Perth to Esperance Road Trip

Ultimate guide to a road trip from Perth to Esperance in Western Australia.

Esperance

Esperance hosts many of Australia’s best beaches including Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park which is often voted Australia’s best beach and has the whitest sand in the country. An 8 hour drive from Perth it is the perfect opportunity for a road trip from Western Australia’s capital of Perth (where 90% of the state’s population live) and chance to see some other beautiful spots along the way.

How long do I need for a road trip?

Many tours take 6-10 days. As I was short on time and driving myself I did the trip in 4 days driving the South West Loop but cutting out Margaret River which I plan on visiting another time. The perks of a road trip is you can make it as long or short as you want.

Day 1: Perth to Hyden via York

I left Perth early in the morning and drove 1 hour 20 minutes to the town of York. Here I visited the York Motor Museum which was brilliant and definitely worth the entry fee. Plenty of public toilets, servos for petrol and coffee shops I was ready for the 2 and a half hour drive to Hyden. This drive goes through the Wheatbelt, miles and miles of golden wheat which was very pretty.

Hyden is the town where Wave Rock, a stunning rock formation/monolith is. When I arrived I checked into the Wave Rock Motel where I was staying for the night. I was really impressed with this motel, and having my car parked right outside my door was really helpful for getting luggage in and out of the car where I was only staying one night.

Wave Rock itself was beautiful. You can walk a shortish loop or drive round the corner to Hippo’s Yawn, another rock formation that looks like a hippo’s open mouth. I did also visit the salt pools which is an additional $10 but the changing rooms haven’t been finished being built and water looked very murky so I wouldn’t recommend this.

Day 2: Cape Le Grand National Park//Esperance

The next morning I headed out early to drive 2 hours to Ravensthorpe where I stopped for supplies at the IGA and petrol. They also have painted silos which are a nice photo opportunity while you’re stretching your legs. Another two hours in the car and I got to Cape Le Grand National Park. My first stop was Hellfire Bay which was so beautiful and great for a swim. As this is Esperance, one of the shark hotspots of Australia I stayed in the shallows as did all the other visitors. From here you can see Frenchmen’s Peak and is a real gem of the stunning national park.

Next I drove 10 minutes to Lucky Bay. When I first saw the water I gasped, assuming I had sunglasses on I took them off not releasing it was my reading glasses were on as I didn’t think the water could possibly be that blue. With the whitest sand in Australia, this was the bluest water I had ever seen. I spent the rest of the day here. I was hoping to see a few Kangaroos who are most often spotted dawn and dusk but I left at 4pm as I didn’t want any Roos jumping in front of my car on the 50 minute drive to Esperance town.

Once I had driven back to the town I checked into Bay View Motel where I got an early night after I busy but amazing day.

Day 3: Esperance to Denmark via Albany

Now this was the longest day of driving by far but it was totally worth it. I started my morning by going to Twilight Beach, only 10 minutes from my motel. While this beach was nice, I had been very spoilt by Cape Le Grand beaches so I wouldn’t say this was my favourite. Where it was overcast the water didn’t look very blue and there was a bit of a sewage smell. I hopped across the car park to see Picnic Beach which was very pretty but on a windy and overcast day didn’t lend for sunbathing or swimming. My next motel was in Denmark but I made a detour to stop at Two People’s Bay in Albany. The drive to Albany itself was beautiful, lots of trees which made me feel like I was back home in England. But by the time I got to Little Beach it looked like something straight from South East Asia- dazzling water and great rock formations made it very impressive. Even though it was overcast the water was still so blue. I then had a 50 minute drive to my motel in Denmark- Koorabup Motel which was my favourite stay of the trip. I had my own little terrace where I could watch kangaroos hopping about their business and was next door to the Denmark Tavern which did a cracking surf and turf with a glass of red after a long day.

Day 4: Denmark and back to Perth via the country

On the last day of my little holiday, I had a slower morning- enjoying my morning coffee on the terrace watching the kangaroos. There was a slight bit of rain which again reminded me of England. Denmark is very green and beautiful and the rain didn’t spoil it at all. After checking out I drove down to Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool. The heavens decided to open at this point but it didn’t stop me enjoying a swim at Green’s Pool.

Now was time for the 5 hour drive back to Perth. I broke this up by stopping at Mount Barker for their infamous pie shop (where I got a surf and turf pie- incredible). This town was very cute and including a “stick library” for dogs.

I next stopped at Boddington at River Side Roadhouse for a coffee. Having already been to Boddington for a rodeo I new I was ever so close to being back home in Perth.

After 4 days of driving through country roads it felt weird to be back to city traffic again but I was quickly home where I got a good night’s kip after a busy and adventurous long weekend.

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