Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park

 

We were “lucky enough’ to be able to nab a spot for two nights in beautiful Lucky Bay, which is situated within the Cape Le Grand National Park (thanks to Sippy’s great planning with the accommodation). This is a highly sort after stop over as we had heard all along our trip around the country – “You must stay in Lucky Bay!” It certainly didn’t disappoint, with stunning crystal, turquoise water and gleaming white sand, nestled within a beautiful bay that had huge boulders and rock faces meeting the waters edge.

We pulled in around 10am, only needing to drive an hour from Esperance, and were ‘lucky enough’ to find a great site, very private being at the end of the strip, which had just been vacated and afforded sweeping views of the bay. We settled in, donned the cossies and headed for the beach. Once again, although a tad chilly, we couldn’t resist having a swim in that beautiful water, so in we went. The outside temperature was in the high 20’s and the sun was shining, so we really had no excuse!

After lunch we decided to walk the coastal trail to Thistle Cove, about an hours walk each way. We were really enjoying the coastal views and admiring the many delicate wildflowers on the path, until about 40mins in Andrew, walking behind me, noticed what he thought was a stick being kicked up by my hiking sandal. On closer inspection he froze as it was as a 30cm grey/brown snake with its little head reared up at him!  Had totally missed it and had walked right over it. Luckily it had missed me, but Andrew took a good look at my feet and legs for puncture marks just in case. Of course being mid-September and a rather warm day, the snakes and other reptiles were venturing out to also enjoy and bask in the warmth. Silly us had only worn hiking sandals and not taken the snake bandage (which we always do and we wear hiking boots when bush walking) – typical and lesson learnt. We weighed up continuing but thought it best to not risk walking further in our crocs and sandals, so we turned around and enjoyed a cold beer back at the BT instead. As we took a walk around the park later that afternoon, we saw another two similar snakes – so we think it was a wise decision. (Note: we took a picture of the snake and when we had reception we posted it on Snake ID on Andrew’s FB. It turned out to be a legless lizard (LOL) but still glad we made the sensible decision to not walk further without boots and a bandage.

Later in the afternoon we had a visit from the camp hosts warning us of the impending weather front that was due to hit during the night. We had also checked with the weather through our Zoleo, and had a message from Paul Baker in Perth, so we knew what was coming. We went to bed with the awning in and everything bunkered down. Sure enough, the wind howled at 50km/hour most of the night and most of the next day. The poor people camping opposite us were in a tent, which they hurriedly packed up when it started blowing madly and they spent the night sleeping in the front seats of their 4WD. Sippy went over to offer assistance and told them to just come knocking if they needed anything (which made me feel better as I was worried for them). We were safely tucked up in the BT while it rocked and swayed all night.

Day two, although still very windy, we headed off to explore the area. First stop was Thistle Cove (this time arriving by 4WD rather than walking). Viewing another stunning beach, we enjoyed walking around the rocks, taking photographs and watching a whale off the beach. We then ventured on to Frenchman Peak with the intention to climb to the top and explore the cave. Unfortunately the wind was so ferocious that after scaling about ¾ of the rock face climb we decided to abort as we felt it too dangerous. It was very scary and very unpleasant. We will have to leave this one till next visit. We then crossed back to the ocean side and headed down to Hellfire Bay. Much to our delight we found this beautiful beach very protected from the gale force winds, so we lay in the sun for a bit and engaged to have a swim in the beautiful clear water.