Esperance

Monday 17^th October

Albany to Esperance

Heading east from Albany, the first place of any significance shown on the map was Ravensthorpe, 295 km away.  For 90% of the way we drove through miles and miles of mallee scrub land, which gradually turned to sheep and crop farms as we got closer to Ravensthorpe. 

Ravensthorpe is a small town servicing the surrounding farms, and next door to the petrol station where we fuelled up, were a couple of examples of the huge tractors and machinery they use on the crop farms.

The main crops are wheat and canola, and when you see the huge size of the paddocks, you can appreciate why bigger is better when it comes to cultivation and planting.

About 30km out of Ravensthorpe we pulled into a roadside parking area and had lunch, before continuing on to Esperance, arriving there at about 3.30 pm, our third longest trip with the caravan so far at 498 km.

Tuesday 18^th October

Esperance

Esperance is a lovely seaside town of about 13,000 people.  It services the surrounding farming community and has a deep water port where huge tankers load grain and also nickel from a nearby nickel mine. 

There are about 100 islands just off the coast which help protect the town and harbour from the Southern Ocean.  One of their attractions is Sammy the Seal, a wild seal who has taken up residence on the beach at the main jetty on the seafront.

We wandered down to see him, and found him doing what he does best, sleeping just above the water line.  We took a stroll out onto the jetty where we found his mate quietly swimming around the jetty piers. 

Apparently there is also a baby that hangs around the jetty as well, but we didn’t see it.

We then took a scenic drive along the coast and saw some of the beautiful beaches and rugged coast that abounds in this area. 

An unusual feature is the smooth rocks that are found sticking out into the water. We had noticed similar rock formations as we drove through the countryside on our way in to Esperance.  Beautiful rolling to flat paddocks, with sudden bald patches where these huge flat rocks were exposed.  Must be great fun for the farmers trying to plough their paddocks.

We came back to the caravan for lunch, and soon after the weather closed in and it started to rain, so that put paid to any further sightseeing.  Not to worry as we had seen just about everything Esperance had to offer, so we spent a quiet afternoon at the motorcamp.  Tomorrow we head for Norseman, and then on towards the Nullarbor.