December 15, 2023
Our last full day in Esperance so we decided to do the 40km loop drive that takes in the multiple beaches to the West and circles back to town via Pink Lake. There are so many stunning lookouts and beaches that the whole loop took us over 3 hours but that did include a walk around the old Windfarm site (the new windfarm is further to the West)
From the map we pick up the drive at Chapman’s Point which overlooks West Beach in both directions; we have already covered the earlier sections in other blog posts.
Next stop is the Old Salmon Beach WIndfarm; this operated from 1987 for 13 years until 2000 and one complete tower has been left together with a lookout built on the bottom section of Number 2 as it was at the highest point.
We walked in the order of 1, 5, 4, 2, 3, 6 and the photos follow that trail, a total walk of 1.75km
From the Windfarm it’s down to Salmon Beach itself:
..next stop Fourth Beach from the first lookout
..and then Four Mile Beach leading into Twilight Beach
..and at Twilight Beach where the Esperance Surf Life Saving Club is located
… from the other side of the Twilight beach Carpark is the beach known as Picnic Cove, also listed on some maps as Dolphin Cove
One of the best lookouts along this trail is that at Observation Point, a climb of 74 steps to a plaque commemorating the arrival of the French in 1792; D’Entrecasteaux and Kermandec in the “Recherche” and “Esperance” are responsible for the naming of not only locations here but of many places in Tasmania
The drive rounds out the beaches with Nine Mile Lagoon, Ten Mile Lagoon, and Eleven Mile Beach
Ten Mile….
.. and Eleven Mile
From this point the route turns Northwards away from the coast but for those wanting to explore more coastline the gravel roads continue to another 3 beaches ; here we pass by Pink Lake although not very pink at present
