'Nothing like I expected': 6 surprising things about Esperance

One of Australia’s most remote coastal towns has been attracting intrepid travellers for a while. Quentin Long realised his dream of visiting and was surprised by what he found.

I have been covering Esperance for 20 years. Every time I published the emblematic image of the kangaroos on the impossibly white sand of Lucky Bay with that ridiculously translucent blue-green water I was overwhelmed with itchy feet and desire.

I would mention Esperance to a grey nomad or van lifer or callers on radio and the reaction was always the same: gasps of delight followed by declarations of love for the beaches, the town and the people.

Flying into Esperance my expectations are totally wrong. This is agricultural wheatbelt country, not outback red sand. Over the next three days, I discover it’s not the only thing about Esperance I get wrong. From its not-pink Pink Lake to the ingenuity of its people in this remote corner of Australia; they’re intimately aware they can only rely on themselves so if they want something – great beer, olive oil, live music or arts – they will have to do it themselves. And they do.

Let me tell you why this WA town is nothing like what I expected and better than I imagined.

1. Cape le Grande is more beautiful than you could imagine

The park’s iconic beaches are a paradise for the tranquility-seeker. (Image: WTTC Esperance)

For once, the photos are not as good as the reality. Endless squeaky white sand with rolling turquoise water across an empty beach; it is far more serene than your imagination can conjure.

2. Lucky Bay is not the most beautiful beach in the region

Come to Hellfire Bay for the white sand and je ne sais quoi. (Image: Quentin Long)

At the risk of inviting hate mail, sorry Lucky Bay but Hellfire Bay gets my pick for the most beautiful beach. Same incomprehensibly white sand. Same turquoise water. But it is more protected from the elements, making swimming here easier, and there’s more to look at.

Sure the kangaroos on Lucky Bay generate more likes on Instagram but now that the parkrangers are policing tourists feeding them, they are less likely to be getting their toes sandy. (You’re more likely to spot them up at the campground if you must know.)

3. Esperance has a dedicated gig manager

Esperance’s local gig scene is managed by a dedicated musician. (Image: WTTC Esperance)

‘Kyza’ is not some mad Birkenstock-and-socks German backpacker who never left, he’s Kyron Smithson, an Esperance local musician who books all the live gigs under his management company Kyza Presents.

What other regional town in Australia has a dedicated entertainment manager? Just think about it. For a town of 15,000 souls to have a dedicated gig manager they must have a few venues and musos. Plus Kyza will book travelling bands into local hotspots, and he manages the online gig guide.

4. Esperance has an arts scene

Local artist Cindy Poole repurposes glass bottles into gorgeous art creations. (Image: Quentin Long)

Step into Cindy Poole’s ‘shed’ with a little caution; glass art is expensive and fragile.

While the Esperance native and former high school PE teacher turned glass artist is winning commissions from across the world she is more interested in solving our problem with the bottle.

Not what is inside the bottle but what happens to the bottle afterwards. She takes glass bottles and turns them into artworks, a product she describes as ReValued Glass.

And you can too. Step (carefully) into the actual studio where she will assist you in turning a bottle into a glass, vase or whatever takes your fancy. The pick of her works for me is the jewellery that comes from ‘ReValued’ Sapphire Gin bottles; I am coming with my own next time.

But Cindy is only a small piece of the art scene (yes it is a scene) in Esperance. The heart of the arts in Esperance is the Cannery Arts Centre. They play host to exhibitions and artists in residence programs, as well as weekly workshops.

5. Esperance has a food scene you have to taste to believe

Lucky Bay Brewery highlights local produce in its cuisine. (Image: Quentin Long)

To appreciate what the producers are creating you have to literally be there – hardly any of it gets to Perth let alone the East Coast.

Perhaps the best example is Lucky Brewery. They only use local products. That includes barley and wheat from local farmers and even the water is harvested from the brewery, restaurant and beer garden’s roof.

Co-owners and partners Robyn Cail and Nigel Metz describe their philosophy as ‘paddock to pint’. And the fruit of this philosophy is almost entirely consumed by lucky locals.

But the dedication to local goes way beyond the brew; the restaurant serves mostly local produce (the pizzas are made from local wheat and are outstanding) and they are the one constant in Kyza’s gig guide. Every Friday and Sunday, come rain, hail or no drinkers, they pay to have live music.

Relax and enjoy the sunshine at Yirri Grove. (Image: Quentin Long)

Yirri Grove Olive Farm is the ‘active retirement’ of former Kalgoorlie shed builders Anne and Shane O’Neill.

Instead of shipping their olives 700 kilometres to Perth to process and losing the ability to produce EVO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), they bought the smallest commercial grade processor from Italy to convert their grove of Kalamata, Manzanillo, Frantoio and Barnea into green gold.

Today you can wander the grove, book a tasting of the varieties and blends (the have very pronounced and different characteristics) or even stay in the Heyscape tiny cabin onsite but to partake in it you have to be there – it is not sold in supermarkets or outside the region.

6. There are pink lakes but the lake called Pink Lake is not pink

The scale and colour of the pink lakes are best appreciated from above. (Image: Quentin Long)

Yep, only in WA. There is a lake called The Pink Lake but for some reason, the algae that gave it its rosy hue died about 20 years ago. It even spawned a suburb of Esperance called Pink Lake.

However, there are thousands of much smaller lakes dotted across the area. Many of these are in fact pink but have no name.