Cape Le Grande National Park...a grand place

The sun was shining today and there was only a light breeze blowing when we set out to explore Cape Le Grande National Park, about 50kms east of Esperance. It's a beautiful place, with stunning rocky coves , clear blue water, and lots of empty scrub and land, with hills here and there. One of those hills...more a rocky bluff really...we hiked up today- Frenchman's Peak and it had great views. We then went to Hellfire Beach for our lunch and a swim which was terrific.

We returned to Esperance and went down to the old Tanker Jetty where there is a resident sea lion- he was in his usual place on the beach, basking his fat body in the sun. We were tempted by the site of icecream sundaes on sale from a food van at the beach. We each ordered a "fudge bomb" which turned out to be HUGE--way more than enough for one-- but delicious just the same. It consisted of icecream, interspered with layers of hot caramel and chocolate fudge, topped with cream, more topping and waifers. We each finished ours (just) and then felt a bit sick for a while afterwards. I am off for an afternoon run soon. :-)

Yesterday we also ventured east- more than 100kms and saw lovely places such as Duke of Orleans Bay, Mount Arid NP where we found a long empty beach to swim at, and also Wharton Beach, which is where the teenage boy was attacked by a shark, and lost his leg, late last year, while he was out surfing. It was scary to imagine, as that beach is 80kms out of Esperance, in the middle of nowhere. We have not been surfing down here and dont intend to go out- our swims consist of a quick dive under in the shallows.

We have a final day of relaxation here tomorrow before we set out on some long day's driving east. We hope to cover about 700kms the first day...out onto the Nullarbor.

Love and hugs,
Us xx