Rocks, beaches and buddies in southern WA

We are on a road trip around South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia, with our most recent stop being in Western Australia’s (WA) Margaret River enjoying wine and tall trees. Since then, we’ve driven into ‘The Great Southern Region’ of WA, visiting more interesting places including some that have enormous rocks. 

The Gap at Torndirrup NP, Albany, WA

After lunch in the wee town of Denmark (pop 2500), where they charge an exorbitant AU$18 for a filled roll, we visited Torndirrup National Park (NP). This park is famous for its wild rocky coast and we found the amazing ‘Gap’ there. It’s a lookout suspended over a huge opening in the rocks where you can see the heaving seas of the Southern Ocean 24 metres below. 

The Natural Bridge, Torndirrup NP, Albany, WA

We also visited the park’s ‘Natural Bridge’, a huge granite shelf that bridges a place where the Southern Ocean crashes onto the rocks. It’s thought that it may have once been a cave that has been worn away by the ocean over millions of years.

 

Historic buildings n Albany, WA

Leaving Torndirrup, we soon arrived in the seaside city of Albany (pop 22,500). Albany is the oldest city in WA having been founded in 1826 by colonists from the United Kingdom. That makes it three years older than Perth, the capital of WA, and you can see the history in the architecture. It’s a very lovely city.

Views from the boardwalk, Albany, WA

We found a campsite at Middleton Beach, an affluent, pretty, and vibrant area close to the historic centre of Albany. Then we discovered a 3.5 km community-built walkway from Middleton Beach, around the seafront and base of Mount Adelaide, to Albany Port. So we walked it, enjoying fabulous views of the surrounding bays.

The huge pedestrian bridge in Albany, WA

By the end of our boardwalk ramble, it was raining. The weather for this part of our trip has been cold, windy and wet, so we were geared up for rain. But there was an absolute deluge so we took refuge in a quaint coffee shop. As soon as the rain had cleared, we crossed a long pedestrian bridge over some gardens and railway lines, to visit the Boatshed Market. 

Boatshed market on left of cruise ship, Albany, WA

The Boatshed Market was near the cruise ship terminal, and showed off local handicrafts and cuisine. There were heaps of people there, a live band singing, and lots of lovely food smells. So after eating an incredible double-decker souffle with maple syrup, singing along with the country and western-style band, and chatting with locals at communal eating tables, we found a taxi to take us back to camp. All up, it had been a great day.

Marg on the Castle Rock trail, Porongurup NP, Albany, WA

After a wonderful few days in Albany, we drove to nearby Porongurup National Park. We were there to visit Castle Rock and do the Granite Sky Walk. But first, we grabbed our raincoats and took an amazing 2.2 km one-way uphill hike to reach them. It was a difficult hike through long steep sections over uneven steps, through karri and marri trees – but it was oh, so pretty.

Leigh about to climb Castle Rock, Porongorup NP, Albany, WA

After quite some time and many rest stops, we reached Castle Rock only to find that we had to use a series of metal handholds imbedded in the rock, to get to the Granite Skywalk. Leigh loves climbing rocks so she was up there quite quickly with Marg not far behind. 

The Granite Walkway, Porongorup NP, Albany, WA

Then after two such climbs, we reached a 6-metre-high enclosed ladder that took us up onto the skywalk which is a metal boardwalk built around the crown of Castle Rock. At a height of 670m it was seriously windy, but it was for us, a fantastic achievement just to get up there. 

View from the Granite Walkway, Porongorup NP, Albany, WA

We were rewarded with 360-degree views of Porongurup NP and beyond. We could see tree tops, farmland, the distant Stirling Range, and the south coast of WA; it was wonderful. After a while, we climbed down the same way we climbed up, which was just as challenging. Then on the walk back downhill through the trees, we couldn’t believe that we had hiked all that way uphill.

Pelicans at Bremer Bay inlet, WA

Moving on, we drove to Bremer Bay, a small settlement (pop 570) nestled in a large and pretty coastal area where we spent a couple of days. The first night, we walked from the camp and across the road to a tidal estuary, spotting a pod of very large pelicans. It was a lovely sight, seeing these huge birds highlighted against the turquoise water, rust and green vegetation, and beige sand.

Turquoise waters of Bremer Bay, WA

The next day we walked a bit more, enjoying the colourful environment. That night, we walked up to the entrance to the town to visit the Bremer Bay Brewing Company for dinner. We enjoyed a woodfired pizza, and a craft beer while chatting to a couple who we’d bumped into at the last three camps. Later, we walked back down to the camp in the fading light, having enjoyed another wonderful day.

Painted grain silos, Ravensthorpe, WA

Over the past week, we’d been driving through the Great Southern Region’s grain belt seeing vast golden paddocks of wheat, barley and canola. Then when we reached Ravensthorpe, we spotted three huge painted grain silos. They were done in 2016 by Amok Island, a Dutch artist based in Fremantle, WA, to show the stages of the Baxter's Banksia plant that is only found in this area. 

Mark, Marg, Joy, Leigh at West Beach, Esperance, WA

Then finally, we arrived in Esperance. We’d been looking forward to this part of the trip, as we’d planned to catch up with two couples who we’d met in Laos when we toured South East Asia in 2016. The couples are Mark and Joy, and Mike and Chris. We’ve stayed in touch and Mark and Joy kindly hosted us in their home while we were in Esperance. 

Us on the beach at Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand NP, WA

That evening, we all walked to West Beach, about 2 minutes from Joy and Mark’s house. The next day, Joy and Mark took us on a tour through Cape Le Grand National Park. This park is full of beautiful bays and Lucky Bay was the first we visited. It is a horseshoe shape surrounded by interesting rock formations, with turquoise water lapping a white sand beach. The colours were amazing.

Joy and Leigh on the rocks, Cape Le Grand NP, WA

We visited several beaches and walked along the dunes and through the rocks. Joy and Leigh really enjoy climbing rocks and Cape Le Grand was great for that, with huge and odd shaped rocks throughout the park. 

Marg, Mark and Joy walking through Cape Le Grand NP, WA

We visited many beaches and covered a lot of walking track. The main beaches were Lucky Bay, Hellfire Bay, Thistle Cove, and Le Grand Beach which is famous for being able to drive on the beach. We paused for lunch at the Lucky Bay Brewery, where Joy and Mark seemed to be local celebrities judging by the number of people they said hello to! It was a great day.

Marg with Joy seeking a path through the rocks, Esperance, WA

The next day, we were back in the car again on another adventure when Joy drove us around the Great Ocean Road, a 38 km scenic drive that loops around the coastline near Esperance. This day ended up as a fabulous rock-climbing expedition that saw us climbing through the most ridiculously tight but fun-to-access places.

Joy in the secret cave walk with Leigh, Esperance, WA

After that, Joy and Leigh went on what Joy called her “secret walk”. It involved climbing over huge rocks to get to an interesting cave that looked out at the turbulent ocean. Leigh thought it was absolutely fabulous. That afternoon, Joy drove us into the pretty centre of Esperance, where we saw a lot of the town’s attractive foreshore development.

 

The jetty in Esperance, WA

We took a walk along the town’s jetty seeing a lot of wooden furniture on and around the area, that Joy has produced. She’s made some wonderful pieces and happily, we have been the beneficiary of some. That evening, Joy cooked a fabulous meal for we six who met in Laos, Joy’s nephew Nick, and family friend Friz. Then we packed our motorhome Ixi, ready to move on. In the next blog, we cross the Nullarbor.

This post is the thirteenth in a series about our travels through Australia’s south, centre and west. The first post was about Adelaide and can be found here.