Cape
Le Grand
After
the Nullarbor the first town you come to is a pretty place called
Norseman. A gold mining town which gained it's name from the horse
who dug up the maiden lump of shiny metal.
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| Horse at Norseman |
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| Mollys 1st success at the Monkey Bars - Salmon Gums - |
The
children played on a great playground and there were wondrous areas
of green lawn to wriggle your toes in-a real treat since we hadn't
seen any since Elliston - 7 days ago.
However,
it was Esperance we were aiming for so into the car we climbed again.
On
arriving we drove straight to the Visitor's Center. Rasmus had heard
about the beautiful Cape Le Grand National Park and was desperate to
stay there so we needed a permit.
Despite
it being only 2pm the Center was closed! But to make matters worse
there was a large sign up saying that the campground at Cape Le Grand
was full!! Rasmus was so disappointed.
Adding
to the afternoon's list of misfortunes was when we found out it was
still school holidays in WA and would be until 26th April!
That meant peak payment at the caravan parks- if we could get in at
all!
We
scoured the cheap camping spots online and found that there was
infact an overflow area at the local footy oval which was a bit
cheaper than the what the others were charging.
I
knew Rasmus was still frustrated at not being able to get to Le Grand
but he went ahead setting up our van for the night. An hour later he
announces we must pack-up NOW!!
“What!??!!”
says I
While
I thought he was quietly getting on with the job at hand he was
actually texting a friend who had just been there and had said,
“There were heaps of spots when we left this afternoon.”
We
packed up in record time and hit the road. It was over 60kms out to
the camping-ground and the sun was setting early so I was a bit
worried.
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| Lucky Bay |
The
kangaroos were starting to come out and more than once we saw them on
the side of the road. Finally we arrived. It was a beautiful spot.
Right on the beach. Glorious white sand and superb blue water.
Guess
what?
They
were full!
Oh
S*%T!
Driving back another 60kms in the dark!! This didn't sound like
fun, for us or the kangaroos!
There
was another camping-ground about 10kms away, Lucky Bay. We decided
to head over there and hope that it was our lucky bay-day :o)
And
it was!
After
checking out the one or 2 spots they had left which were too small
for our monster of a van, the caretaker allowed us to stay the night
in the bus turn around bay. Thanks.
Still,
Rasmus was determined to get a spot at Le Grand so he set the alarm
for some time very early in the morning and up we got.
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| Cape Le Grand |
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| Brown Snake |
The
kids were carried from their beds to the car. No breakfast and no
weeing!
It
was still dawn when we got back to Le Grand to be first in line for
the next camping-spot.
So
it was in the day users carpark that we dressed, ate- and pee'd!
It
was all worth it though as we got a really great spot and had the
best time there. Can you believe that this National Park had not
only flushing toilets but hot showers too. Remarkable and very
muchly appreciated :o)
Despite
the fact that I was left at home for most of the time as it was the
middle of assignment writing season Rasmus and the kids had heaps of
fun. They were down at the beach everyday discovering all sorts of
amazing stuff.
The
most dramatic happening was when Ben and Rasmus came across a Brown
snake!!! EEKKK!!
A
real live Brown snake just resting in the sunshine along the cliffs.
It was both an awesome discovering and a mother's nightmare all
rolled into one.
 |
| Ready to snorkeling |
In
my 45 years I have never seen a snake in the wild but my family
manage to stumble across Australia's most venomous!!
 |
| On the way to Little Hellfire beach |
Everybody
survived the episode-including my poor heart.
Other
adventures include traversing down cliff faces in the hunt for better
snorkeling areas (another event I am sure it was better I didn't see)
and catching sea urchins for the french tourist-fishermen to use as
bait.
Opposite
our camping-spot an Austrian family moved in and we had some nice
times drinking coffee and watching the kids play together.
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| Austrians ex'pat |
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| Ann-Christin, Maxim & André |
We
also met up by chance with our German backpacker friends who came by
our van for a cuppa, a sandwich and a last goodbye-photo.
There
was a cool hike up a hill called the Frenchman’s Nose but we could
only imagine the views-and photo opportunities- as Rasmus cut his
foot on some rocks whilst snorkeling one day (the perils of being an
action man) and it was some time before we could hear the end of that
drama ;o)
However,
Cape Le Grand was a really beautiful spot and the quite calm of the
area a real highlight on our travels.
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| Sunset at Cape Le Grand |
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| Litte Hellfire beach |
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| Kasper and Molly |
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| Frenchman rock |
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| Sunset Cape Le Grand (windmills in Esprance) |
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| Hav gus |
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| Sand is the fine and chrispy, sounds like walking on frosty snow |
Vis Cape Le Grand på et større kort
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