Video Transcript
Welcome to Wout of the World, and in this spectacular episode, we drove down south in Australia to see the beautiful region of Esperance. We’ll be making this road trip with an awesome four-wheel drive camper van with two rooftop tents by WA Experts. Check it.
And this is actually the last bit of the big lap. Recently, you saw us driving the East Coast full of wonders.
And from Melbourne, we drove the Great Ocean Road. Through the state of South Australia, we drove another 2,000 kilometres, and now we got you all up to speed.
Unfortunately we left South Australia, but we welcomed a new state, Western Australia. It’s actually the state where we started this road trip in the first place Because from Broome, we now went all the way to Darwin, along the East Coast, down to Melbourne, and now through the South, all the way, almost to Perth. So what do you think, guys? Free campsite in the middle of Norseman.
Over here, we’re going to have some good times in the sun and with some flies, but that’s Western Australia.
So I thought, let me show you the major site here in Norseman. It’s some scrap iron reused to make camels. How awesome is that?
I also still wanted to show you the awesome drive-through bottle shops. They come in handy when you drive around with the Camper. Jens is always excited to see a playground. And while Norsemen seems like a bit of a ghost town, they have an awesome We actually see more cockatoos than humans in the small town of only 600 people. There is a really nice and big free campsite, though, and the sunsets are incredible. Good morning. The sun is shining, and today we drive to Esperance.
Let’s go. But first… Coffee.
We exit the town to see yet another beautiful mural painting, and we make the drive to Esperance. All over Western Australia, I’ve seen some coloured lakes, like pink ones, blue ones. But over here, driving through Esperance, we see this greenish, bluish, yellowish. I don’t know what the colour is, but it’s called Lake Stevenson, and it’s incredible. Look at this.
We will never get used to driving through these otherworldly landscapes, and I can I assure you that plenty more of this is waiting at the Coast.
Esperance is a beautiful coastal town in a region called Goldfield Esperance in Western Australia. It’s known for its incredible beaches and a stunning coastline. We’re here in the RAC Holiday Park, just north of town, to explore this entire region.
We check into the campsite with the best location near the beach. It turned out to be one of the best we had in all of Australia, actually. And Jens totally agrees.
Already some weeks ago, we drove the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, and Esperance has got something similar.
It’s a 40 km long Great Ocean Drive, and along the way you’ll see the most stunning beaches, rocky cliffs, small bays, and hidden the natural pools.
We start here at West Beach and get overwhelmed by the blue waters that surround Esperance .
But there is much more to explore.
There are some incredible beaches on the way, and the first one that we passed is called Blue Haven, and I don’t think the name needs any more explaining.
Just as beautiful as the Bay is the peninsula over there called Blue Haven Rock. The next beaches we visit are Twilight Beach and Salmon Beach. The Twilight Bay is famous for the stunning rock formations in the crystal clear waters.
We move on as the landscape seems to get rockier and the coastline even more dramatic.
When we drive further along the Coast on our little loop drive, we’ll find some lagoons, and they have beautiful original names.
Like Nine Mile Lagoon, Ten Mile Lagoon, Eleven Mile Lagoon, and so on. There are natural pools created by the barriers with the bluest water, and you’re supposed to be able to do some good snorkelling here. But as you can imagine, it’s a little bit windy today, and it’s hard enough as it is standing right here. But they are incredible.
At the end of the loop drive, we come across Esperance Pink Lake. But due to the seasonal changes, the Salt Lake isn’t always brightly pink. It’s still nice, though.
The Dutch came over here all the way from Europe in Esperance in 1627. But it actually got a French name because later, when the French came here, they got caught in a storm. In 1792, they went on land to seek shelter, and they named it Esperance, after their ship, which means hope. So Esperance is actually named after a French ship.
When the British came to Esperance in 1802, the town mainly revolved around mining. In 1890, a harbour was built after the discovery of gold in the region. Nowadays, they’re still mining. A lot of agriculture, and of course, tourism.
We drive east to National Park, Cape Le Grand, a must visit on the big lap for the best beaches in Australia. So we drove all the to the south of Cape Le Grand National Park, and over here, we find some incredible blue bays with super wide beaches. The first one that we visit is at Whistle Rock, and it’s called Thistle Cove. I’ll show you the rock and this beach, which are incredibly beautiful.
It’s hard to imagine a beach more stunning than this one, but yet there is one officially prettier.
This beach is insane. You will find the most incredible beach of Cape Le Grand at the Lucky Bay. And this beach has often been awarded the name Most Beautiful Beach in Australia and even the whitest beach in the world. And if you’re lucky, like the name says, you can even spot some kangaroos on this beach.
In 2023, Lucky Bay was crowned World’s Best Beach by a panel of over 2000 travel professionals. More recently, it was also named the Country’s Best Beach by Australia Tourism. Well, this all means nothing to us, of course. We let Jens be the judge. There isn’t a swimming pool on Earth cleaner and brighter than this Bay. We are simply blown away.
So we’re leaving, and I must say this might be the most incredible beach that I’ve visited in my life, and especially because it’s not crowded at all. Look at this. Where are all the people? This is so incredible.
Normally, you can actually be able to see kangaroos on the beach here. Maybe it’s a little bit crowded today because we didn’t see them over there, but I walked a little bit around the area and I did manage to find one, so it never hurts to look around.
So awesome.
We conclude our trip in Cape La Grand with one last bay, and this is Hellfire Bay. And because of the massive rocks on both sides, it’s the most stunning beach to go fly with the drone. I’ll show you.
You can easily spend multiple days in Cape La Grand, as there are so many nice spots, and there is a campsite as well. I just have to warn you, all beaches that you’ll visit in your life after these ones will be ugly as hell.
As we’re driving back to Esperance, we see kangaroos all over the place. So we stopped here alongside the road, and they’re everywhere in the meadows over here. Wow.
We even see one with a baby in the pouch. As we drive back to Esperance, we drive through England. Okay, we’re still in Australia, but they do have Stonehenge. Really?
Back in town, we noticed some cool street art around Esperance. We enjoyed the awesome campsite that felt like a home away from home.
It was so sad that we had to leave Esperance, but we’re still on our way making the road trip all the way to Perth, and within three hours, we reach this Bush Camp site. We’ll be putting up camp right over there with the two rooftop tents, and it’s just one more hour to Albany, our next destination in Western Australia.
Love it.
Join us next time for Albany and Denmark.
And we keep on going because next up is Thailand.
Subscribe and travel with us.
Wout of the World
Online travel show in Dutch and English with World traveler and actor Wout of the World. In dozens of episodes Wout takes you out for adventure all over the world, always in the most budget-friendly way. Enjoy over 120 countries from your couch, phone or the computer.