Esperance

The campervan, lovingly nicknamed Mothership, has been returned. So many splattered insects to clean off! Can we say protein shake?

The local Aboriginal people, from the Wardandi clan, have known about Ngilgi cave for many years. Ngilgi is named after the good spirit of the ocean that watches over the Wardandi people. It’s one of the better caves to explore because of the variety of cave formations. The most fascinating formation is the cave Shawl. Shawls are wavy sheets of calcite that hang from the ceilings and walls. You can determine amount of rainfall and forest regrowth that have occurred over millions of years by looking at the dark and light bands of the cave Shawl( also known as cave bacon ).

Afterwards, we checked out Eagle Bay where a guy we befriended, named Choc, let Levi reel in a heron.

Levi continued his fascination with people fishing at Bussleton Jetty. We saw a small crowd form around a guy and heard the words "sea snake." Rather than running away we ran towards the poisonous animal. Turns out the fisherman accidentally caught a juvenile, Serpent Eel. They have powerful jaws with sharp teeth and it’s not poisonous. Their heads can been seen protruding from the sand in shallow waters looking for prey while the adults live in deeper depths. The fisherman was careful to remove the tangled Serpent Eel and the hook before releasing it back to the ocean.

At one point there was a Southwestern Shingleback Lizard with his head held up high, we called him Gandalf, in the middle of the bike path. He defied us to pass him. We shall and did pass.

We rewarded ourselves with chips and headed to Redgate Beach to hop some rocks. Levi found a cool shell and we made some friends with the local King’s Skinks hiding in the rocks.

King Skinks eat soft plants but will supplement their diet with insects and the odd bird egg.

At camp, Levi found the largest caterpillar we’ve ever seen. A Gum Snout caterpillar. It’s nocturnal and feeds on eucalyptus leaves. By day it camouflages against the stem of a branch. “If disturbed, the caterpillar rears up its tail and its thorax, tucks its head under the body, displays two pale-blue edged black bands that are normally hidden between segments, and stiffens the two horns behind the head.”

We rewarded ourselves with chips( Dad, these are French fries ) from a shop called Squid Lips.

A couple of geologists were sitting next to us and we asked them how these long lines of rose quartz are caused in the granite rocks we’ve been hopping. They explained that it could be due to a change in heat and pressure 1 billion years ago when the magma was cooling which forms crystals. Ocean water rushes in to mix with the iron to give the crystals a red tint.

We saw more evidence of this over at Rockpool just north of our campsite at Conto Campgrounds.

We ended the day with a trip to Mammoth Cave. It was the first time Levi voluntarily wanted to go into a cave. Three years ago he was too scared of the dark to finish off Jewel cave. I was scared of the dark too at that age. Rock on buddy!

The cool thing about Mammoth Cave is learning that the bones of giant Australian fauna were first found here as well as extinct species like the 3m(9’10”) tall, snub snouted kangaroo. It had longer arms for grabbing onto branches to munch on leaves and one toe on each leg. Scientists are not sure why they went extinct but it coincides with both climate change and human involvement more than 60,000 years ago.

If you geek out as much as I do on Australian Megafauna then check out this web site:

This is Doug. He was brought up on a sheep farm for fours years but his owner was going to euthanize him because he showed no interest in herding. Doug was rescued by Gary and Margaret who run Boat Harbour Camp & Chalets. At first Doug was getting out and chasing Kangaroos but he quickly adjusted to the calm life of being a greeter for visitors.

“He’s a good judge of character and will only growl to us privately if he does not like the person who is approaching. We feel safe when he’s around.

Thanks bro. My favorite place is Denmark because of the lush vegetation, big trees and Green Pool.

We briefly stopped by the Denmark Chocolate Factory and had their sampler plate. The area outside is green and well manicured.

But, it felt too touristy so we headed over to Greens Pool a few kilometers down the road.

In the 1930s, Greens Pool was scoped out as being a potential spot for commercial fishing. That was short lived because the fish could easily swim under the nets thanks to the undulating ground. Now it’s one of the best beaches to spend the day at. It has a protected area from the waves where you can snorkel or swim. There are many rocks to explore isolated pools and gain better overall views. Or you could just lay in the soft sand and read a book. I love this place. Poor Levi was too cold from the water and we had to leave earlier than expected. That kid has no body fat on him. Need to plump him up with more chocolate or marshmallows. Speaking of which! That’s what we did when we found out we could have a camp fire!! A few more weeks of nothing but marshmallows and we’ll head back to Greens Pool.

We continued to bike around Mount Clarence and down to Ellen Cove but it was too windy to enjoy. We had a brief play at Eyre Park and found a scenic bike path to Woolies( that’s a grocery store, Dad ).

In the evening, Levi said goodbye to his second Mothy as it buzzed up into the trees at our caravan park.

In the middle of the night he awoke saying “Dad, I need to turn on the lights.” I covered my eyes and he searched around the wall next to me. Shortly after, he turned off the lights and fell asleep. The next morning I asked what was he searching for? He said he dreamt that Mothy was buzzing against the van wall trying to get out. He was trying to save Mothy. We had a good laugh. It was also enduring at how much he cares for the little bugs.

The next morning we were greeted by a gentle breeze on a clear day on the shore of our accommodation. I tried to capture the tranquility with this 360 view and the ambient sounds. Try to do both at the same time.

Levi kept one moth, named Mothy, safe in a colander while we skipped rocks at Bremer Bay and ate pizza at the Bremer Bay Brewing Company.

At the start of the night the leopard moth started fluttering it’s wings and buzzed away after Levi cleared it for takeoff. Levi said it was one of the highlights of this trip.

Levi also had a very fun idea when he saw the 4x4s driving on Lucky Bay. We should ride our mountain bikes. The sand was packed down hard so there was no dramas in slipping on the beach. It was very windy but the reward for riding against the wind was the thrill of feeling like you were part of the wind.

Right next to Lucky Bay is a camp ground. The campers are not supposed to feed the kangaroos but they have and kangaroos are very tame. A mum and her joey hopped out of the bush to our area. Immediately, a crowd of people snapped photos and scratched the kangaroo’s backs.

In the evening, Levi and I played LEGO games as we enjoyed our last night in Esperance.

Checkout the following link if you want to see a Google Street View of our campsite( it’s better to view it in Google maps ):

Next we drove to Twilight Beach and found a tunnel created from vegetation and rocks to dab on. ( Dad, dabbing is a pose that Levi is doing on a rock in one of the pics. )

I stood in one place for 10 minutes trying to take a slo-mo video of a powerful wave hitting the rocks and spraying water high in the air. It was a no show until I gave up. Typical.

We didn’t stop at anymore beaches. Just soaked in the sites as we drove the loop. By the way, Pink Lake hasn’t been pink for thirteen years due to human involvement. The salinity has to be just right to give off a pink hue.

Also, Levi wanted me to mention in the blog how often and how stinky his farts have been. After swimming at the local leisurely centre, he let out a ripper in the changing room in front of a stranger. “Sounds like you’ll need new underwear”, the stranger said and smiled. Grandpa would be proud.

I met Damian at our current accommodation. He is from France. He started off studying advertisement and journalism in Paris. “The problem is you need a network of people to get a job. Plus, I hate Paris because it’s polluted and full of rude people.”

In the afternoon, we headed 10 mins north of Esperance to “The Piggery.” A group of mountain biking enthusiasts have created many fun trails varying in skill level that total around 15km. Levi loved it. Especially when his bike flipped over him and pinned him like a pretzel. He wasn’t hurt at all, just needed help untangling his limbs. We were there for an hour, not counting getting lost. We even saw a Bardick snake on the trail. “Too bad Grandma wasn’t here” Levi joked. Grandma is deathly afraid of snakes. Funny that her son and grandson live in a country that is home to some of the most deadly snakes in the world. A Bardick snake is typically 40cm, can reach as long as 70cm and is venomous. Partially nocturnal, this snake mostly feeds on lizards.

With all of the exercise we did, Levi crashed pretty hard at bedtime.