Cape Le Grande

It poured raining all night.  Absolutely bucketed down.  What with the rain hammering the sides of the van, and the waves crashing onto the beach, it was a pretty noisy night.

Our awning is not very secure in strong wind, so we had it packed away.  Consequently, the chairs and table and other boxes of things that we had out against the sides of the van, or under the van, were pretty sodden.

In a break in the deluge this morning, we dashed out, threw all the paraphernalia into the van, then headed off towards Esperence.  The forecast is for rain and wind..I was hoping to see Esperence at it's best, but that's the way it is.

At first we continued east along the coast road, but it was clay and we were worried it would get boggy, particularly when we started driving through water.  So we turned around with some difficulty, and headed back to Hopetown to drive on the bitumen.

The fifty kilometres out to the south coast highway was coved in water in several spots, and there were brown torrents rushing through the trees on either side.

We were very glad to make it through to Ravensthorpe, where we found the toilet (Joseph was so happy to have a flushing toilet he sang us a little song) and the petrol station.  The gas pump for the BP was across a road in a little dirt patch, and the was a sign on the bowser that requested a collateral (security) before using the pump.  drivers' license or credit card.  Spouse or passenger were also acceptable. We thought it was pretty funny. (Rather than risk my credit card I left Vicki as Collateral – Grant ;) )

On a completely different note, a few days ago, when we were in Denmark at the market, we chatted with a lady who had a knitting stall.  I think it was Katie who asked her how long she'd been knitting for. She laughed and told us she'd been knitting since she was about seven, and she'd been caught knitting under her desk at school, and her teacher in the UK had taken the knitting off her until the end of term.  She went home and cried. She was not impressed.  I think knitters are born, not made!

After Ravensthorpe, we drove east for a few hours, stopping at Muglinup for lunch.  Everyone stayed in the car because it was still raining and cold.

Esperence is a bigger coastal town, built on the Bay of Isles.  They have lots of shops, but also a beautiful view.  We kept driving left around the bay and out to Cape Le Grande, where we are staying at Lucky Bay.  It's a beautiful spot, probably helped because the rain has eased off for now.  There are huge granite? rock lumps, similar to Stanthorpe, everywhere.  My Dad used to come to Esperence for holidays when he was a young boy, I wonder if he was ever out at Cape Le Grande?  He'd love the rocks!

 

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Vicki