New South Coast Explorer Tour
New South Coast Explorer Tour
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Over 9 wonderful days we’ll visit some of Western Australia’s most astounding scenic treasures.
Bold granite headlands, quartzite peaks, white sand beaches and the most beautiful turquoise water you’ve ever seen. This is the ‘down south’ that so few of us get to but everyone should – from Albany in the west, to Cape Le Grande National Park past Esperance in the east.
Ex-Perth return; 9 Days; $2,375 pp twin share
April 5-13th 2015 AND April 25- May 3rd 2015
Your out of pocket expenses for this trip will be one evening meal, snacks if you need them (morning tea and fruit are provided) and alcohol.
Accommodation
2 nights: Best Western Motel, Albany
1 night: Bremer Bay Motel, Bremer Bay
2 nights: Hopetoun Motel, Hopetoun
3 nights: Yot Spot Apartments, Esperance
Itinerary:
Please note that the April 25 to 3rd May will be done in reverse to the itinerary shown below
Day 1: Perth to Albany + a short walk
We’ll drive down to Albany, stopping for morning tea and lunch on the way. We’ll head to the wind
farm and take a stroll overlooking the harbour before checking into our accommodation at Best
Western Motel.
Day 2: Bald Head walk
This is one of the best day walks in the south west. It’s a challenging but spectacular 15 km return
walk along a Flinders Peninsular to the eastern-most point of Torndirrup National Park. It offers
outstanding views, with King George Sound on one side and the Southern Ocean on the other.
There are a number of ups and downs as we travel along the peninsular but there’s as it’s a return
walk, there’s no pressure to make it to the end.
Day 3: Two People’s Bay, Betty’s Beach, Norman’s Beach, Bremer Bay
From Albany we’ll head east, dropping into Two People’s Bay for a short walk (easy 3 km) and
taking a lovely walk between Betty’s Beach and Norman’s Beach – two of the area’s best kept
secrets, with more outstanding coastal views.
We’ll arrive in Bremer Bay by mid afternoon where you have time to explore the town, the estuary
or Bremer Beach before dinner.
Our accommodation is at the Bremer Bay Motel. We’ll dine in their excellent onsite restaurant, with
lovely views over the town and estuary.
Day 4: Fitzgerald River National Park – West Mt Barren and Point Ann
Leaving Bremer Bay, we’ll head into the western end of Fitzgerald River National Park for the
morning. This park is one the largest and most botanically significant national parks in Australia. Within the park are found nearly 20 per cent of Western Australia’s flora species, many of which occur only within its boundaries. A medium hard walk to the summit of West Mt Barren (1.7 km return) will give us some great views over the expanse of the park and beyond. It’s a steady climb which should take a comfortable 1.5 to 2 hours return. Then there’s a splendid short walk at Point Ann (1.5 km), with views over the ocean and into the park’s inaccessible central mountain range. We’ll have lunch at point Ann before heading east to Hopetoun – the eastern gateway town for the park.
We’ll stay the next two nights in the centrally located Hopetoun Motel, spread between a 2 bedroom chalet, where we will share meals, and several motel rooms.
Day 5: Fitzgerald River National Park – Hakea Trail
An absolutely tremendous 12 km coastal walk is on the cards today. The gradients are mostly gentle, the views are uplifting, the plants are beautifully grotesque and the rocks – oh my, they’re incredible! When we return to Hopetoun in the mid to late afternoon you might enjoy a coffee in town, a stroll on the beach or a nap before dinner.
Day 6: East Mt Barren, drive to Esperance
Before heading east again we’ll climb East Mt Barren (2.6 km return). This one is a bit tougher than West Mt Barren with a bit of shale to negotiate and a bit of a boulder scramble to get right to the summit. But, there are plenty of magic views and some nice spots to stop and take in the serenity if you don’t want to go all the way to the top. When we arrive in Esperance you might like to take a wander around town, or come for a 38 km drive, which takes in the beautiful surfing and fishing beaches, the wind farm and the Pink Lake.
Our accommodation for the next three nights is at Yot Spot Apartments on the Esplanade in
Esperance, and a short walk into town.
Day 7 and 8: Cape Le Grande National Park
Cape Le Grande has some of best beaches on the planet. We will take the 45 minute drive from
Esperance out to the park on days 7 and 8 to walk some of the various trails in the park. The park has a 17 km walk trail which is broken up nicely into a number of sections. Some sections are more challenging than others with some rocky ground and a couple of steep ups/downs so some people may not choose not to do all of the sections. We will also walk up the beautiful Frenchman’s Peak with it’s stunning views and fabulous cave. Again, this is a fairly steep ascent (but short), so some may not choose to do the whole walk, but we hope you give it a go!
Day 9: Esperance to Perth
We’ll leave early from Esperance for the long drive back to Perth. It’s not going to be the most
interesting drive you’ve ever done, but you’ll have some wonderful memories to reflect on and
probably about 500 photos to look through! We will stop in at Wave Rock on the way back to break
up the drive.
If you are not into long drives, it is also possible to fly back to Perth with Virgin Airlines (formally Skywest). We have seen flights range from $140-$200, which isn’t too bad to avoid the long drive. Depending on the time of your flight, we might be able to drop you at the airport as we head out of time, however it may be better to expect to have to take a taxi.
Bookings:
If you would like to book in to this fabulous tour, contact us on (08) 6219 5164 or [email protected]
