Le Grand National Park WA

This national park is approximately 50 kms east of Esperance and it is close to perfection for beauty and it contains some of the loveliest beaches in the world against granite backdrops. Each beach has its own attractions. The coastline both here at the national park and around Esperance, is dramatic, rugged and beautiful. But few areas of natural beauty come close to the scenic splendours of Cape Le Grand National Park.

Granite headlands plunge into the azure blue sea. Between the majestic headlands lie sheltered bays of crystal clear water fringed by dazzling white sandy beaches. The sand looks like snow. The beach in this photo is my favourite Thistle Cove. But there are many others just as beautiful.

These are the peaks within the national park.

Look at the little bays within the granite peaks.

The terrain of a lot of the south-west of WA remind one of the cliffs around Portugal except the sea around the cliffs there is the Atlantic and not the wonderful azure of the Southern Ocean. When we were in Portugal Andrew kept remarking on the similarities he found with WA coastline. At the time I was unsympathetic but now that I am here in the southwest of WA I can see what he saw. But lovely though Portugal is, there is no comparison to the beauty of this coastline. And I know where I would rather live, Portugal or Australia. Peter Allen knew what he was saying about still calling Australia home.

We also went to Cape Arid NP which is also lovely and very similar to Cape Le Grand but a little further east. Personally speaking, I would not venture further than Le Grand NP. It has been the highlight of thr trip with only Karrijini NP rivalling it for beauty and splendour.

There are two campgrounds in the NP one at Lucky Bay, a beautiful bay with the usual azure waters. The other is at Le Grand Beach which is a majestically long beach with equally pristine sand and azure water. The charge is $12 per couple (senior rates) at either campground. The camp kitchen is beautifully clean with 4 gas rings, barbecue and hot water for washing up. There are also two showers with limited hot water. Camping does not get much better than this with the beach just a minute away. As well as the sandy beaches there are many walking trails in the NP. We walked between Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove, a 1 hour walk between the two scenic attractions.