From the dusty goldfields to a snow-white heaven, I truly think these beaches are the whitest in all of Australia. Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays claims to be the whitest… so white in fact that it’s heritage listed and it is illegal to remove even a grain of sand. It’s funny being an Aussie, while other countries battle genocide and high school massacres, we continue to fight our own demons… sand thieves, fruit smugglers, you name it. But the sand here, at the southern extremity of WA, is so white and clean it makes a spine tingling/hair-raising squelch as you walk on it. And it’s quite different to Queensland sand. The plush beaches of the Whitsundays, such as Whitehaven, have formed from coral broken down over the years, which has later been washed-up onto the shore by waves. Basically the sand there feels friendlier and fluffier, it doesn’t squelch as much. But Esperance sand is pure silica, broken down from the adjacent granite and gneissic hills and washed to sea before being returned ashore again. Frenchman Peak is the perfect example of a 1200 million year old granite breast, once submerged in water and weathered away through time by oceanic processes that ultimately gave birth to fairest sands of all.

Cape LeGrand is 50km east of Esperance and it truly is paradise, although I would imagine a windy hellish paradise in winter. I tour between the banksias, from beach to beach, Le Grand Beach, Hellfire Bay, Thistle Cove and finally Lucky Bay. There’s not much wildlife, just the odd bird and a few flies. But the difference between these flies and other WA flies is these ones want to actually get out of your car. And why wouldn’t they?  

But at the end of the day there are just two words for Esperance itself… Ocean Road, or three words, Twilight Beach Road (which as the map dictates, do become one). Or is it called “Great Ocean Drive”? The road swings via the coast westwards (oh no, heading west again). I leave my cheapo cabin at Bathers Paradise Caravan Park and head to the Tanker Jetty to witness one seal statue (I’m told it honours the slain town pet), two frolicking sea lions, and three fishermen fishing. This pleasant drive may take me all the way to Albany (aka Slapper City) via Lower, West, Salmon, Fourth and Twilight Beach. And not forgetting the only one that will truly ignite your swell azure memories… Blue Haven Beach. I wind the trip up at the wind farm as I have a dinner date at seven with a promiscuous avian.