Day 61 – Albany to Esperance

It was a bit sad to leave beautiful Albany today, I could have spent many more days here…. But alas we need to move on. There are lots of places that we would like to come back and spend longer exploring.

Leaving at 8.00am this morning we headed 480km due east along the coast to the town of Esperance. There are very few places to stop between the two towns, one being Ravensthorpe where we stopped for a bite to eat, and to stretch our legs. Coincidentally this week the town is running the annual Wildflower Show displaying 700 different species of wildflowers in their hall. So, we had a look, and were not disappointed. Beautiful displays of lots of different species, and my favourites the orchids were well represented. The spider orchids and the purple enamel orchid are particularly beautiful.

Driving to Esperance we spotted an echidna ambling across the road in front of us, and then into his burrow in the bushland. The drive was full of lots of wildflowers beside the road again today. Ravensthorpe is an amazing place to look for wildflowers, and they lay claim to the fact that there are more plant species in this area, than in any other area of similar size in the world. 1800 species of flora have been documented!

Arriving in Esperance around 3pm and parking the van at the Pink Lake Tourist park, we headed to a place I remembered from our last visit here many years ago – Mermaid Leather. This is a small factory that transforms fish and shark skins into leather products. All kinds of things from pens, clothes, shoes, wallets, etc.  An interesting little place to visit.

 

We had a drive around Esperance looking at the large harbour (they export wood chips from here), and the beautiful beaches. Esperance is known for its brilliantly white, sandy beaches, and most have interesting rock formations out in the water too. We completed the 38km tourist loop (Great Ocean Drive) along the spectacular coastline, stopping off at a few of the pretty places. Twilight beach, pictured below, is one of our favourites. The weather is too cool today for a dip though there were a few brave people having a swim. Fish and chips for tea tonight, by the sea.