South West Coast Part 2 (Parry's Beach, Albany, Bremmer Bay, Esperance, Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid )

This part of the coast is like Girraween meeting the sea with spectacular granite islands and boulders sloping down into the water. The water is a brilliant, bright turquoise in the shallows but very deep, dark & lonely not so far from shore. The sharks are plentiful and big and the locals like to remind you of it. Best parts were:

Parry Beach - between Denmark & Walpol this beach campsite is a gem and right next to a few iconic spots such as elephant rocks and greens pool. Unfortunately while we were there it was southerly winds so we couldn't spend much time on the beach. We did some little day trips inland from here to Ducketts for a cheese feast and the Tree Top Walk to see the giant Tinglewoods.

Albany - this is where our old house mate Ben grew up. So he hooked us up with his parents for a place to camp and gave us heaps of local tips for fishing spots and places to go. Ben's parents, Trev & Helen are farmers who still have a couple hundred acres on the outskirts of town for beef cattle and racehorses. Camping there felt like being at home on my own parents property and we even had a washing machine and hot shower! Each morning there was plenty of action as the racehorses were being trained and fed. We went to the local race meet and snuck in with Trev & Helen in the members area. One of Trev's horses " Henry the Aviator", who he bred himself, won!!! It was so exciting to share the joy of a win with them and we even won a few dollars ourselves which covered the losses for the rest of the day. I was eyeing off a few horses on the property that I could have taken home, however riding was only fun when Mum & Dad used to pay for it. It's an expensive sport! Big thanks to Trev & Helen for their hospitality and home cooked roast.

Nada finally caught a few Bream and Whiting thanks to Ben giving a few tips on spots to go, you can't beat local knowledge. I hooked a huge fish which unfortunately took almost 100m of line before finally breaking off. We don't know for sure what it was but it was fast and too strong for the line.
Albany is a pretty spot with lots of nice beaches, especially in Torndirrup and Gull Rock NP. We hiked up Bluff Knoll in Stirling Range NP which had awesome views.
We particularly enjoyed the whaling station museum. Albany was actually settled prior to Perth so it has a rich history. It is an important port and is also where all ANZACS departed for Gallipoli. It would have been an amazing sight to see dozens of war ships lined up in the bay. I noticed all the NZ ships where parked in the outer bay and all the Aussie ships had priority parking inside the sheltered harbour...

Honourable mention to the Old Marron Farm for their marron and sea food platter.

Bremmer Bay - known for the Orca's which frequent the area off shore from here we couldnt do this as it's the wrong time of year which I am dissapointed about. This is actually one of my favourite towns. It's super quiet and has heaps of little beaches to choose from depending on the direction of the wind and Little Boat Harbour was the place to be. Nada caught two massive Bream in the river too. Honorouble mention goes to the caravan park in town for having the best grass we have camped on this trip.

Esperance - the main beach and township is nothing special but the surrounding bays and beaches are pretty spectacular. We both got to surf here and there is quite a few surf options. Nada avoided the Kelp Beds though as there has been about 4 shark attacks in 6 yrs in this one spot! It was great to catch up with Dill, Kristy & Leeuwin. Dill is Nada's old school friend and it has been a while since catch ups, so needless to say it was a pretty late one.

Honourable mention goes to Lucky Bay Brewery for their Boab to Beaches Blonde Ale.

Cape Le Grand NP - although I was sceptical, I can appreciate the hype about Lucky Bay. It is pretty spectacular with turquoise waters and glowing white sand. We stayed at the Lucky Bay campsite, but make sure to book early as this is one of the few that is hard to get into. There is plenty of walks up the big granite mountains, iconic views and beach kangaroos.

Cape Arid NP - just when we thought we peaked at Cape Le Grand, we discovered Cape Arid. This place has the turquoise waters and granite that we have seen along the South coast but it is very remote, quiet, beach break surf, semi - arid and an extraordinary range of native plants, in particular a type of weeping banksia and some type of native jasmine. You can camp in the campsites or anywhere along the beach, anything goes and it feels a bit like camping at Woorora Station up North. The hike up the top of Mountain Arid is spectacular and an awesome finish to our travels in WA. There is interesting history at Israelite Bay, but unfortunately, there is no access into there at the moment due to all the recent rain destroying the tracks (Cape not so arid?). This was a shame and we think it could be a trip on its own to 4WD from Cape Arid along the coast to the Nullarbor... it gives us an excuse to come back!