Yes, the beach really is that white, and the ocean shallows’ shades of blue are also “true”.
(the various blues’ intensity is in large part thanks to the sand’s whiteness, acting in concert with the sun, high in a clear sky)
The featured image looks down (and east, over Yokinup Bay, to Mt Arid) from Belinup Hill in Cape Arid National Park; visible, “naked” sand occupies a small portion of the photo, but millions of tons of “hidden” sand are invisibly-present through most of its field of view.
Southern WA has some of the world’s poorest soils, but what grows in and “hides” those very sands is (arguably) “our” planet’s greatest natural wildflower “show”.
The pictured sun orchid is probably Thelymitra granitora – the coastal granite sun orchid.
It is one of more than 1,100 native plant species that have been recorded in this “remote”, little-visited national park.
This post’s photos were taken whilst walking the Len Otte Nature Trail.
This easy circuit walk up and around Belinup Hill is named after Cape Arid’s first resident ranger, who established the trail in 1979.
On 15.09.2021 the array of wildflowers beggared belief.
The “near” end of this very large National Park is more than 830 kilometres by road from Perth.
Sydney & Bourke are closer to each other, as are Brisbane & Charleville; Adelaide & Broken Hill are much closer to each other, as are Melbourne & Mildura…and Cape Arid is literally thousands of kilometres distant from all of the just-mentioned!
That in part explains why so few people have been there..but only in part.
Reaching Esperance is not difficult.
Tourists from all over the world go there; most of them want to see “the best beach in the world” – Lucky Bay, in Cape Le Grande National Park.
Lucky Bay is magnificent, and is a deal less than one hour’s easy drive from Esperance..as are a whole lot of other wonderful places. (I am not alone in thinking that “the best beach in the world” is not actually the Esperance region’s best beach)
In spring, Lucky Bay can be “very busy”.
I am pretty sure that nowhere in Cape Arid National Park is ever “very busy”.
My beloved and I love Cape Le Grand National Park.
We love Cape Arid just as much.
Just about anyone who is lucky enough to know them both feels the same way.
So, why do so few people ever get to Cape Arid N.P.?
I think it is only partly because it involves a longer drive from Esperance.
One can easily reach the nearer, 2WD-accessible end of Cape Arid, spend the greater part of the day there, and then tootle back to Esperance, in good time for dinner.
However, Cape Arid is barely on the “tourism radar”; this may be a good thing!
I suspect that a lot of tourists are discouraged by the fact that the overwhelming majority of this National Park is strictly “4WD only”.
For example, there is no road to Mount Arid. To reach it you really have to know how to drive along a very long, very wild ocean beach, take account of tide-times, BYO everything, etc…
I suspect that many many “2 WD” people – or low-skilled “4WD” people – decide that “exploring” Cape Arid would just be too daunting/difficult, and that “heading out there won’t be worth it, because we’ll only be able access that little bit at the national park’s western end”.
My beloved & I are not “4WD” people. We have never been right out to Mt Arid, nor inland to Mt Ragged.
Be assured that the easily-accessed “little bit” at the western end of Cape Arid N.P. has more than enough natural splendour to justify a day-trip from Esperance…and/or a camping trip that would provide several days worth of unforgettable experiences.
This is one of Australia’s choicest places for persons partial to wild ocean shores, granite, dunes, rock pools, prolific birdlife, ‘roos, reptiles, stunning flora, whales, dramatic weather…and an almost total absence of built-anything.
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