Motor Homes Travels of South Australia Part 8

13 We stayed the night camped at the Caiguna roadhouse. We awoke to rumbling bellies (kidding) and made an early start; grocery stores in Esperance were singing a syren's song to us. Just as a side note, diesel along the Nullarbor is $1.97 per litre and this rattle trap that we are driving is guzzling like crazy. Esperance is on the coast and our camp ground is across from the beach. We have restocked our fridge and are giddy with anticipation for a real meal. The beach walk is a reminder of how insignificant we are. The sand is powdery fine, the wind is howling at about 40 knots and to say the surf is pounding…. is an understatement. We are small potatoes on this planet.  It is fantastic!

 

14 Today, we were going to do a 30 minute helicopter ride and see all of the good things about Esperance from the air. I am (was) so excited, I've never been in a helicopter before. But the day dawns overcast, misting rain and the wind is stronger still than yesterday (if you can imagine!) so the heli guy says he's not going to fly. Fine by me, I can't imagine being buffeted around in an eggbeater over wild oceans and rocky cliffs and wondering what to grab, my lifejacket or parachute.  So we drive. First the scenic Ocean drive and it takes us along breath taking beaches and monumental granite headlands, one two, three, four. These pristine beaches are empty. Yes the weather is blustery, but even in calm, hot days; these places are un-crowded, the Aussies are very lucky to have this luxury at their doorsteps. Next we head out of town to the Cape le Grand National Park, more beautiful beaches and diverse plant systems and granite mountains (hills), yada, yada. But we are blown away with how incredibly beautiful. Today, with the windy conditions, everything is wild and rugged but we stop to imagine what a calm day would bring and we see pure tropical paradise. The sand is like cornstarch, both in color and in texture, so fine, it scrunches under you foot step like snow. Amazing!  We are fortunate to be able to see this because the roads to get here are black top (or bitumen in their language) and every other park that we have come across has been 4x4 access only. So our advice to future road travelers of Australia - make sure you are in a 4x4 so you can see the best She has to offer. Oh, and we came across two "wild" kangaroos nibbling leaves while doing a walk in the park. This has been a great day.