Esperance, Australia

[joe2cool]

Hi in a few days time we are travelling to Australia & NZ & was wondering when we arrive at Esperance via tender, will we be close enough to the town to continue on foot for exploring etc..................Just wondered if anyone had been?

 

 

Thx

[WAPilot]

Esperance is quite a small town & the port area is close to the 'centre'.

 

The beaches around Esperance are some of the best in the world - the sand is quite unusual to feel & is the whitest of white & contrasts beautifully with the turquoise (albeit quite cold) water.

 

If you are interested, a 4 wheel drive to Cape Le Grand National Park along the beach is in my subjective opinion better than Fraser Island. Lucky Bay is also very popular & local travel companies do day tours catering for visiting passenger ships.

 

Tripadvisor has a bit about Esperance & is worth a web search.

[joe2cool]

Cheers.................appreciated.............. we were interested on booking a four wheeled drive before hand, but it says we a have to wait until we get on the ship..........would you say its best to book a trip though?......can you easily do it on your own?

[dizzy1948]

The centre of Esperance is easy to get to and get around - it is a Country town - and just a piece of useless information - Esperance doesn't have traffic lights - only roundabouts. What ever you decide to do - take plenty of water - and plenty of sunscreen.

[WAPilot]

Personally, as you will be there on a ship, presumably for only a day, the best thing would be to contact an Esperance tour company direct.

One that comes to mind is <www.esperancetours.com.au/>.

They have some good reviews on Tripadvisor & may be better value than a ship excursion.

 

I would not recommend hiring a 4WD & doing it yourself - a knowledgeable & experienced local operator would be a better option, as you will get to see the best parts of the area, without the hassles of 'do it yourself' 4 wheel driving in an area you are not familiar with.

 

The beach drive is quite long & some parts of it are 'deceptive' & quite soft & one would not like to be bogged. We almost came to grief in our own 4WD many years ago, but managed to extract ourselves by lowering the pressure in the tyres etc.etc.!

[joe2cool]

Thx so much appreciated

[GCHAN]

Personally, as you will be there on a ship, presumably for only a day, the best thing would be to contact an Esperance tour company direct.

One that comes to mind is <www.esperancetours.com.au/>.

They have some good reviews on Tripadvisor & may be better value than a ship excursion.

 

I would not recommend hiring a 4WD & doing it yourself - a knowledgeable & experienced local operator would be a better option, as you will get to see the best parts of the area, without the hassles of 'do it yourself' 4 wheel driving in an area you are not familiar with.

 

The beach drive is quite long & some parts of it are 'deceptive' & quite soft & one would not like to be bogged. We almost came to grief in our own 4WD many years ago, but managed to extract ourselves by lowering the pressure in the tyres etc.etc.!

 

I definitely agree with this. An organised tour is the way to go. A lot of people on our recent cruise were disappointed with this stopover but the people who went on tours seemed to love it.

 

We have been there a few times now and the beaches are really beautiful.

[pkw]

I also agree - esperance is beautiful & you will see so much more on a tour.

[benjoon]

Esperance is a beautiful town. We went there last year and loved it. It's a long drive from Perth but worth it. Arriving on a cruise ship would be magical.

 

We did the National Parks. Yes the sand is the whitest I've ever seen and it squeaks as you walk on it. The water is so blue. You may be lucky to see kangaroos on the beach.

 

Keep an eye out for the seal under the town jetty.

 

We had a 4WD but stayed away from driving on the beach as we weren't experienced driving on the sand. I would have loved to do the drive from town along the long clean beach. Maybe next time we will book an organised 4WD trip.

[cassamanda]

Esperance was one of the highlights on our Mar 2012 cruise. We organised a private tour with the tourism people in Esperance for our roll call which was a great hit and a precurser to ships following. The next Radiance of the Seas cruise out of Fremantle on Mar 22 is doing the same.

Only way to go.

If you end up doing your own thing - don't forget to visit the local museum. It is located next to the shuttle bus stop in town.

[Aus Traveller]

Esperance is quite a small town & the port area is close to the 'centre'.

 

The beaches around Esperance are some of the best in the world - the sand is quite unusual to feel & is the whitest of white & contrasts beautifully with the turquoise (albeit quite cold) water.

 

If you are interested, a 4 wheel drive to Cape Le Grand National Park along the beach is in my subjective opinion better than Fraser Island. Lucky Bay is also very popular & local travel companies do day tours catering for visiting passenger ships.

 

Tripadvisor has a bit about Esperance & is worth a web search.

 

I agree with this post. Cape Le Grand National National Park has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Jaw-dropping beautiful. It is different from Fraser Island that has rainforest and stunning lakes as well as lovely beaches (but not jaw-dropping beautiful beaches). Investigate local companies that can take you to Cape Le Grand. This will be a truly memorable day.

 

Esperance is an attractive town, but a day spent in the town won't be the highlight of your cruise. We like Whale World - an informative 'theme-park' set in a former whaling station. This is well out of town and cannot be reached by walking and I doubt that public transport would go there.

[dizzy1948]

Whale World is in Albany - was known as Cheyne Beach Whaling Station and is absolutely fantastic but not doable from Esperance in a day. 480 kms away = 5 hrs :eek:

[Aus Traveller]

Whale World is in Albany - was known as Cheyne Beach Whaling Station and is absolutely fantastic but not doable from Esperance in a day. 480 kms away = 5 hrs :eek:

sorry about that. You are right - it is in Albany.

 

I don't know what I could recommend that someone do for a day in Esperance. See Sammy the sea lion at the jetty? That would take a short while. What else?

[dizzy1948]

sorry about that. You are right - it is in Albany.

 

I don't know what I could recommend that someone do for a day in Esperance. See Sammy the sea lion at the jetty? That would take a short while. What else?

 

Not a lot....unless you take the tours. There is a "Stonehenge" near Le Grande - and "tours" can be expensive - not necessarily ship tours either - (as you are a "captive" audience) with Esperance being so remote...........it could pay to bite the bullet and do a tour - otherwise it is a Town walk about.

 

Somewhere on this board is another Esperance thread - I know it has lots of details about what to do - and lots of recommendations - (I haven't time to look just now - off to work) but it is on here somewhere - only going back a couple of months or so. Or perhaps it's on the Australia NZ Ports of Call Thread

[cassamanda]

sorry about that. You are right - it is in Albany.

 

I don't know what I could recommend that someone do for a day in Esperance. See Sammy the sea lion at the jetty? That would take a short while. What else?

 

Not a lot....unless you take the tours. There is a "Stonehenge" near Le Grande - and "tours" can be expensive - not necessarily ship tours either - (as you are a "captive" audience) with Esperance being so remote...........it could pay to bite the bullet and do a tour - otherwise it is a Town walk about.

 

Somewhere on this board is another Esperance thread - I know it has lots of details about what to do - and lots of recommendations - (I haven't time to look just now - off to work) but it is on here somewhere - only going back a couple of months or so. Or perhaps it's on the Australia NZ Ports of Call Thread

This is one i posted on with details of our tour organised for the roll call - it is well worth following up.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=34912871#post34912871

[benjoon]

If you end up doing your own thing - don't forget to visit the local museum. It is located next to the shuttle bus stop in town.

 

This museum houses the pieces of Skylab that landed in Western Australia.

 

It didn't land anywhere near us but I remember as a kid people at school walking around with hard hats on.

 

It was worth the nostalgia seeing it there.

[Hobar]

well..greetings from Barry and Hope. Hope you are well. any trips lately or any planned?

[WAPilot]

well..greetings from Barry and Hope. Hope you are well. any trips lately or any planned?

Hi Barry & Hope,

Good to hear from you.

Seabourn again - onboard 'Quest' for 25 days in the Med from Monte Carlo on 3rd of June.

All OK & still not retired!

Cheers V & J

[Pearl64]

We were on the Solstice this past February and had a stop in Esperance. We, too, were wondering what to do in Esperance. Early on I decided to rent a car from Avis figuring I could always cancel if I found something better. There are downloadable maps of drives on Esperance's tourist website. We tok the Ocean Drive which took us past gorgeous beaches. We also walked to the wind turbines. Very interesting. We did stop at Stonehenge. I would skip that one as the entrance fee is high. You can see it from the road. It is on the way to Cape le Grande National Park. We did manage to see a kangaroo and a Joey just resting on the beach. We were not rushed.

 

Avis is located a short 10-15 minute walk from the tender. You can see the Avis sign. The entire day ran us around $100 including rental, extra insurance, gas, and entrance fees. You need to get outside of town to see the beaches. You can't walk there.

 

There isn't much in town. There is a McDonalds but the WiFi was very slow as everyone from the ship was trying to log on. The winds picked up while ashore and tendering back to the ship was scary. It also caused the tenders to take up to 45 minutes instead of the normal 15 minute trip. We had to wait in the hot hot sun for over two hours to get our tender. We did not make it to the museum but would have had time considering the long tender wait.

 

Many did not like the port. We enjoyed ourselves and glad we rented a car.

 

Pearl

[cassamanda]

We were on the Solstice this past February and had a stop in Esperance. We, too, were wondering what to do in Esperance. Early on I decided to rent a car from Avis figuring I could always cancel if I found something better. There are downloadable maps of drives on Esperance's tourist website. We tok the Ocean Drive which took us past gorgeous beaches. We also walked to the wind turbines. Very interesting. We did stop at Stonehenge. I would skip that one as the entrance fee is high. You can see it from the road. It is on the way to Cape le Grande National Park. We did manage to see a kangaroo and a Joey just resting on the beach. We were not rushed.

 

Avis is located a short 10-15 minute walk from the tender. You can see the Avis sign. The entire day ran us around $100 including rental, extra insurance, gas, and entrance fees. You need to get outside of town to see the beaches. You can't walk there.

 

There isn't much in town. There is a McDonalds but the WiFi was very slow as everyone from the ship was trying to log on. The winds picked up while ashore and tendering back to the ship was scary. It also caused the tenders to take up to 45 minutes instead of the normal 15 minute trip. We had to wait in the hot hot sun for over two hours to get our tender. We did not make it to the museum but would have had time considering the long tender wait.

 

Many did not like the port. We enjoyed ourselves and glad we rented a car.

 

Pearl

Hello Pearl, we appreciate your comments. I think that Stonehenge is definitely worth a visit. You don't appreciate the background to this exact replica unless you visit and listen to the story telling of the owners and how the massive marble blocks were placed. A fabulous morning tea is also served there as well as there being toilet/washroom facilities and a souvenire shop. The entrance fee is only $5.

Stonehenge was important enough to warrant a visit by the State Premier in February 2012.

Unfortunately we hear a lot about people not enjoying certain ports because they are ignorant of what the area has to offer. Australia is not the Carribean.

[Pearl64]

Cassamanda, I just double checked with my husband and the entrance cost was around $10. We did not see the morning tea or hear the commentary about the erecting of the stones. We were handed a brochure and that was basically it. We would have loved to have heard some commentary. Can't imagine how we missed all you mentioned.

 

You are right that often folks do not do their homework. Many on our cruise stayed on the ship and did not get off in Esperance or Albany. They missed seeing more of Australia. We loved our circumnavigation as we felt we learned about the diversity of Australia. We even enjoyed seeing the iron ore facilities in Port Hedlund. Granted there was not much else but we saw a huge portion of what drives the Australian economy. Our only complaint there was the extreme temperatures. When we were leaving, we counted twenty ships waiting to come into port.

 

Pearl

[cassamanda]

Both these ports are relatively new to modern day cruise ship visits but ships have been visiting Albany for many years.

Many people i quess don't really care about where they go as long as they are cruising. I was amazed at the amount of people still lazing like walrusses around the pool as we were entering Albany and it's superb harbour entrance through King George Sound. A very important harbour where a huge flotilla of war ships were gathered at the commencement of WW1. Also a historic town being the first area settled in Western Australia (1827) and first Port and Whaling Centre. Lots to see and do there plus an easy walk from the dock.