Travel Diary: Cape Le Grande National Park

After a month of travelling through NSW, Victoria and South Australia we are finally in Western Australia and very much in need of some relaxation time in the sunshine.  And what better location than Esperance, home to some of Australia's whitest picture-perfect beaches.  We have had the best time exploring Cape Le Grande National Park as well as a few disasters ... fuel leak, flat tyre and a crash! 31 March - Esperance The heavens opened this morning.  It absolutely poured it down.  So much for our relaxing beach day.  To our surprise we actually managed to put the bed away whilst we were both still in the van, result.  The best part was that Shaun drove me 50 meters to the toilet block so I didn't have to get wet. After a morning spent on Maccas free wifi we took another drive along the beautiful Great Ocean Drive.  You can read my previous post on the Great Ocean Drive here.  My jaw still dropped as we saw the beaches from the first corner.  It's so stunning here.  We took a lovely stroll along Twilight Beach.  When we returned someone had stolen my sandals from the platform, my knackered old sandals.  Baffleing.  And my flip flops broke last week so looks like i'm a hippy again with no shoes. 1 April - Esperance This mornings' plan was to set off early to go to Cape Le Grande National Park.  The national park has some of Australia's best beaches and some awesome walking trails.  You are able to camp in the park but on a first come first served basis so you have to be there early.

But disaster struck.  

Just as we were about to set off we noticed a massive whiff of fuel.  Shaun checked under the van and diesel was pouring out ... s##t!  And this was no April fools.  We might be in a real town but we are still in the middle of nowhere, a few days from Perth.  After an hour trying to figure out where the leak was coming from we decided to go book another night.  Strangley enough the guy on reception was working on his own Mitsubishi with fuel problems and gave us the name of his mechanic up the road.  We had figured out that the fuel only leaks when the engine is cold, so of course when we got to the mechanic there was nothing to see.  Typical.  The mechanic didn't seemed too concerned if it was only leaking on starting up so we continued on with our day.We will assess the leak again in the morning and carry on as planned if it is still the same. The only problem now is that it is Easter weekend and the children break up from school for 2 weeks therefore everywhere is booked up.  There will be no space in the caravan parks between here and Perth.  The plan is to try and get in the national park first come first served and stick it out the weekend and then hammer it up to Perth to find a mechanic. With this hanging over our heads we moped around the campsite for the rest of the day. 2 April - Cape Le Grande Unfortunately, the van was still leaking this morning.  Again, only for 10 minutes on starting up so we are still none the wiser where it is coming from.  We have no choice but to go to the national park today as the campsite here is fully booked until after Easter. Cape Le Grande lies around 50km from Esperance.  There is an $12 vehicle entrance fee which will cover your entire stay. A further 10km drive through heathlands with granite peaks either side we reached the Lucky Bay Campground.  Once again our jaws dropped at the site of the beach.  WA just keeps getting better and better.  Lucky Bay is in fact Australia's whitest beach and it is so clear to see why.  The bay is absolutely gorgeous with sweeping white sand and crystal clear water.  I think we are going to like it here. As we pulled into Lucky Bay Campground we were greeted by this little guy ... Shortly after Shaun got into a scrap with this cheeky kangaroo trying to steal his food. We just about managed to squeeze into the last spot on the campground.  The campground has little more than 25 sites, solar powered toilets and showers.  No electricity, no mobile reception just peace and quiet.  There are camp rangers in which you pay $10 per person a night. Aside from this amazing beach the other main attraction in the national park is Frenchmans Peak. That afternoon we took to climbing to the top.  I will be writing a separate post on the climb so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it. Im always a sucker for a good sunset and Cape Le Grande has one of the best. 3 April - Cape Le Grande What better way to take in our surroundings than an energetic run along the gorgeous white sand.  I would be a pro runner if I had the chance to run in scenery like this every day. In the afternoon we drove across to Hellfire Bay, yet another stunning beach.  As we were walking along the granite edge that lines the beach we spotted something lurking in the water.  We can only guess that it was a shark!  What do you think? Not daring to go into the water for fear of being eaten we watched the shark parole up and down the bay. Words fail me.  I simply cannot describe just how beautiful this place is.  I will let the photos do what I cannot. Later in the afternoon we took Delilah to the sand.  Vehicles are allowed to drive across the beach so of course we had to have our first go at 4x4.  The sand feels like snow.  It's a really fine powder that crunches as you walk along it, perfect for 4WD action. 4 April - Cape Le Grande As today is Saturday we had hoped to visit a mechanic to fix our leaking fuel issue as well as the puncture we also have had for a few days.  After driving the 60kms back to Esperance the mechanics were still shut for Easter and the puncture repair place was closing early.  Just our luck.  Instead we stocked up in the supermarket and headed back down to paradise in Cape Le Grande. We took a walk around to the right side of Lucky Bay and again we spotted something lurking in the water.  This time it was a ray cruising around in the shallows. 5 April - Easter Sunday The weather was slightly overcast today which meant it was perfect conditions for a walk, not too hot.  There are various trails all over the park and we opted for the shorter version from Lucky Bay to Thistle Cove, about an hour and a half each way. 6 April - Easter Monday This morning we said a sad goodbye to this amazing place and the lovely people we had met in camp.  We could have stayed here longer if it wasn't for our van troubles.  This is what a campsite should be - just a spot among the bush with solar powered facilities.  Even without power or mobile reception to sooth our social media addiction it has been absolute bliss. We drove back to Esperance and stayed in same campsite and tried to make a plan to get Delilah fixed. 7 April - Esperance Once the Easter weekend was over we went in search of a mechanic.  Being a small town, most of the mechanics didn't have the tools to fix the diesel pump which required the entire pump to be hauled out. The one that did have the tools would need to remove the pump and send it to Perth for reconditioning at a whopping cost of $2,500.  We now had a tough dilema on our hands - shell out $2,500 of our travel money, and spend another couple of weeks in Esperance or gun in for Perth, cut our road trip short and hope we make it. In need of some time to think we grabbed some lunch and made our way to the waterfront to hash it all out.

CRASH!

Some stupid idiot crashed into the back of us coming off the round about. I wasn't crying because I was hurt or that the van was most likely damaged.  I was crying because the universe was against us.  A seemingly endless tally of events that would empty our pockets and crush our spirits.  The culmination of this weeks events and a entire morning of going back and fourth to mechanics and tyre repair shops dishing out wads of dollars, I felt helpless.  Would we ever catch a break. Luckily we came off better with a few scratches on the rear bumper.  She smashed her lights and indicators but was ok.  We swapped details and just hoped she had insurance to pay for it. This snapped us to make the decision to leave.  The longer we are here the more things go wrong with Delilah.  Tomorrow we head for Perth.  This will mean that the road trip is cut short.  The plan was to take a few more weeks to drive around the coast, through Margaret River, to Perth but now we are left with no choice. 8 April - Albany We hit the road early for our sprint to Perth.  We decided to take the coastal route via Albany and then cut inland.  Going directly from Esperance there are no major towns which could mean we would be stranded should Delilah take a turn for the worst. We had a pretty miserable 5 hours drive in the rain to Albany.  On arrival in Albany we decided to call it a day and camp here for the night.  And as it is the Easter holidays the campsites were charging a lot more than standard.  We stayed for an extortionate night at Albany Gardens for $47 un powered. 9 April - Perth At last the final stretch to Perth.  Another 5 hours of driving in the rain and we made it to the city. On arrival we took a quick drive through the CBD to scout out our new home for the next few months.  It is a lot smaller than we had anticipated for one of the fastest growing cities in the world.  The skyscrapers are not so high and you can drive out the other side in no time at all.  We are excited to explore more. We found the nearest campsite and camped in the rain.  Hoping for better weather tomorrow. Now to fix the van, find a job, find somewhere to live and save some money for the next adventure.  Wish us luck! À la perchoine, Jodie and Shaun x

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