We left King George Sound at first light, motoring out of the harbour before setting the sails. Fifteen to twenty knot southerlies had us absolutely flying along, averaging 7 to 8 knots, very fast for us. The swell was about two metres and it was from the side, making for a fairly uncomfortable motion as it rocked us side to side. We spent the day alternating between napping and being on watch. Matt did the evening shift from 6.30 pm to midnight but I didn’t sleep much with the uncomfortable rocking motion. Then the winds dropped and the seas calmed, so it was on with the engine for my shift at midnight. I had a cup of coffee to keep me alert and it wasn’t too cold so I stayed on watch until 5 am. I had a much better sleep when I headed back to bed until 10 am.
We were both back on deck at midday as we approached the first islands of the Recherche Archipelago, the group of almost 100 islands scattered along the coast near Esperance. Known locally as the Bay of Isles, the grey and overcast sky meant that unfortunately the Recherche wasn’t looking its best. We made for Bandy Creek Boat Harbour where we had booked a pen. It was a little way out of Esperance itself but offered better protection than the jetty in town near the Yacht Club.
It had been a pretty good sail, especially once the swell subsided and the boat settled into a more comfortable motion. It had also been a lot faster than we had predicted. It had taken only 32 hours, which was four hours quicker than my fastest estimation. Cool Change had been flying!!
My Uncle Colin and cousin Jason dropped a spare car around for us to use during our stay in Esperance. It was a real treat to have a car, giving us freedom to explore and the ability to run errands. Huge thanks to Jase and Sarah for lending us their car. Huge thanks also to my Uncle Colin and Aunty Mechelle for their generosity in opening their home to us again. We dropped in and out of the house during our stay, making use of their washing machine, shower, kitchen, TV and couches. These every day items are taken for granted by most people, but for us it was total luxury and we really appreciated it.
Esperance is home to some of the most incredibly beautiful scenery in the world. The beaches here have to be seen to be believed. While Australia has arguably the best beaches in the world, I think Esperance has the best beaches in Australia. My cousin Alli confessed that she is a bit of a beach snob, but I don’t think you could be anything but, growing up with these beaches on your doorstep. Pure white sand; the softest I’ve ever walked on, absolutely crystal clear turquoise water in the shallows and a rich indigo further out, the mind boggles at the sheer beauty. I couldn’t get enough and we drove the Great Ocean Tourist Drive many many times, stopping at numerous beaches. Unfortunately, on many of the days we were there, it was also incredibly windy. A windy day at the beach is never ideal.
There are several drone photographers in town and we enjoyed checking out their work as well as watching some amazing videos online of sharks, whales, dolphins and seals frolicking in the crystal clear turquoise water. Although it was pretty windy for most of our stay, Matt managed to get the drone up on a few occasions, encouraged by one of the local photographers who said she regularly flew her drone in similar winds. Here are some of my favourites:
We didn’t end up swimming much at the beaches though. Just days before we arrived, a drone captured footage of a great white shark cruising in the shallow waters of Twilight Beach, which gave us second thoughts.
Cape Le Grand National Park is just an hours drive from Esperance. We drove out to Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove, marvelling at the extraordinary colours. Turquoise water fading to a deep indigo, contrasted against the brilliant white sand, sunburnt orange rocks and green bush. It was truly spectacular. My eyes were dancing.
A steep 1.5 kilometre climb up Frenchman Peak rewarded us with expansive views over the national park. Even from this height, the little slice of turquoise water near the shore could be seen, contrasted against the deeper blue water and the stark white sand. It was mesmerising. Then the clouds rolled over and by the time we reached the bottom of the hill, a light rain had started. We had gotten down just in time; I didn’t fancy sliding down those slippery granite slopes in the wet. We went out to Le Grand Beach but it was too overcast to fully appreciate, so we headed back to Esperance via a stop at the ‘Condy’ Tavern in Condingup.
Stonehenge is a rather random tourist attraction on the outskirts of Esperance. A full size replica of Stonehenge in the UK, it is similar to how the original would have looked looked around 1950BC.
So we did a few touristy things but mostly we just hung out, either on the boat or at Colin and Mechelle’s. We ate out a couple of times; at the Lucky Bay Brewery, which has delicious pizza and at 33 Degrees, where we had a great night with Jason and Sarah. I joined Sarah for some classes at her gym, making sure I didn’t overdo it; it had been a very long time in between gym workouts! We enjoyed going to Sunday night family dinners and hanging out at the poolhouse, enjoying the company and playing with Bell and Jasper in the pool. One Sunday morning we watched the kids do Nippers at Twilight Beach. The beach was organised chaos with kids of all ages swimming, running and paddling boards. It was very hot, approaching forty degrees, but very windy at Twilight, which was a shame, otherwise it would have been idyllic.
I found our time in Esperance relaxing, but always in the back of our mind was the next passage, our biggest challenge yet; crossing the Great Australian Bight. It was a journey of just over 600 nautical miles and would take us four or five days. Considering our longest passages to date have been two-nighter’s, this is a big leap. But we have always known that this was coming and we are ready! Bring it on.
Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.
Wassily Kandinsky
Cool Change 