W.A = Paradise

After spending soooo long in the car the day before crossing the Nullarbor, the two hours from Norseman to the coastal town of Esperance was a lazy Sunday drive. And we were super excited to arrive in a town that had... wait for it... a Woolworths! Grocery shopping at tiny country IGA's and Foodworks can get expensive and they often don't have much on the menu either, so Luke and I walking into Woolies to do a full food shop, was like two kids in a lolly shop, not knowing where to look first!

Esperance is gaining in popularity as a great little holiday spot and it's not hard to see why. It's still a decent seven hour drive from W.A's capital city of Perth, but they run daily flights from the capital so more and more people, we're told, are discovering this little slice of paradise. And paradise it is. The town has about 25,000 people so there's your fair share of choice when it comes to lovely coffee, fresh seafood restaurants and a great selection of arts and craft shops. But it's the natural wonders surrounding this place that make it so special.

First stop, the local wharf, where we're told one of Esperance's best natural wonders hangs out each day. And there he was, Sammy the seal, all 400 kilos of him (or there abouts), lazing around under the jetty. He doesn't seem to mind being the centre of attention but some local fisherman told us that he won't hesitate to chase tourists up the beach if they get too close with their cameras. (I can't see it happening myself... Sammy needs to lay off the hot chips with his fish)

Next up, is a drive along the Great Ocean Road tourist drive (and you don't have to drive all the way back to Victoria to do it!). The 30km loop will take you from the town centre, past the beautiful Twilight Beach, which was named 'Most Popular Beach in W.A' and really is amazing with it's aqua waters and unusual rock formations.

But nature really turns it up a notch if you drive the 60km out to Cape Le Grand National Park. You can camp out there in a number of basic National Park sites that are soooo close to the water that you might want to do your tent up extra tight at night, just in case you wake up spooning a seal. Frenchman Peak is a beauty with a 2 hour walk to the top, and we could have hung out at Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove for the next few months if we didn't have more pressing things to do...like read magazines or go for a bike ride or enjoy a cold beer. We saw emus running around but unfortunately no kangaroos lazing on the beach, which the ladies at the tourist info centre assured us happened quite regularly.

So add it to your list of places to visit - and jump on the band wagon soon before everyone over in the East discovers there's plenty of land to be developed on the coast and end up destroying the whole area in one go.

Oh and don't stay at the BIG 4 caravan park in town. We didn't notice the train track that ran pretty much directly behind our heads until 11:30pm at night when a train came hurtling down the hill to the Port. Nice.

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette