January 2023 - Monkey Rock, near Denmark, Western Australia

After exploring William Bay National Park, there was just enough sunlight to sneak in one last hike so we decided to check out Monkey Rock just before sunset.

It wasn't a long nor difficult hike since we were out and back in under an hour and it was super fun playing in the rocks! There was a rope installed to help get up to the rocks and once we were up there the view of the area was beautiful! It was pretty surreal watching the trees sway in the wind.

Afterwards, we jogged back to the car and headed to the motel to check in where we saw some kangaroos right in the backyard! We checked in, dropped off our stuff, and went next to the pub next door for a celebratory dinner and beverages to end the solid day! We did a lot that day - on top of driving several hours, we did our spontaneous hike up to Bluff Knoll, explored William Bay National Park, and finished off with Monkey Rock!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

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January 2023 - William Bay National Park, near Denmark, Western Australia

After Bluff Knoll, our last stop before heading back to Perth was Denmark. Since we were passing through Mt. Barker again, we had to make another stop at the bakery and got ourselves another cheesecake!

We had some time before sunset so we went to check out Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks at William Bay National Park. It was a nice drive with more tree canopies as we got closer so it was a nice change in scenery.

A bonus neither of us expected was that we saw waterfall beach on the map and we hadn't seen any waterfalls yet on the road trip so we had to check it out. It turned out to be the best part of our stop at William Bay National Park!

At first I was like…uh…you call that a waterfall? But then it was the perfect size to be almost like an outdoor shower and the cold clean water was so refreshing especially after sweating from our climb up Bluff Knoll!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

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January 2023 - Bluff Knoll - Stirling Mountain Range, Western Australia

As we were driving from Esperance back towards Perth, the mountains of the Stirling Range came into view. As soon as I saw the mountains, I knew I had to climb to the top and when Susanna Tan talked about her experience last time hiking to the top and how long it took, it sealed the deal. I decided I wanted to make a stop and climb one of the highest peaks in Western Australia! It was probably the most spontaneous decision I’ve ever made, and to be honest, I was kind of intimidated especially as we drove closer to the trailhead and saw how much it towered in front of us!

The hike up was no joke - 613 meters (2,012 feet) elevation gain over only about 3 kilometers (1.6 miles) each way so it was pretty much like going up stairs most of the way. We were out and back in just under 2 hours and even spent some time at the top taking in the views. It was a perfect clear day where we could see for miles and got to enjoy our packed sandwiches with a spectacular view of the range and surrounding area!

On the way down, we trail ran most of the way and actually caught up to and passed everyone coming down as we were going up except for one group so we were really moving lol. Initially I was very cautious since it was a bit scary to be honest. One wrong move and I’d be tumbling down the side of the mountain! But I somehow gained some confidence and went faster and faster as we went further down which was quite thrilling!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

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January 2023 - Lucky Bay Brewing, Esperance, Western Australia

After we cooked enough in the sun, we made our way back to the car. On the hike back I saw my first kangaroo in the wild but was too slow with the camera to get a photo or video. So that day alone we saw both an emu and kangaroo in the wild! On the way to Esperance I wanted to stop by Lucky Bay Brewery again for a few last beers to finish off the day and our time in Esperance since this was our last day before making our way back to Perth.

January 2023 - Kennedy Beach, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

When we reached the end of the trail we were rewarded with the best beach of the trip!

It was pristine, there was no seaweed, the waves were pretty calm, it was shallow so you could walk pretty far out, there was a nice clean rock to lay out and put our stuff on, and even a little pool of water next to the rock filled with ice cold Antarctic water we used to keep our non-alcoholic beers cold! I think we even found a rock completely full of abalone in the wild just chillin there!

Best part is we had it all to ourselves! Since we found our beach we hung out for a while and enjoyed our packed sandwiches and cold non-alcoholic beers!

I've been missing Australia since I got back 6 months ago but with this heat wave I'm really wishing I was back in Australia right now!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1433406507436530/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

January 2023 - Tagon Bay, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

We grew a bit restless after hanging out in Yokinup Bay so we decided to check out the Tagon Coastal Trail and see the other beaches. It was fun except for when we had to walk along tagon bay which was a long 1km stretch where it was all beach and felt like forever!

We first stopped at Dolphin Cove but weren't really feeling it since there was nowhere to hang up the hammock so we dropped the hammock back in the car and decided to head to the end of the trail and then hang out at the beach we liked the most on the way back (spoiler alert: kennedy beach at the end was our fav which I'll be posting about next!)

We came across a rocky area on the way that was fun watching the waves crash and seeing the different colors of water from the algae on the rocks!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

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January 2023 - Yokinup Bay, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

The next day we were on the fence on whether we wanted to go to Cape Arid National Park. After doing some research it was very remote - almost a 2 hour drive each way and involved some beach driving as well and looking on google maps looked like it could be sketchy. The trailhead to Mount Arid required driving like 20 miles of beach!

I'm so glad we ultimately decided to at least check it out because we saw our first and only emu in the wild and were pretty much the only ones in a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) stretch of beach for most of the time so it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves! We were able to get away without too much beach driving and didn't get bogged!

We started at Yokinup bay. We took a bit of a chance and drove onto the beach after scoping it out first and made it out ok! 

When I left Penang, my aunt gave me shrimp chips that I had been carrying around with me that somehow remained intact so we finished them on the beach! It was so chill and we didn't want to go but we wanted to check out the other beaches and glad we did! The beach there was nice and thought it was our favorite beach lol until we went beach hopping and found our beach which I'll post about next!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

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January 2023 - Hellfire Bay to Le Grand Beach, Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Western Australia

The last hike was rough since I was overconfident in my ability to hike without drinking much water. As I started feeling dehydrated, almost right on cue, clouds rolled in and gave us the relief we needed since it was super hot and we were pretty much exposed to the sun the entire time. I didn’t think to fill up my water bottle so I only had half a bottle to begin with. Lesson learned!

We started off with a jog on the beach at Hellfire Bay. When we got to the start of the trail over to Le Grand Beach, it was a very steep climb up and thinking about coming back down was unsettling since one wrong step and I’m sliding all the way down. It seemed steeper than Frenchman Peak but beautiful view of Hellfire Bay! Luckily the rain held out until we got back to Hellfire Bay otherwise those rocks would have been super sketchy to traverse down!

The hike towards Le Grand beach wasn’t as scenic as the hikes earlier in the day and it was also pretty challenging since we had to hike an an angle in many spots so it was rough on the ankles, it was not well marked at some spots so we had to find the cairns, and I was struggling with dehydration so didn’t take so many pictures in between lol. Also Susanna Tan and I had some great very deep conversations too. We found a nice spot on the rocks to enjoy our sandwiches and heineken zeros!

When we got back to Hellfire Bay, we cooled off in the water for a few minutes just before it started to rain and I also realized that someone mentioned the squeaky sand which I finally noticed haha. But the timing worked since we got back to the car just as it started to rain harder.

It was a longer 7.5 mile (12.15 kilometer) round trip hike with 1,095.8 feet (334 meter) elevation gain so it was the most strenuous hike of the 3, but a solid hike to end a solid day. We drove down to the end of the at Rossitier Bay which wasn’t really much to see and stopped by Lucky Bay again to see if maybe the Kangaroos might be out since it was around sunset but no luck. So we called it a day and headed over to Lucky Bay Brewing to end the night!

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