town you can follow clues to discover BUT we did not have that much time so they just found the first one. Check it out - I look so TINY sitting with the GIANT!

We arrived safely in Busselton mid afternoon and checked into our temporary home at Geographe Bay. Very nice!

Busselton Jetty – always worth a visit and the train ride. I was super excited to go on the flash looking train and hear all about the Jetty which is 1.8kms long. This time Ms C and I got to go into the Underwater Observatory – this was AMAZING and I saw so many fish and underwater creatures. Ms C and I walked down 6 sets of stairs till we were in fact 8 metres under the water level – but all safe and dry in the observatory.

Sunday saw us head off on a tour with Merrilyn and Arthur – friends from Jabiru days of Ms C's – a very relaxing and enjoyable day.  Huge thanks to Arthur for driving us around for the day and the excellent tour guide service – highly recommended.