Perth Graduation Trip -- Eleventh Installment

Perth Graduation Trip -- Eleventh Installment



Day 18: Esperance -- Lucky Bay, Hellfire Bay & A Glimpse of Frenchman's Peak

Beware: Image-heavy post, full of beach scenic shots. Skip this post if you are allergic to the most beautiful beaches of Australia.


An early night's sleep was supposed to be very helpful but waking up shivering in the middle of the night was certainly not the best feeling in the world. However, having breakfast made by someone else early the next morning (Yes! He beat me to it again!) wasn't that bad anyway so I shouldn't complain anymore, lest the termination of services. =P

I revise, there were two kangaroos the night before. Not just one. Oh did I mention that it costs AUD$7.50 per person to camp overnight in the Park?



That was our dinner the night before and in the morning, instead of making breakfast in the campers' kitchen, he chose to do it outdoors.. real camping life? Where are the messtins though!


I tried boiling some water to make coffee for my hot flask but it's been half an hour and the pot of water showed no signs of boiling, due to the cold weather.



I think I used up the entire gas canister. =P


After taking a shower in the public toilet, which I did not use at all the previous night because the water was too cold, the weather was too cold, the lights were too dim and I was too much of a scaredy cat to shower at night in a public toilet, we packed up the tent and stuffed everything back into the ever-trusty Yaris and visited Lucky Bay for a last time. Who knows when we would be back again?




The sand was hard as floor so we drove the car out onto the shore itself. Yaris is not a 4WD (four-wheel drive) vehicle by the way.




Good old trusty Yaris sunbaking




I know it looks like a romantic photo of an old couple.. but they are the rangers of the campsite who went around collecting fees at night for camping. Haha.




Explanation for the weird pose in the middle photo: I set the camera on timer and was supposed to run to OTS within ten seconds. That idiot, while I was setting the timer, moved further and further away from the camera, resulting in my short legs being unable to reach there in time. What an idiot. He did that on purpose. He could still shout, "Baby, faster! Faster!"




Fake candid shot





Real candid shot





Bye bye Lucky Bay, I'll be back again to actually swim in you!



And so we left Lucky Bay, to visit the next beach, Hellfire Bay.




Enroute, we saw the another lizard! This is the kind of lizards I was talking about in my previous post.


Drove past The Frenchman's Peak. Did not bother to stop and take a look because we were too excited to visit Hellfire Bay!!! Recommended by one of the staffs at the Esperance Visitor Centre.




A glimpse of The Frenchman's Peak.. one can go trekking there, but we were too lazy.



Okay, now the very-much-raved-about (by me) Hellfire Bay. And here we go..




White sands, check. Blue seas, check.






I first thought that this is just like Lucky Bay, beautiful seas and white sands.



But I was wrong. The next few pictures will prove my stand, they will show you why Hellfire Bay is the most gorgeousestest beach of Esperance. Check out the gradients of the sea colours. Pictures taken in an attempt to let you guys visualise the radius of about 270 degrees of the scenic view you can see, as if you are standing from where I was at.



From clear aquamarine colours



to slightly turqoise colours







to sky blue colours




to light dodger blue colours




to light cobalt blue colours




to royal blue colours




to deep oceanic blue colours




to navy blue colours




to midnight blue colours





to some kind of blue that I ran out of words to describe





A clearer view (painstakingly put together)



An even clearer view (even more painstakingly put together)





Very very very breath-taking views


We were very lucky to catch Hellfire Bay with a pretty clear blue sky. Many of photographs I've seen online were all sparsely splattered with grey clouds and dark skies.



Should have wore red or something.. at least I don't blend in with the sea hahaha




He decided to challenge the cold breeze but I wasn't really prepared to. Haha.



Is it just me, or does Hellfire Bay looks a whole lot more intriguing than Lucky Bay?




OTS made me climb up to that rock which looks like a chair




"I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.. I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.."




One last shot before we go




So long, Hellfire Bay. I'll be back too, hopefully to realise my dream.



Getting out of Cape Le Grand National Park was easy. We went back into the town of Esperance and began grocery-shopping for dinner that day. We had lunch at one of the little eateries along the road and ordered one set of chicken and chips, and another set of fish and chips.

While waiting for the food, OTS was reading the newspapers, when he saw an article that said "Esperance residents are warned not to drink from their rain water tanks or consume seafood caught off waters in the area". We looked at each other and OTS went to enquire the chef about the safety of eating the fish and chips then. I forgot what the chef said but it was something along the lines of 'frozen' and 'manufactured', but for safety reasons we didn't eat the fish anyway.

So we chiong the chicken. It was damn good. Period.




Extremely tasty chicken! Left OTS craving for more chicken during our last few days in Perth.. which kind of drove me crazy.



We dropped by Pink Lake Tourist & Caravan Park and requested to take a look at the cabins before we decide to stay there. They showed us a cabin without a toilet and I thought that looks really comfortable and decent as it seems very much cleaner than what we had in Bathers Paradise. The common toilet was very clean and even had a security digital lock on its main door. Entering the park would require a PIN number exclusive to each cabin tenant, so we thought that the security was quite impressive.

OTS then asked to take a look at the villa suite and it was, of course, big and cosy, had its personal toilet and fully-equipped toilet. Thinking that it was our last night in Esperance and he wanted us to spend the night comfortably (with a toilet in the house), OTS told the guy who was showing us around that we would take that villa suite, but I disagreed because I thought that the common toilet was clean enough and I really did not mind that. So we took the cabin instead! =)

After dropping our bags, we took a quick shower and went off in search of a perfect cafe to have some cakes and coffee!


A small beach cafe facing the sea with a little garden of its own




He had a Mocha while I had Vienna which was actually black coffee with whipped cream. We shared a Malteser Cheesecake that was soooo rich that we could not finish it.



Took a long stroll by the beach to digest away the calories we put on over the past few weeks.. I was still complaining why we were walking when we had a car, haha.


Found a wind-errrr, forgot what it's called.. windsock? windmill? That kind that points out the wind direction





Extremely windy, cannot stand still

Finally managed to hold the shawl down





Veh artistic right.. *buay hiao bai*


Oh he made me jump over this trench so as to take a jumping photo. Was really scared because the trench was about one metre wide. Why the hell did I hold on to my bag in the first place?



Don't mind the ugly face


So we went back to the cabin and rested while watching Iron Chef on the small small 15" tv in the cabin.


Caught a rainbow sky during sunset





Cooked pork meatballs for dinner



After dinner we watched 'If Only' on the tv and it was some love story by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Paul Nicholls. It was so very touching! Only that OTS fell asleep beside me. KNS. Apparently John Mayer dated Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Aniston. So who's next? Jennifer Lopez?

Right, that was a bit of digression. Next update, never-seen-before photos of Hyden and The Wave Rock! Not published on Facebook! Stay with me.