My folks were visiting from New York, and we managed to fit all seven of us into the excellent four wheel drive SUV that we purchased as a second car, the mitsubishi pajero. Interesting note: the pajero is a montero in the americas due to some connotation of pajero in spanish.
Photo credits
Major props to Robert Washbourne eldest, who did a great job adding pictures to this collection. Some of the very best shots came from his camera, so big thanks to him!
The travel setup
A few weeks prior to this trip we purchased a small trailer that we modified specifically for camping, including some fold down counter space and enclosed storage for cookware and dishes. Big thanks to family members David and Robert Eldest for help with the heavy lifting. I will spare you recounting stories of my lack of planning in the construction, but suffice to say there was at least one do-over required to make things right. In the end it turned out to be really essential to making the trip a success. Sadly it was not too long after this trip that we were informed we were being relocated to somewhere not nearly as nice, and had to sell that great trailer at a loss.
The excellent mitsubishi Pajero (Montero in the US) hooked up to the heavily modified trailer setup for travel and camping (plate and dish storage in the compartment in front, fold down counter on the side that is out of sight, and locking top flaps for security and extra storage above). Dad for scale. Imagine fitting 7 people in there for several all day long drives.
Kalgoorlie and Australia's largest open pit gold mine
Kalgoorlie is 8 hours east of Perth, and from there we would have a short day driving south to Esperance. We lucked out in booking a tour to the super pit just before they shut down for a while. We spent the first night in cabins in a local RV park, and got up early the next day to get on the tour bus.
The scale of the operation is impressive. In one of the photos below you can see a water tanker next to one of the huge dump trucks to get an idea of how big they are.
The super pit
Water tanker truck for scale
The floor of the pit they were working
Trucking the raw rock up the hill to where the processing happens
Storage pile of rock ready to break
I dont know what this is really called, but I think of it as the rock breaker. All the raw rock is loaded into this tan container with a bunch of large steel ball bearings, and the container is rotated to break up the rock.
Stockpile of the steel bearings. There are worn down over use and need to be replaced frequently.
Back in the town of Kalgoorlie we went to the museum and had a view of some of the old mine works and gold roofs of the town buildings (p.s. not sure they are really gold ...).
Old mine works visible from the roof of the town museum
South to Esperance
Esperance is really nice: miles of beautiful beaches. We stayed at an RV park near the ocean and made day trips with the four wheel drive, as well as one boat trip out to an island not too far offshore.
The day we arrived we had time for a quick drive along the coast and a tourist picture on a overlook off the road.
We realized that the beaches would be pretty crowded, and tried to pick the best location for beach time the following day.
Twilight Cove
The first beach day we went several kilomerters west of Esperance along Twilight Beach Road to Twilight Cove, which had the beautiful beaches and some excellent rock islands just a hundred meters or so off the shore (link).
Picture taken from the Beach of Erick, Robert and John who swam out to the first offshore rock pile.
Picture taken by me on the southeast end of the rock pile. Directly behind Robert is where we were set up on the beach, so it was a bit of a swim, but the water was fantastically nice.
Another pick chilling on the far end of the ropck pile. We found a place to do some moderate cliff jumping.
Katerina in shore
Erick on a walk of the headland, behind him the rock pile we swam out to.
Boat ride to Woody island in the Recherche Archipelago, Great Australian Bight
On day two we took a boat tour around the Reserche Archipelago, and a day trip to Woody Island (link). The boat ride was very enjoyable and we had a nice time snorkeling and walking on the island. We split into two groups, with the kids and I snorkeling and the others going walkabout.
On the boat tour
This gentleman was taking pictures in beautiful places holding up his home town newspaper, hoping to win some kind of award.
Beautiful day to be on a boat
More boat lounging
The captain was quite friendly and let all the cuties sit in the big chairs
A view of the dock at Woody Island
Using Erick's underwater camera to get some snorkeling action shots
Four wheeling on the beach to Cape Le Grand National Park!
The next day we took the beach instead of the road to Cape Le Grand, driving a few tens of kilometers on the beautiful beaches east of Esperance. Miles of beach, super easy to find a secluded spot to swim. No worries at all with the pajero, it had excellent traction even in the quite soft and deep sand that certain car occupants suggested we should turn around at.
Driving on the beach was mostly on hard packed sand like this. Wait a minute, what is that kid doing on that side of the car!
Certain persons drove for the first time (1)
Certain persons drove for the first time (2)
Certain persons drove for the first time (3). This one needed some help to reach all the equipment at once.
Partway around to Cape Le Grand we stopped to climb an interesting looking rock outcrop.
Family photo on the rocks overlooking the Great Australian Bight
While we we parked here, another group drove their truck up that smooth rock face and turned around at the top. I tried to convince my occupants we could do it too, but could not achieve the required consensus. In favor were myself and the kids. Against was everyone else.
Looking down from the smooth rock face ... note by comparison with the last photo you can tell the tide is coming in
Another picture of some crags on the shore, near Cape Le Grand campground where the beach ran out and we switched back to road for a bit (link).
A beautiful view of Lucky Bay, our next destination.
That guy with the hometown newspaper again ... searching for the best background
Mom and Dad with some beach finds
A towering sand dune as seen from the beach. I would not want to drive on that.
The end of the road for this day, near the end of Rossiter Bay a little farther east. There were mountains of deep sea weed on the beach, so we did not risk driving any more. We had a short walk and had lunch at a picnic table.
A view east along Rossiter Bay
Some local fauna
Frenchman's Peak
The next day we had a trip to Frenchman's Peak, also in Cape Le Grand, and quite near where we were the day before but a little ways inland. We took the beach alternative again to get to Cape Le Grand and then the road to Frenchman's Peak (link).
Some local flora, beautful flowers were seen throughout our time on the beaches near Esperance. We came at the right time of year.
The peak in the distance
A view from the road, carefully chosen so you can see the opening through the top of the peak.
Partway up
A view from inside the cave at the top
More hometown newspaper holding with beautiful backgrounds.
The whole crew at the top of Frenchman's Peak
Erick at the top
Larissa at the top
Mom and Dad on the way back down
A view from somewhere on the way back to Esperance
Kids playing in that super clean sand, sand so clean it looks like it would squeak.
The beaches really are squeaky clean
We stopped for a swim on the way back to Esperance
The rare photo of a couple septuagenarians with toes floating in one of the worlds' great oceans.
Wave Rock
The last part of the trip on the way back to Perth was a stop at Wave Rock for some photos of this impresive formation (link). Note that the rabbit proof fence is right above us in this pictures. You should do a search on that if you dont know what it is, pretty interesting detail of Australia's history.
An outstanding trip
Our vacations in Oz were really outstanding, this one ranks about #3 and we had a blast. It was real fun to drive on the beach, and get an idea how long those empty, serene, beautiful coastlines are. Go if you can.
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