The Duke

We drove another 40km or so east of Cape Le Grande and checked in to the Duke of Orleans CP or "the Duke" as it is known locally. We had never even heard of the place but it is extremely popular with the locals, and is one of those caravan parks where the same people book each year so there are lots of people here and plenty of kids. You are allowed dogs too so there a a few of those around. It's claim to fame is the beach about 2km away called Wharton's which many claim is the best beach in Australia. Having seen it I have to agree it is up there. It is one of those great beaches that you can drive on, there are rocks at one end to fish from and shallow water with enough waves for a bit of surfing and swimming. Charlie liked it because the sand is great for making roads for his cars! The sand is that squeaky sand and is the texture of icing sugar and the same colour.




Driving your car right onto the beach is one of the things we really love about WA. It is fantastic not to have to carry all your stuff from the car, you have your fridge within easy reach and some instant shade. Love it.

The boys have made some friends and spend their time riding around in a little gang, sometimes letting Charlie join in. We spent the second day here at the beach and Jack tried some surfing which he did well at. Jack and Charlie spent most of the time fighting which has been happening a lot recently. I think they need a break from each other, in fact I think we all do! Tom woke up this morning saying how much he misses my mum and how pleased he is that it's only 18 sleeps until we see her.

We spent our last day on a day trip to Cape Arid National Park. There are basic camping facilities out there but we didn't feel up to the effort of tenting it again. It took about 45 minutes to get to Thomas River along some very reasonable dirt roads. We realized that we actually could have brought the van out here with no trouble. Maybe next time. It was a very beautiful place and there was hardly anyone around. Miles and miles of beach with white sand and that amazing blue water.










And more driving along the beach! We had a picnic lunch at the Thomas River inlet and Michael and Tom went for a walk and found some huge crabs. Jack and Charlie played cars in the sand without fighting for a change.




We then went for a drive to look at some of the other beaches in the area. This is looking down onto Dolphin Cove (I think) and around to Cape Arid.




We followed a track to Tagon Beach which started off pretty well but ended in some deep sand which we got stuck in, having forgotten to lower the tyre pressure! The minute we realized we were stuck all three boys jump out of the car and go straight to a tyre, find a stick and start letting out the air! Even Charlie! Very experienced 4WDers we are now! Apart from forgetting about the tyre pressure in the first place. We weren't stuck in very deep sand so got out easily. Lucky really as there was no one else around and it was a long walk to the ranger for help. There are heaps of other areas to look at in the National Park but it would be much safer to do it with someone else so we will have to come back!

We had dinner at the Condingup Tavern which is a tiny pub about 20km north of the Duke, then the next day we packed up and went back into Esperance for one night before we head across the Nullabor!