Day 106: Esperance
Today started out looking very promising. Early sunshine, a reasonable amount of breeze, but no sign of rain. Esperance Tourist Information Centre strongly recommended two things as must do's whilst we are here, The Great Ocean Drive on the Western side of the city, and visit the Cape Le Grande National Park on the Eastern side. Today we opted for the Great Ocean Drive.
It starts out well, whilst the wind is building, the sun is shining. Close to town is the first lookout, Dempster Head Rotary Lookout. It is now blowing hard 25 knots plus, and being this high up you notice the gusts.
The views from the lookout are spectacular, but be now the wind has increased further and climbing the stairs to the lookout required holding strongly onto the hand rails.
Looking down at West Beach
Twilight Bay is the next major highlight. It is pretty wild at sea now with the wind well into the high 20 knots and gusting to 40 knots.
Stairs down to the beach
 |
It is pretty wild on the beach with the strengthening breeze, we are not tempted to go down the stairs in these conditions.
Our next stop is Chapman's Point. There are some ominous warnings about this spot which appears to be popular with rock fisherman.
The skies are turning angry as we drive further along the coast towards Observatory Point, and have a brief stop at Blue Haven.
By the time we got to Observation Point, the rain was bucketing down, visibility was about 100 metres, and we drove down to sea level at Observatory Point to seek refuge. Whilst we we parked in a sheltered spot, the car was rocking strongly in the wind as the cold front surged through. The weather information below shows what happened.
We sat at Observatory Point until the car stopped shaking and the rain passed. After the rain passed, but the wind was still raging, I got out of the car to have a quick look around. Whilst some people did venture up to the lookout, we opted to stay out of the wind.
The Coastline at Observatory Point
Observatory Point Lookout
Next was 9 mile beach.
Our last coastal stop was 10 mile lagoon. The signage there was more than confusing.
The signs say, the beach is closed and clothing is optional. A short walk down the steps result in a nailed up barrier preventing any further progress onto the beach
The sea is still pretty angry
We did discover a wildflower we haven't seen before. Living under these conditions is pretty impressive.
The Great Ocean Drive now turns inland and follows the inland lakes back to the city. We called into the Pink Lake Lookout. Clearly the Lake is no longer pink, and a detailed explanation is provided, the detail on the sign was difficult to photograph as the sign was being buffeted by the strong winds., The simple explanation is the high salinity levels needed have been reduced through a number of mechanisms, most associated with development.
Not so pink lake
On the way back into town we had to drive past "Bread Local", the bakery in the bush where we bought our sourdough bread yesterday. Carole had mentioned that they also had a lunch menu, and timing was right to have a look.
It was busy, and a very professional outlet.
We had a nice lunch and coffee and headed back to town, did a bit of shopping and drove past the James Street Pier where the Whale Tail Sculpture is on the tourist list.
It was then time to get back to the warmth band comfort of our van. Whilst today's weather was far from perfect, it is also probably not that unusual when you are this exposed to the Southern Ocean. It showed how angry the sea can get and how amazing it is that explorers in sailing boats that were not very manoeuvrable managed to sail these waters, and survive.
Comments
Post a Comment