Lucky Bay, WA – paradise after the rain

It was a pretty short and easy drive to the Cape Le Grand National Park, with the typical landscape of small shrubby natives and splashes of colour from the myriad of wildflowers stretching out on both sides of the road as we wound our way to the campgrounds. After checking out the first option, which had small, individual sites, we decided to take a look at Lucky Bay which was supposed to have better views but be more exposed. Given the weather forecast for the next few days was for light winds only we were willing to take a chance. Once we turned the final bend and headed down the hill towards Lucky Bay, we were greeted with an absolutely stunning view of a turquoise bay with brilliant white foaming water gently spilling onto equally white sand. We were sold and after a lap around the campground we chose a site and set up. Given the less that ideal weather we had been experiencing over the prior weeks, Kat set off straight away to get a few pics of the stunning bay in the sunshine as we didn’t know how long it would last. The site was great, with a view down to the bay below, and the campground was well set up with a big, sheltered camp kitchen and sites that weren’t on top of each other. We lazed the first afternoon away at camp, enjoying a gorgeous rainbow that appeared in the bay before cooking hamburgers for dinner.

The following morning we got up early and after breakfast we headed for the base of the Frenchman Peak lookout, keen to climb to the top, where there were supposed to be a few big caves to explore, as well as stunning views over the national park and its coastline. The track started off easily enough, following a boardwalk and dirt trail, before quickly leading us up a gentle rock face. Soon, gentle turned into not so gentle, and before long we were scrambling up the rock face. We stopped at a couple of big caverns on the way up, as well as a couple of other places to enjoy the view and recharge with some lollies. We soon reached the top, which had a huge open cavern. The kids had a great time exploring the place, before we took the final few steps to the official peak. The views were well worth it, stretching right across the park in one direction, and over the pastoral land in the other. We then doubled back and headed back down the way we came up, and our legs were all burning by the time we reached the bottom. We headed back to camp and after lunch, Kat enjoyed a bit of a lie down while I took the kids down to the beach for a play. First we set up a soccer field (goals and centre line drawn in the sand) and played soccer for a while before we had a play in the sand. It was the most amazing sand we had ever seen. It was super fine, and squeaked even more than the Jervis Bay sand that we knew from back home. We dug a few holes in the wet sand and discovered that it behaved just like ooblick (the stuff you make out of cornflour and water that is solid when you squeeze it but then returns to being a liquid when you let it go). We all had heaps of fun with it and made a few sculptures in the sand before Kat wandered down and joined us for a walk along the beach. We collected a few cuttlefish as the kids were keen to do some cuttlefish carving having seen the kids they met in Dalyup doing some. After finding a few massive cuttlefish shells, we headed back to camp and armed the kids with pocket knives so they could get to work on their sculptures. Em made a boat and Oli created a head for a man he made out of sticks and wool, as well as an AFL ball. We all headed to bed early that night as the cold weather set in after dinner.

While the sun didn’t really come out the next morning, the wind was light and there was no rain so we had a bit of a sleep in before making pancakes for breakfast. Around 10am we then jumped in the car and headed in to Esperance as it was the AFL grand final and we were keen to watch it. Oli and I played a bit of Pokémon Go while Kat and Em headed to the op shop to try and find Em some shoes as she had cleverly left all her shoes back at camp. We all then met up back the pub, Em proudly wearing her new pink ugg boots, and enjoyed some beer and pizza while watching the game. Once the game finished, we headed back to camp where Em and I cooked up some simple cheese toasties on the BBQ as no one was very hungry having stuffed ourselves at lunch.

Although we had only planned to stay for three nights, we were really enjoying the place so decided to stay another day, and just chill out at camp. We had downloaded a few new books for Oli so he spent the morning reading while Kat and Em got to work making a swing set for Hop and Flop (the small bunnies the kids got from Nanny last Easter). Before lunch we managed to get the kids to update their journals which had started to become a real challenge. In spite of us only getting them to do a journal entry for each place we stayed, it was still a real battle at times to get through it without a few dramas. With journals done we had some lunch before Kat and Oli played a few games together at camp while Em and I made a sail for her cuttlefish boat out of woven paper which we then waterproofed by covering it in sticky tape. After attaching it to the mast, her cuttlefish boat was complete and ready for its maiden voyage. We headed down to the beach and launched it successfully. The rough seas capsized it a couple of times but it seemed just as happy to be upside down. After retrieving the boat, we made a sea monster out of the dried sea grasses that covered this part of the beach, before heading up the rocks at the end of the beach to see what we could find at the top. After a quick scramble up the rocks we made it. It gave us a birds eye view of the bay and campsite below, as well as a view out to the small islands offshore and the ocean beyond. As we were headed back down, we saw Oli and Kat who had also decided to head to the beach to explore the rocks. We all enjoyed a play on the beach on the way back before enjoying our last dinner in Lucky Bay.

On our final morning we awoke to a stunning day. The sun was shining, and there was a gentle offshore breeze. We decided it would be a crime to rush off this morning so after we packed up the trailer, we headed down to the beach for a play. The water looked so inviting that I decided I had to have a swim there in spite of the pretty cold water. The swim was gorgeous, but very cold, and the water was super clear with waves big enough to catch. After a while, Em joined me for a swim before we decided to head back to shore to warm up. In the mean time a coffee cart had driven onto the beach and set up shop which was the last thing we expected. It was quite a surreal scene, a stunning and relatively remote beach that made you feel like you were in the tropics (until you felt the water), kangaroos bounding along the beach, and then a coffee cart parked on the sand. We enjoyed our coffees on the beach while the kids played with beach toys provided by the cafe, but eventually it was time to head off. Kat had a quick swim as well before we all walked back up to camp and headed off, very happy to have found Luck Bay.