2020-01-04 Western Australia: January 15

Today dawned cool and completely overcast. After lunch we headed out to see some of the national parks and beaches to the east of Esperance. The first road was closed about halfway to our destination so we headed inland…and ended up on a long stretch of wide dirt road and construction. We eventually reached our destination, Thomas River and...

Yokinup Bay in Cape Arid National Park.

Oh my, oh my! The beach stretched for what seemed like miles into the distance. It was a broad beach and even though it was still overcast and grey the water was a beautiful blue. Who know how vivid it would have been if it had been a clear, sunny day.

We walked along the coast a bit but it was windy and still rather cold. The day never got over about 65°F. So instead of walking to the next cove we drove on to Dolphin Cove. Much smaller but very picturesque.

Just around the corner from Dolphin Bay was Little Tagon Bay, also very pretty. We had planned on going a bit farther over to Tagon Bay but the road was really bad and for 4 wheel drive vehicles only. Ours is an “all-wheel drive” but didn’t have the clearance to get through the ruts so that was out.

During the drive back towards town we found the cut off to Wharton Beach and the Duke of Orleans Bay. Never did find the Duke’s Bay but Wharton was huge and gorgeous with a number of picnickers and...

surfers trying to hang ten on really small waves.

We also found Little Wharton Beach, also stunning. The water is so incredibly clear and blue at all of these beaches and the sand is very white and clean. A bit like paradise only colder.