Saturday 22 February 2014 - Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance WA

Saturday 22 February 2014 - Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance WA

We thought there was nothing worse than having a sick kid when you’re on the road, but  there is... two sick kids! Last night was the second of repeated getting up to a miserable Sienna (snotty, headache-y and just generally crap) until she finally ends up in our bed in the early morning hours, only to be waken by Yasmin demanding a tissue at 5:45am today and I can’t remember when yesterday. We’ve been dosing them up with Panadol and Nurofen but this morning I’ve pulled out the full arsenal – cough medicine, Euky Bearub, antibiotics for Sienna but I also just discovered that we’re down to our last pack of tissues. The joys of camping.

We spent two nights in Esperance, getting in fairly late in the afternoon on Wednesday after nearly 500km of driving. It was pretty weird seeing the sun come up over the water the next morning! Thursday was spent shopping, fuelling up etc interpersed with the museum playground and a hot chocolate/coffee McCafe break (purely because of the playground – I’d rather go local but sometimes you just gotta do what’s easy!) and after day sleeps, the Great Ocean Drive. This stunning vista would look much better in sunshine (it had been partly cloudy most of the day) and if we were in a better frame of mind. Unfortunately, magnificent natural spectacles like the pristine beaches here seem somewhat diminished when kids are whingeing, fighting etc and it’s cold. I can’t believe how cold it is. Yesterday was a maximum of 24 degrees, but it’s been so windy that it doesn’t feel even that warm.

The good news is that we’re in a great little private camp at Cape Le Grand National Park (private as in not exposed). We got our site (number 15, which we’d been told by other travellers was a great one) just as the previous occupants were leaving yesterday morning and were set up, making a cup of tea at 9:15am. There’s flushing toilets and solar showers (not all that warm yesterday arvo, much to Yasmin’s disgust) and a really neat camp kitchen. If we were in the mood, this would be a spot we could hang out at for a few weeks. 

We had two other little events occur on the way to Esperance. After leaving the caravan park at Albany and driving about 20 minutes out of town, I realised the computer wasn’t in its usual pocket beside me in the car door... because it was still charging at the caravan park kitchen! A quick u-turn and a phone call later, we were on our way back to collect it. Thankfully someone else hadn’t taken advantage of it just lying there and taken it for themselves! The other little highlight was the stop at Jerramungup, where we had a bit of smoko and a break from driving. There was a monstrous op shop there and we picked up a selection of five magazines for $1, kids’ books were free, plus Yasmin got herself a new baby, complete with blanket, pillow, sheet etc for $3. Sienna chose a Buzz toy but she’s shown little interest in him since. Poor Buzz. Op shops are so cool though.