…the smoke cloud had a “silver lining”.
Briefly, it enabled eyes and cameras to look straight at “our” solar system’s only star.
From Esperance, various short drives along good roads grant easy access to some of Australia’s – indeed, the world’s – most glorious coastline.
My favourite such places are 40 to 80 minutes east of Esperance, but the closest, most popular ones are immediately west of the town.
For circa 20 kilometres, there is a string of superb beaches, punctuated by dramatic headlands.
Generally, the sands are “impossibly” white, the waters almost unbelievably blue, as intense, clear light shines across them and the myriad granite islands of the Archipelago of the Recherche, aka “The Bay of Isles”.
Esperance’s Great Ocean Drive is not misleadingly-named.
Late afternoon of 08 September 2021, however, delivered the “worst” light I have ever experienced there.
The ocean was unusually flat, and this already uncommonly hazy afternoon was then rendered even more dull, as a large smoke cloud progressively encroached from the west.
Even such very “bad” light could not entirely hide the splendour..
…and on even such a dull day tourists would surely envy Esperance residents’ easy access to beaches like this, just out of town:
Aside from the image immediately above, this post’s photos were all taken between 5.20 pm and 5.33 pm, whilst I waited to see if the sun would “escape” the smoke cloud.
There is no such thing as a thoroughly “bad” day!
Although the “escape” did not materialise, at 5.33 pm the sun almost-shone, briefly, upon the rocks immediately below.
Footnote:
Much online “information” about “must see” destinations is written by people who are utterly clueless about the destinations they purport to describe, but which they have clearly never laid eyes upon.
One particularly egregious example gushes:
The Great Ocean Drive is a true bucket-list destination.
Often dubbed ‘Australia’s most beautiful stretch of road,’ this spectacular 40-kilometre coastal route takes you past a string of stunning Esperance beaches, karri forests, lush wine regions, and breathtaking panoramas.
Esperance’s Great Ocean Drive is 450 kilometres distant from the nearest karri forest!
The nearest “lush wine regions” are also circa 450 kilometres away.
The phoney website’s featured image does not in fact depict The Great Ocean Drive. (although – quasi-miraculously – the photo was at least taken within the Esperance region…albeit many more kilometres distant from Esperance, and east thereof, not west)
No observant visitor to the Esperance region would ever describe any of it as “lush”, although most actual-visitors would agree that it is truly extraordinary, and very beautiful.
If you’d prefer some truthful information about The Great Ocean Drive, click this.