The land Down Under – Part 1

The highlight of my trip when visiting Australia this time was the flight over Lake Hillier, which is actually pink coloured because of the algae in the water, but I will return to this beautiful lake later on.

Let me start with the Western Australian capital, Perth. It is supposed to be the most isolated city in the world, since the nearest city with greater population is Adelaide, which is far away. But you don’t feel isolated, at least I didn’t. The city itself has it all. Some higher buildings in the city center at Elizabeth Quay near the Swan river, but the majority of other buildings are smaller, which means you do not feel “trapped” like I sometimes feel in big cities like London, for example, where there is loud traffic and many people crossing the streets all around you. If you choose to sleep near the city center in the area called Northbridge like I did, you can find many affordable places to sleep and eat. Another great thing about staying here is that there are beautiful city parks nearby. One of the biggest, just about a 15-minute walk away, is near the river and it is called Kings Park. You have to take a few steps uphill to get there, but it is totally worth it, since you can see the city, the Swan river and the surroundings from above. Kings Park is one of the largest and most beautiful inner-city parks in the world.

Everybody knows that Australia is famous for its peculiar animals, which you can only see in this part of the world. One of these animals are kangaroos. The reason I have mentioned them is because in Kings Park there is a beautiful Botanical garden with more than 3,000 native flowers, and one of them is called Kangaroo paw fern and you can see them at any time of the year.

The weather is very enjoyable in Perth and with many excellent beaches nearby you can swim almost all year round.

Time in Perth flew by very fast and after spending a few days there, I was already on a morning flight to another beautiful city, called Esperance. Esperance is well known for one of the best beaches in whole Australia and it attracts many travellers. Approximately an hour’s drive from the city is a beautiful park Cape Le Grand, where you can swim in a beautiful and maybe a bit cold water, sunbathe on a white sand and, if it is a sunny day and you are lucky enough, kangaroos will come near you and sunbathe, too. So you have a chance to make a selfie with this incredible animal. Do not be afraid, since they are used to people. Just one thing to keep in mind – do not feed them! Human food can make them ill.

The main road leading into the park will go near the Frenchman peak. If you like to hike, take some water and enjoy the beautiful views from the top. It can get really, really hot, so maybe bring extra water and definitely do not go without a hat and suncream to protect yourself.

One of the nicest beaches in Cape Le Grand National Park, Lucky Bay can also be seen from a hike just left of the camp. You will walk for about twenty minutes, but views over the Bay are spectacular. And when you come back to the beach, you will find a truck selling coffee, called the Lucky Bean Coffee. They also have some snacks.

Another excellent beach in Cape Le Grand is Hellfire bay, which is just a five-minute drive from Lucky Bay. Also, there is white sand everywhere, but no camping grounds and no coffee to buy. But there is a free and very clean toilet. What I really like about Australia is that you can find clean and free toilets literally everywhere you go. Tap water is also drinkable in majority of the places in Australia, it may just taste a bit funny.

And now we have came to the spectacular lake I mentioned at the beginnng of this article. The one and only Lake Hillier! It is approximately a fifty-minute flight from Esperance. You can see the town of Esperance from above and the landscape all the way to Middle Island, with great views of Recherche Archipelago, so you actually go quite far with the plane to see this astonishingly beautiful lake. Our great pilot was full of information about Esperance and Lake Hillier and was talking the whole way there and back. It was a bit windy and because it was a very small plane for approximately eight passengers, it got a bit bumpy, which is something to keep in mind if you have stomach problems. The pink colour of Lake Hillier is permanent and does not alter when you fill your bottle with it. The pink-reddish colour is considered to be the result of the presence of the Dunaliella salina organism – this is the name of the algae. Do you think it was worth the money? Trust me, it was. And I really recommend it!

To be continued!