Day 30 - Esperance

Day of rest after a few big days of activities. Mostly spend the day sleeping, but I stir for a couple of hours to explore the incredible coastline.

Quick Stats

• 30 minutes on bike
• 30 km
• 10359 km total

I really, really am not keen to cross the Nullarbor, and Esperance is pretty well the last bastion of civilisation before it.

With that in mind, I'm spending today to let my body get physically ready, and my mind mentally.

The coastline around Esperance is absolutely stunning. About the only thing letting it down is the main township lies on the Esperance Bay and Port, which , while nice, aren't anything to write home about. The magic lies a few kilometres either side of town.

I jump on the bike for a jaunt of the thirty kilometre loop west of town they call the "Great Ocean Drive". Seems ambitious, but wow it delivers. The coastline is a mix of Heath shrub and big granite slabs. Dotted across the ocean lies dozens of small and big islands.

First up is West Beach.

The water is a vibrant blue, waves crashing across water-smoothed rock formations.

I try to talk myself into a swim, but the wind has picked up and I've left it quite late in the day. Plus there's still 28 km to go.

Continuing on down the road sees a succession of more and more different beaches. Steep dunes, rocky outcrops, observatories. Islands of pink rock.

I continue along until I leave the coast and head back along the Pink Lake. Seemingly blue these days after human intervention blocked off its flow of nutrients with a road and a railway and harvested all its salt, it still seems like a great place to sit and watch the sunset.

The birds don't seem to mind it either.

I'm told the coastline east of town is even more stunning - motivation to leave Esperance is extremely low.