Dog High Jump

I definitely can't jump that high!

The weekend before Easter, a group of us headed out to Condingup, about an hour east of town for the Condy Fair. It was a great afternoon, there were different stalls and everyone’s favourite- the dog high jump. It was funny watching the owners give their little pep talk to the dog before their jump. That night we went to the Condy Tavern for dinner and then went back to the fair to watch the Lazy Boys perform. It was a fun night despite the rain.

We went back to Perth for the Easter long weekend. The weather was warm so we went to Trigg for a surf and I’ve never seen it so busy! So that was a bit of a different thing considering you generally have the beach to yourself in Esperance. We went Kings Park which was also packed! It was a lovely day for a stroll and to be out in the sun.

The Perth skyline

Hogs Café has opened near where Mum and Dad live. We used to go to the one in Mandurah as kids when we went on holidays, so it was nice to dine there and relive a bit of a childhood memory.

We jumped on the bandwagon to have a couple of games at Holey Moley. It really was fun too! Each hole has a pop culture theme and some creative ways to get the ball to the hole. It was well worth the visit. We also did lots of shopping, but not too much because it needed to fit on the plane on the way back!

It was great to see all the family again and we had a lovely evening catching up.

Let's jump on those hover boards!

March Long Weekend

The March long weekend was action packed in Esperance, from sport to music to food there was something for everyone! There were many sporting competitions in town and there was even a cruise ship in! I’ve never seen so many people in town. Dad came down earlier in the week for work and then stayed the weekend, Mum managed to get a last minute flight so that we could spend the weekend together.

View over Woody Lake

I finished work early on Thursday and Friday so I could spend some time with dad. The first day was really warm so we went for a swim at 11 Mile and then went for ice cream! The next day was wetter and cold so we went for a walk around the old Windfarm and around Woody Lake nature reserve. It was perfect walking weather and both trails had amazing views of the surroundings.

It was pretty overcast the day mum arrived – not exactly beach weather! We went out for brekky to Taylor Street Quarters, went for a drive exploring and we went on a Port tour. The tour was interesting, but not quite as good as the last time I went as there was a bit less going on.

Espernace Speedway Production Sedans

That night we went to the speedway to watch a friend of mine race. Esperance’s track is on the smallr side, but there is a perfect spot to sit and watch the action. It was a noisy night and we had a really great time. It is more fun when you know one of the racers! It was also amazing the amount of mud that flies through the fence on the bend in the track!

The next day we went out to Alexander Bay which was about an hour and a half out of town. There is a nice camp site out there, but it was very full. The beach was nice and we climbed around all the rocks to get a nice view of the island. I heard there are some big rock pools out there, but we didn’t find them this time.

With Little Wharton behind us

On the way back, we stopped in at the Duke and had a good look through the caravan park, Dad wants to stay there at some point. We went for a look and a walk at Little Wharton and Wharton beach too, it was very windy so we didn’t end up going for a swim. Wharton beach is probably my favourite beach so far, not too busy, beautiful white sand melding with crystal blue waters, it can definitely get some dangerous currents and big surf though.

Hiking and Cowboy Boots

We went out to Mount Ridley a few weeks back. This is one of the few places you can see Aboriginal rock paintings. It’s about an hour’s drive from town, about a third of the journey is along a four-wheel drive track where you wonder if you’re actually going the right way! There are lots of walk trails out there and there is a spectacular view from the summit. Mount Ridley is also home to Esperance’s own Wave Rock, it is smaller than the one in Hyden, but it is very cool.

Awesome view from the top

As with many people around the globe, we tried to stay up late to watch the Super blue blood moon. Unfortunately, Esperance had other ideas and it was very cloudy. We even had a telescope and everything! We did eventually catch a glimpse between the clouds and I was very impressed with the picture my phone managed to capture!

The moon!

I went to a very unusual show, although I thoroughly enjoyed it…the Katherine Outback Experience! The show is normally run in the Northern Territory, but they decided to take it on tour in the wet season. Tom Curtain’s show included breaking in horses, dog training and it ended in the Golden Guitar winner’s musical performance. It was a great experience where I learned quite a bit and I really liked the music.

He's playing a guitar too!

I spent another day at the Races in Esperance for a work social club do. It was pouring all morning and I was ready to go in my dress and wellies! Fortunately, it fined up and was a lovely afternoon.

I enjoy exploring lesser known parts of Esperance and on one evening at sunset this included the Old Windmill Walk Trail. It is surprisingly close to town and has exceptional views over Salmon Beach. I found it very interesting learning about the way the old wind farm used to work.

Looking out towards Twilight Beach

Exploring the Duke

Little Wharton

A school mate of mine who now lives in Port Hedland came to visit and in the week she was here we sure filled the time!

We drove out to Duke of Orleans Bay which is about an hour out of town. Duke of Orleans is a wide bay with the caravan park on one end and Table Top Island on the other. The island is still connected to the mainland and it is cool to stand in the middle with the ocean on either side of you.

While we were out there we checked out Wharton Beach where we swam. It has pretty dangerous surf, but there is one end that is a more protected. The day started overcast, but it cleared up by the time we went for a swim. We also explored Little Wharton where there is a small beach with rockpools down one end where we climbed over boulders to explore the pools. Round that the side the rock had an amazing tiger pattern!

A very cool rock at Little Wharton

As you do with a tourist, you drive the Tourist loop and check out all the beaches! The drive takes about an hour if you get out and have a quick swim at each spot and we finally swam at 11 Mile which is the last beach along the loop without going along the beach.

We had an early start to climb Frenchman’s Peak. It wasn’t busy when we went up, there were a few other people going up at the same time as us, but it was packed going down. There were cars lining the whole road up to the car park which was also full! The climb took us just over an hour at a leisurely pace with a few photo stops, but it is steep and not for the light-hearted. We were glad to do it first up!

Looking out towards Cape Le Grand from Frenchman's Peak

After our climb, we rewarded ourselves with a coffee at Lucky Bay which was a little windy and unfortunately we didn’t see any kangaroos. We decided to have a swim at Thistle Cove which is more protected and isn’t as popular because you have to climb over a big rock to get onto the beach. We checked out Hellfire too which was packed, it is also more sheltered by the wing and has nice toilets and a BBQ area.

One the last day we hung out at Blue Haven, where the stair climb was a bit treacherous on our sore legs! The water was gorgeous and it was nice to chill out.

In the time my mate was here we ate plenty of good food and drank lots of cocktails! I’ll eventually make it up her way!

Hellfire Bay

Christmas and Camping

I had a very quick trip to Perth for Christmas. I drove up with my housemate and was there pretty much for Christmas Day! We did our usual family thing on Christmas morning opening presents under the tree and throwing paper for the dog to catch. Then we had brekky with Dad’s side of the family- this was a new thing for us. We had a lovely breakfast and did a Secret Santa which was fun. In the evening we had dinner at our house with Mum’s side of the family. My favourite part about Christmas is everyone being together…and the ham!

Family Cuppa

On Boxing Day Mum, Dad and I drove to Munglinup Beach where we camped for a few days. Dad always goes all out with the camping stuff and he even bought solar panels because we had an unpowered site! We went for a long paddle along the Munglinup river, to the river mouth on one day and up the river on another.

Our Fancy Camping Breakfast

Munglinup River

We took a day trip to Stokes National Park and visited Moir Homestead. This was an old set of buildings from the 1870s. There were so many bees there and I’ve never seen such a big beehive! While we were at Stokes we settled in and spent the afternoon at Fanny Cove. We went for a swim and watched a seal have a splash! It is a really nice spot and I’d like to camp there.

The Residents at Moir Homestead

Fanny Cove

Once in Esperance with Mum and Dad we went for a drive and checked out all the beaches along the Tourist Loop. We were lucky enough to get a parking spot at Blue Haven which was very busy and we had a swim. We visited Lucky Bay Brewing and had a few tasters and I was glad to show off our local brewery to Mum and Dad.

Blue Haven

I had a pretty quiet New Years. We watched the fireworks and the foreshore and went to the pub. It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m glad to have a bit longer off work to chill.

The Foreshore Fireworks

End of Year Celebrations

As the year draws to a close we’ve had a few end of year celebrations and I’ve been pretty busy.

In the last few weeks, Esperance celebrated Edge of the Bay. This weekend included King of Concrete, a national skate bowl competition, the Illuminate Music Festival which showcased local acts and brought in some out of town talent and the Seniors Christmas dinner. It was a great weekend to be a part of, I particularly enjoyed hanging out at the skate park watching some very cool skating action.

Esperance Skate Park

The following weekend was the Community Christmas Pageant. These seem to be such a big deal in small towns and they draw a huge crowd. It’s a good opportunity for community groups and businesses to strut their stuff.

My weekends have also been pretty busy with Surf Life Saving. Between nippers, a bronze course an SRC course and other bits and pieces I spend a lot of time at the beach. The two courses are wrapped up now and the club has about a dozen new members to patrol.

Eyes Over Twilight Beach

I am a member of the Emergency Response Unit which is a team that gets called out to major bushfires in a communications van. There are a few of us who are pretty new so we are going through the training and theory, but there’s nothing quite like learning on the job. I always learn best when I’m actually doing it! I’ve already been out to one fire and learnt quite a bit. Just like life saving, it’s good skills to know, but you don’t want to have to use it!

As always I made a double batch of shortbread which was quite popular if I do say so myself! I’ll be heading to Perth for Christmas and I’m excited. I love this time of year!

The Adventure Continues

At the moment one of my challenges is to try to say yes to every opportunity, and that’s how I found myself racing across the ocean in a yacht! I have never been sailing before and it was an awesome experience. It was a race day so I did my best to stay out of the way and do what I was told, and boy it was great to sit on the boat with my feet hanging over the edge and a beer in my hand!

Showbags!

As part of my small town experiences I decided to enter my jam in the Esperance District Agricultural Show. My strawberry jam didn’t win anything, but I’m glad I did it and the rest of the show was pretty cool too. It was great to hang out with mates, watch the motocross jumping, the fireworks, go on a few rides and eat show food.

The Surf Club season is underway and it’s keeping me pretty busy on the weekends with training courses, looking after nippers and just hanging out at the beach. Patrols don’t start till December when the weather starts warming up and the beach gets busier.

I went back to Perth for the weekend for my cousin’s wedding. It was a beautiful outside wedding at Lamonts followed by a reception that was so much fun! It was awesome to get on the dance floor with the whole family!

With the Bride!

While I was in Perth I went to the Kaleidoscope Festival in the City of Joondalup. It was an incredible display of lights and I was amazed by the number of food vans there were. We went on the last night and apparently so did every other man and his dog in Perth!

And the adventure continues!

Bingo?

In the last few weeks I have been up and back to Perth twice. The first was for some Surf Life Saving meetings so I flew up and spent the weekend in Perth, and the second time I drove up with some mates who were coming for a wedding. It was good coming two weekends in a row particularly because I needed to see the physio twice. The week before I rolled my ankle playing a very serious game of mini golf and ended up tearing three ligaments! Oops!!

We spent one afternoon in Perth picking strawberries which was a good bit of fun but the hour we were there was more than enough as it is actually pretty tiring! I plan on making some jam and entering it in the Esperance Agricultural Show. It was really nice to spend some time in Perth with my family and I’ll be back again in November.

I’ve been to a couple of events lately. I went to Bingo which was a fundraiser for the local soccer club. This was such a fun night and I plan on going again soon. They have these little things where you open the tabs for an instant win a bit like a scratchy and you go through a range of different games. I also won $15 so I was pretty happy with that!

I went to the Bijou Theatre to see the local production of ‘Are you Being Served?’ The theatre itself is one of the oldest buildings in town, built in 1896, and has been the home of a variety of things including a cinema and a place to skate and now to the Esperance Theatre Guild. The show was great with a few good laughs and it was nice to see the familiar faces on stage.

Justice Crew came to town and this was a really loud and exciting show. I volunteered in the bar that night and still got to watch the show. It was one of the biggest audiences I’ve seen at the Civic Centre and everyone looked really pumped.

A Shirtless Justice Crew

I have explored Shelly Beach, although I don’t think that’s the official name. It is a long drive along the beach and through the dunes and it’s worth the journey. It is the only place I know of around Esperance where you can find shells so we spent a bit of time finding little treasures. It was a pretty cold, wet day when we went and I look forward to going back there and spending some more time when the weather is a bit warmer.

Shells!

We went to Lucky Bay again and this time there were heaps of kangaroos! They’re really friendly and don’t care that humans are there at all! There was a little joey in his mum’s pouch too! Much warmer in there! It was very windy and I ended up with a wind-burned face. I went for a long walk along the beach and up the rock overlooking the bay. It was a spectacular view!

Here Skip!

I went for a huge bike ride from Woody Lake to Lake Warden. It was a good trek and we saw lots of birds, a few bob tails and a little dugite. It was a about a 5km ride and a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I’m glad I’ve got myself a bike down here because there are plenty more spots for me to ride.

The Creepy Trees of Lake Warden

The Beach Explorer

I’ve been on quite a few little adventures exploring different spots around town. We went out to Woody Lake and went for a short walk. Once you’ve walked away from your car it’s quite magical with leaves rustling on either side of the walk track and birds flying overhead. I’d like to go back there to go for a longer walk and paddle when the weather warms up a bit.

We went for a long ride along the foreshore one afternoon and stopped for icecream as a half way point before turning back with a new bit of energy. It got a bit dark and started to rain, but we made it back in one piece and it was such a lovely ride.

I went exploring at Pink Lake (or Spencer Lake) which is a salt lake that is not really pink anymore. The colour was caused by algae which has not been present for about ten years. It was still cool walking out on the muddy flats where I had to take my shoes off to squish my feet in the fine grey mud! In summer, it is much drier and you can walk much further out. There is a lake nearby that is very pink - Lake Hillier. It is located on Middle Island of the Recherche Archipelago and is best seen from the sky, so it’s definitely on my list to check out!

I have now been to every beach along Great Ocean Drive. On one nice Sunday, I walked from West Beach to Salmon Beach and back which was a good solid walk. It was sunny, but cool enough for a long walk. I enjoy watching the waves smash against the rocks from the car at a few different spots when the weather is cold and wet.

Another great spot along Great Ocean Drive is the Ten Mile Lagoon Windfarm. From here you have a fantastic view of the windmills in the grassy plain as they meet the turquoise waters. There is a nice place to sit and watch the turbines rotate or look out into the ocean.

There are these rock pools at 9 Mile Beach that I love walking along to see if I can spot any sea creatures. On one occasion, we spotted a whole lot of crabs scampering out from under a rock which could only mean they were being chased! On closer inspection, we found a large octopus trying to catch a crab lunch. We stayed probably an hour or so just watching him squeeze under rocks or zoom across the rock pool and it really made our day!

On the note of sea life, we went on the hunt to spot some whales. At this time of year whales will cruise up along the coast to warmer waters. We did spot one up at Observatory Lookout before it went back under the water and a cyclone decided to come through (not quite, but it was very wet and windy!) I would have liked to stay and watch for a bit longer so I’ll have to go out looking for whales again.

While I have ticked off quite a few places, there are still plenty more to go!

Fast Cars and Ballin'

So I have been keeping pretty busy during work hours and have been finding plenty to do on the weekends when I’m not playing hockey. We have a pretty cool team and get along well, but there are only a few games left and we won’t be making finals.

It was definitely weird celebrating my birthday this year being the first time away from home, but my friends here still made it pretty special. It was also exciting opening some presents that came in the mail (but I did wait till my actual birthday!)

I went on a tour of the Port here which I found really fascinating. This is where fuel and fertilisers come in, nickel and iron ore is exported from the mines and grain is exported from the farms in the region. It’s amazing the number of birds hanging around finding grain that hasn’t made it onto ships. Sometimes we sit at the beach opposite the port and watch the ships being loaded and unloaded.

I visited the Esperance Museum which has a range of different bits and pieces from vintage machinery to the Esperance Railway and pieces from the Sanko Harvest wreckage. The most notable would the Skylab which crashed in 1979 and pieces were found scattered over the Esperance townsite and farming areas. The museum holds many memories from Esperance’s history and I certainly went home learning something new.

I went to the Bird and Animal Park where we got breakfast (they do $10 all day brekky). After we got a good feed we walked around looking at all the animals and managed to avoid the rain. They’ve got loads of different birds and animals. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t too excited to go, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is not a huge place, but it is well set up and not very expensive.

I attended quiz night number four for the year and each team dressed up to a different theme. We were superheroes and it must have been a good choice because we won! Not bad two out of four! We all had a great time and it was pretty funny going to the pub afterwards all in costume.

At the end of July, I went to Kellerberrin with my new mates to watch speedway. This was not my first car racing experience, but it was my first country town speedway. You get a pretty good vibe from people where everyone seems willing to help each other out. It was pretty cold and wet and my tent was essentially pitched in a mud puddle. Despite this it was a really fun time! I enjoyed watching the racing and then eating hot roast beef rolls around the camp fire at the end of the day.

 One of the social events of the year in town is the Yellow Dot Ball. I was not necessarily thrilled about dressing up and going out, particularly as this was a cold wet night, but I think we all scrubbed up pretty nicely. They had a photo booth set up which is always fun and the band was great. It ended up being a fun night filled with dancing, a few drinks and a few laughs.