24 May 10 - Esperance

By Lou: We had hoped to camp at Cape Le Grande for a few days but we would have arrived too late at night so pulled into an Esperance caravan park instead. We were aware that a gale force storm was coming so for the first time in all our travels decided to set up the walls of the annexe for some protection. It was the best call we made because the weather got ugly and we ended up staying 12 nights all up due to protracted car repairs. Of course we would never complain about the rain, what with the drought and all. RACQ were fantastic and they quickly sorted a hire vehicle and covered our accommodation. We tried to pretend we were used to staying in 5 star hotels but the camper trailer gave us away so caravan park it was.

We used the camp kitchen each night (how exciting, an oven!) and befriended a WA couple, Margaret and John, who had also been delayed by car repairs. Margaret fitted me out with knitting needles, wool and a baby jumper pattern, part of a World Vision project to provide African babies with clothing. She also lent a sympathetic ear to my trials with Sam’s schooling. She made up a maths game for him and I appreciated her encouragement of both Sam and me.


We hired some DVDs to fill in our time and in between rain went fishing on the pier but didn’t have much luck. We also had a couple of nice day drives but by the end of our stay we were counting down the hours till we could continue our adventure.

















By Craig: Esperance, known for sun and fun, turned on terrible weather for 7 of the 12 nights we were there. During the sunny days of our stay we took time out to visit Cape Le Grande,

Orleans Bay and drive along the Great Ocean Drive. Taking in all the beautiful scenic bays and ocean landscapes,
watching waves crashing into the distant rocks and walking along boardwalks was both a pleasure and a way to forget the pending car repairs.
A stop here and there on a beach gave Sam a chance to play and Louise an opportunity to contemplate, well actually a chance to zone out from the boys in her life.






I had an opportunity to snap a couple of shots of unique indigenous flora.

Back at camp the wet had caused us to zip on the extension to our camper allowing us to spread out a little and stay dry. Hiring movies and camp kitchen chats kept us from going insane or at least madder than we already are.
The Esperance jetty gave me an opportunity to escape for a little while and throw a line in, not that I had much luck.
In fact with Sammy the sea lion swimming around no one was having any luck.
The vehicle repairs took a little longer than first thought as parts had to be ordered from the East. Once they had arrived A1 Auto spared no time and we were back on the road, thankfully.