A Big Hole in the Ground

We decided to spend the WA Day June long weekend on a little adventure, so we headed off to Kalgoorlie. We checked out the Super Pit and went on a tour too, it really is a big hole in the dirt! The tour took you to a great vantage point overlooking the pit, but unfortunately they weren’t blasting when we were there. Then we went through the Fimiston Milling Plant where we could see how they get the gold out of the rock. It really is quite a process to extract the gold, but clearly it’s worth it!

The Super Pit

We were amazed at how huge the trucks are that drive the dirt out of the pit. There are 793 dump trucks with a life span of about 7 years, and it costs $40,000 for just one tyre! The pit is over 3.5 kilometres long, 1.5 kilometres wide, and 400 metres deep and has produced over 13 million ounces of gold. Our tour guide told us they were training dogs to sniff out gold…golden retrievers!

The tyres more expensive than my car!

I didn’t realise they still had an operating underground mine at Mount Charlotte so it was quite interesting to go to the lookout to see that. The lookout is also based at the reservoir which is where the water is piped from Mundaring Weir in Perth. The water travels 563kms and provides drinking water to the region.

 

Overlooking Mount Charlotte and the town

We went to Hannan’s Tourist Mine where we went on a self-guided tour walking through original buildings relocated from mine sites along the Golden Mile, looked at old engines and machinery and old prospecting camp sites. We got up close and personal to some big modern mining machines, sitting in the driver’s seat of a 793 dump truck and in the shovel of a  994F loader. I’m pretty sure this is the place I went as a kid where we actually went down a mine shaft and watched them pour gold (I remember winning a Crunchie chocolate!)

We went to the Museum which was incredibly busy! There were many families as there were lots of activities for the WA Day celebrations. We were a bit old for the face painting and the petting zoo, but we found the museum really interesting. It showcased the town’s history and the gold vault displayed many golden jewels. It was a grand little adventure!

Big trucks!

Sydney Adventures

The surf life saving season is done and dusted and we are now a few weeks into the hockey season. We had our awards night for surf and I won the senior patrol member award, I did 170 hours! I knew I was spending a lot of time at the beach, but I didn’t realise quite how much!

Don't think I'll have a bath at Coogee

I went on what I felt was a well-deserved break to Sydney with the sis. We could probably have packed a bit better as it was a bit cold and wet, but we managed to make do with shopping!

We explored Coogee beach and had a yummy breakfast. We wanted to do the coastal walk to Bondi but it was a bit cold so we bussed it. We spent a long time shopping and exploring Bondi Junction. The centre was huge! We then ended the day checking out Bondi Beach, unfortunately, it was really raining by then so we didn’t go for a swim.

Bet they have the heater on!

We walked to Martin Place where we peeked through the window at Channel 7 where they were interviewing one of the judges from House Rules. We had a lovely stroll through the Chinese Garden or Friendship which took you to a whole new place even though you were in the city! We walked around Darling Harbour before making our way to Circular Quay.

Secret little gardens

The Opera House was very cool. I was surprised at how busy the whole area was considering it was a weekday. We took a tour of the Opera House where I pocketed some fun facts. For example, it took the guy 10 years to build the organ and another two years to tune it! I’d definitely like to see a show there one time. There was a great view over the harbour from the second floor.

Look, a bridge!

We climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and I was actually surprised with how long we were there. We spent about an hour getting ready, suited up in overalls and learning what to do. We headed out for the climb just as the sun was setting and there was an amazing view. The climb itself wasn’t too difficult and the view was spectacular however, my legs were tired from all the walking at the end and I really appreciated the tacos and margaritas we had afterwards!

'Twas worth it

While I was on my travels I went to my cousin’s wedding which was great fun. I really enjoy busting it out on the dance floor with all the family! It was funny too because dad was the MC. We also celebrated my sister’s birthday which happened to fall on the same day as the wedding so we went out the night after. It was great fun catching up with everybody.

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