We started the next part of our adventure with a continental breaky from Best Western in Esperance. It wasn’t anything special but kept us filled. We then set out to try some of the coffee in town.
Exploring Esperance
First, on the list was Coffee Cat located along the beach in town. The coffee was fantastic and I can see why it was recommended. If you’re in town, I recommend popping in.
After coffee, we decided to wander around town and explore a bit. There is quite a lot to see along the foreshore and on the main street as well. We spotted another coffee on one of the main shopping areas in town and noted it for tomorrow. We also walked around the outside of the museum which had some cool things on display. Unfortunately, they weren’t open for the times that we were there.
Having stretched our legs we headed out to the Helms Arboretum a short drive out of town. This is slightly different to other Arboretums that I have visited. I found it was less formal, and more of a self-guided tour which was easy to follow. The edges of the road are lined with a variety of trees until eventually you are faced with a large area filled with many trees. With rain coming in the red and black cockatoos were pretty noisy.
You could easily spend a few hours here depending on how far you wish to walk.
Great Ocean Road Drive Esperance
Leaving the Arboretum we headed straight towards the Great Ocean Road Drive – Esperance. This is a circular route that can be taken in either direction. Many of Esperance’s main attractions can be found along this pathway. I recommend either saving a copy of the map to your phone or picking up a physical copy from the visitors centre as it was really useful to plan ahead where we wanted to stop.
Our first stop was the Pink Lake, which unfortunately isn’t very pink anymore. The council are aiming to fix this but it will take a number of years. However, it’s still worth visiting as it’s quite an interesting site.
We then headed around the path checking out some of the interesting sounding beaches. Unfortunately with the rain coming in and it being quite cold, we couldn’t go for a swim.
We spend about 1.5 to 2 hours exploring this area before heading back for some late lunch, a pie at the local bakery.
The rain hit pretty heavily in the late afternoon so we went to the pub for a few drinks at 33 Degrees. It was so nice watching the storm pass over. This included an Espresso Martini and an alcoholic ginger beer!!
To be continued…
Part 2 of the Esperance leg for the epic Western Australia adventure, we continued the adventure around Esperance including a small bush walk, climbing Frenchman peak and a visit to Stonehenge.
More photos will be posted up on my IG: food_travel_chronicle
If you haven’t seen parts 1 and 2 of this awesome trip check them out below:
- A weekend in Albany | Western Australia – Part 1
- Albany to Bluff Knoll | Western Australia Adventure Part 2
