Cape Le Grande National Park – tres beaudy! – The Toorak Tractor and a Junko

So, we managed to get two nights at Lucky Bay. Whatever the historic reason for the name, I think these days it means your lucky to get a spot. Bookings can be made up to six months in advance and when you see that Lucky Bay has been voted best beach in the world, you can see why. Navigating the Parks WA website to get those nights, was more like a game of Dungeons and Dragons than a booking app. We’d allowed a full week to explore Cape Le Grande National Park so we needed a base for the first few nights.

Tamika does a lot of research for our near future destinations and she discovered a little blink-and-you-miss-it hamlet called Condingup, 70klms east of Esperance. The attraction? Well, initially, it was a free RV park on a disused hockey field, but the Condingup Tavern turned out to be a real find. In a town of less than 100, this family run business manages to provide a restaurant, cafe, tavern, general store and servo. And the food! We’ve never had that quality at a pub before.

Best of all, Condingup is only 20 minutes from the national park and we were able to get to popular spots like Wharton Beach, Membinup Beach and Orleans Bay for a bit of fishing and sight-seeing. We toyed with the idea of getting the van onto the beach at Membinup, but a quick check of the tides for the following week would have the ocean lapping at our doorstep.

The day arrived for our quick trip to Lucky Bay. We were early so we took a quick run down to Cape Le Grande. When we pulled in, Esperance was a smudge on the horizon across this vast bay. There was nothing special about the cape, but we did stay long enough for a cuppa. We arrived at Lucky Bay bang on time and it was easy to see why a site is so sort after.

We’re still committed to our 10,000 steps every day, so we took a walk along the cliff tops to Thistle Cove. By the time we arrived above the cove we checked Tamika’s Fitbit and figured we walked far enough.

Our fishing days are running out fast, so we took a little run down to Hellfire Bay on a recommendation from the camp host. If it was just the beach and the setting, then Hellfire Bay would be my pick over Lucky Bay. Buttressed at either end by imposing granite cliffs and backed up against steep sand dunes, you could literally be anywhere and alone.

We came back the next day for a spot of fishing. Three whiting were enough for a tasty fish and chips for lunch the next day. Those two days raced by but we still managed a sunrise walk along the beach before checking out.