We pick up our From There to Here story in Esperance, Western Australia. Making landfall in Esperance after the long passage in and across the Great Australian Bight was welcome in many ways. Though the passage across the Bight was challenging, it was also amazing. Now that is was behind us, however, getting back to civilization definitely had its pluses.
Read MoreWe arrived in Quindalup, anchored and didn't move off the boat for a day. It's easy to just enjoy hanging out, writing, reading and being our usual lazy selves. The cruising life can be truly grand some days. We did manage to launch the dinghy eventually. We decided to walk into the closest town of Dunsborough, more to assuage our guilt about being boat slugs, than because we needed anything in town. The walk to Dunsborough, in my estimation, was better than the town itself. Oh, don't get me wrong, Dunsborough's a nice little town, but getting there was stellar.
Geographe Bay Road follows the coast from where we beached our dinghy on the Quindalup shore to Dunsborough, ~4.5km/3mi to the east. Between the road and the beach is a paved trail about 30m/100' from the road itself, that meanders through bush and groves of eucalypts and provides easy access to the beaches on Geographe Bay. White ibis and magpies pecked at the lawns and red wattle-birds made their presence known in the trees.
The path is heavily used by cyclists, walkers, joggers, dog walkers and kids on scooters and skates. There are stops along the route with apparatus for exercise enthusiasts. There are picnic groves with public barbeques. We counted several playgrounds with interesting, colorful equipment for the kids. Benches are placed strategically for sitting, resting and watching the world go by. There was a bike hire place as we arrived closer to town, public restrooms and even a place which dispensed free filtered water to fill up your water bottle. We found this to be pretty remarkable for a small town that obviously takes walking seriously.
We were so involved in the walk and our conversation, we missed the very conspicuous turn-off to the town center and walked past it another 1km before realizing our error. We backtracked and headed the two blocks into town. It's spring holiday here for the kids and Dunsborough was crowded with people and traffic and it seemed overly frenetic. We checked out the Visitor's Center, bought a couple of freshies at the local IGA supermarket and then headed back to the walking path.
Walking back we checked out some of the beach access paths.
Some led directly to the beach, others to lagoons and tidal ponds teeming with ducks, gulls and very long-legged, aptly named black-winged stilts.
We could see Cups, far away in the distance, bobbing gently in the bay waters.
It took close to an hour to get back to the beach where the dinghy waited for us. A willy wag-tail danced on the bow of our dinghy, darting away as soon as we approached.
Some days are not particularly eventful. Some days are just meant to be appreciated because you're around to enjoy them.
Hi there and welcome to Just A Little Further!
We are David and Marcie Lynn and we've lived aboard our Liberty 458 cutter-rigged sailboat since 2000.
What began as an urge to travel slowly and economically at our own pace ended up an adventure of a lifetime.
Well, here we are ... nearly 90,000 miles under the keel, 5 continents, 5 Great Southern Capes, 36 countries and almost two decades later, still taking one passage at a time and going just a little further.
