The Cape Le Grand National Park is located 30 kilometres south east of Esperance.It cost us $11 to enter the park and it was worth every penny...
The park is named after Le Grand, an officer of the L'Esperance, one of the ships in a French expedition commanded by Admiral D'Entrecasteaux in 1792.
Features of the park include incredible coastal scenery and majestic granite peaks.
The landscape changes from massive granite outcrops to freshwater pools and unbelievably white sandy beaches with views over many islands.
In the south-west corner of the park, massive rock outcrops of granite and gneiss form an impressive chain of peaks including Mt Le Grand (345 m), Frenchman Peak (262 m) and Mississippi Hill (180 m).
Frenchman's Peak
Close up of the hollow right at the top and cave
The peaks of the park are the result of erosion and movements in the Earth's crust over the past 600 million years. During the Eocene period, some 40 million years ago, sea levels were at least 300 metres above their present level and these peaks would have been largely submerged. The caves and tunnels found in the peaks are thought to have been either formed or enlarged by wave action and underwater currents.
We first stopped off at Le Grand Beach... which just stretches for kms....
Then we travelled further on the well marked roads which cut straight through the park to a place called Hellfire Bay...
It's a small bay ... but just stunning to look at...
There were more beaches to check out so we didn't settle here... we moved on to the next bay where we found Thistle Cove .. we didn't walk down to this beach as it was a fair way down to it...so we went up the hill to check out the Whistling Rock..High on the hill was this huge rock which actually whistled as the wind blew through it !!!
Walking further around the rock were more amazing views...and we got a good view of the beach below...
We then moved on to the famous beach, Lucky Bay....There aren’t too many places in Australia where kangaroos sun bake on the beach, but at Cape Le Grand National Park Lucky Bay is home to a colony of friendly kangaroos which are often seen soaking up the sun... and very friendly !
It's a small bay ... but just stunning to look at...
There were more beaches to check out so we didn't settle here... we moved on to the next bay where we found Thistle Cove .. we didn't walk down to this beach as it was a fair way down to it...so we went up the hill to check out the Whistling Rock..High on the hill was this huge rock which actually whistled as the wind blew through it !!!
Walking further around the rock were more amazing views...and we got a good view of the beach below...
Thistle Cove
We then moved on to the famous beach, Lucky Bay....There aren’t too many places in Australia where kangaroos sun bake on the beach, but at Cape Le Grand National Park Lucky Bay is home to a colony of friendly kangaroos which are often seen soaking up the sun... and very friendly !
Lucky Bay is one of the most stunning and unique bays in Australia. The bay stretches for over five kilometres, offering a magnificent stretch of beach and sparkling clear blue water.
We decided to travel back to Hellfire Beach for our picnic lunch as it was nice and secluded...it was also getting quite hot and we wanted a swim... once again you could walk quite a way out in the crystal clear water as it was so shallow....and a couple of people were snorkelling...
After we had lunch we went for a climb up the huge boulder rocks at the side of the beach... great views from the top...
Eventually we had to head home .. being one of the last few left on the beach...shame to leave it was just so peaceful ..
Once home, our neighbour... a sign writer... had made up our new sign for the trailer ( the other one we had was too small) and the trailer was christened once again !!
We decided to travel back to Hellfire Beach for our picnic lunch as it was nice and secluded...it was also getting quite hot and we wanted a swim... once again you could walk quite a way out in the crystal clear water as it was so shallow....and a couple of people were snorkelling...
Our beach tent. taken while wading in the water
After we had lunch we went for a climb up the huge boulder rocks at the side of the beach... great views from the top...
Eventually we had to head home .. being one of the last few left on the beach...shame to leave it was just so peaceful ..
Once home, our neighbour... a sign writer... had made up our new sign for the trailer ( the other one we had was too small) and the trailer was christened once again !!
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