Esperance, Hopetoun and Stokes Inlet 20th December 2013 – 7th January 2013

Esperance

We have moved on from Pretty Bay and our walking and climbing, drowning and catching no fish and getting occasionally lost to civilisation in Esperance and a caravan park not far from Pink Lake. It was a bit of a surprise after being in a National Park to be amongst holiday

makers and kids all there in their holiday spirit. The weather was still playing havoc ranging from beautiful blue sky days to arctic winds. This was the place we were to celebrate Christmas. Being our first year away from Pottsville for 20 odd years as well as our families made Christmas a little dour so we made the best of what we had. We were joined by Bonny and Barry who we first met on the Nullarbor. We had a great day taking lots of photos only to find that a few days later when I was taking the photos of our travels off my camera that they were all corrupted. We went for a few tourist drives to pink lake and even drove out across the salt but we turned around when it started to feel a bit soft. Some young Asian tourists had gone out and had gotten bogged.

They were charged $500 to get pulled out. The pink of the lake which was not pink when we were there is formed from the combination of 2 algae which give the orange/red colour.

On Boxing Day we went to see the latest release of the Hobbit, Trice and I haven’t been to the movies for many years.

We did enjoy Esperance but we had been spoilt by the magnificent beaches of Lucky Bay.

Hopetoun and Fitzgerald National Park

The Hopetoun caravan park is a rundown park right on the beach just outside one of the most beautiful National Parks, Fitzgerald National Park. It houses Mt Barren, Barren Beach, Mylie’s Beach, West Beach and others we didn’t get to. It has free camping with upmarket amenities for small tents and Wizbangers but not caravans. We spent many days going in and out of this park walking, climbing and swimming. The rock formations are a site to be seen and when combined with the blue of the water and the stark whiteness of the sand, why would you want to go back to civilisation.

 

 

 

We went looking for the start of the Rabbit fence and after driving through narrow tracks scratching the sides of John’s car we found it, now the other end at Broome.

 

New Years Eve was approaching and we hadn’t planned any parties and nor had the camp ground so we were preparing ourselves for a quiet night.

 

The next thing Trice’s mobile phone rings and it is the office wanting to know where we were. We were curious as to how that got Trice’s number as we had given them mine only but didn’t worry about it too much. The fact that they didn’t know where we were may have had something to do with the haphazard office procedure when you first book in.

One of the workers had asked me to do a sign so we assumed it had something to do with that. All of a sudden down the lane come a quad bike with a woman dressed in a pink ball gown, pink cowboy hat and giant pink teddy bear and I immediately thought that the kids had organised a singing

 telegram to brighten things up a bit. No it was MILLY the camp host from Lucky Bay coming to surprise us for new year, what a night. We laughed, I dressed up in a suit, we drank and we played Ibble Dibble which ended with me losing and being black.

Milly had driven from Lucky Bay to Hopetoun and was then going back to Stokes Inlet, we decided we had to follow her.

After 6 weeks of travelling together, laughing, drinking and having a ball, it was time for John and Wil to go to Perth. Thanks guys for a great time.

Stokes Inlet

We met up with Milly, the camp ground costs $7 per person, has brand new Stainless Steel amenities and each site is private surrounded by Bush, it is a bargain.

The only issue with this place is that it is hard to swim but it is a great place to fish. The Inlet itself is enormous and is sealed from the ocean. The sand bar only breaks through every couple of years but the fish and other sea creatures seem to flourish. We had tried to fish a few times before here with absolutely no luck.
Wandering down to the water’s edge from our camp gave us a few bites but only small black bream. So off to Young River with Milly and Jack and Pam who were also at Lucky Bay, we struck gold, it was the best fun we have had for years.

We all set off again and Trice was on fire with her catching most of the catch that day. Poor Milly, she was the seasoned fisherman but she was not having any luck. She walked up and down the rocks and no bites when all of a sudden she snags a monster and at the same time so does Trice. They are both bringing them in when Trice’s fish jumped off the hook and was making a beeline for the water.

Milly jumped to action to stop it getting away but in the excitement she saved Trice’s catch but her own also jumped off and got away, Milly was distraught. More beautiful beaches and masses of rock running out into the ocean.