I woke up and the wind was gusting so I told Alex I was getting up. His response? “It’s 5:00!” I interpreted that as, “Stay where you are and go back to sleep.” By 7:00 we were on the road. We took the scenic route around the Bay and across a couple of little bridges onto the Great Southern Hwy. We didn’t stop until Jerramungup which had a lovely new Welcome Wall with lush shrubs growing around it. I was very impressed and sure that nothing like that was there when we came there before. I anticipated similar great changes in the town and there were new buildings, a community church 1967, Hardware store, Garden Centre and various bureaucratic buildings but the Service Station and IGA looked as though they might have been there in the 1960s. I thought how different my life would have been if Dad had taken up the option on the farm.
There is some information on the Soldier Settlement scheme here if you’re interested. http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2009/11/terry-spence.html
The weather was at times terrible, with lashing rain and when we were in Jerramungup it was raining so not conducive to a proper walk around. About a dozen other people arrived at the Roadhouse just after us with the same idea of warming themselves with some hot food & I presume most of their business comes from tourists simply because there aren’t many other places to stop on the way to Esperance. At Ravensthorpe there was a Native Flower Show but we didn’t stop because we wanted to get to Esperance early and there is a display of native plants at the Arboretum so we plan to go there tomorrow.
We had decided to try the Caravan Park furthest away from the beach and winds but when we arrived there it looked less than salubrious. The shop at the entrance looked very dilapidated and nothing beyond that looked inviting so we changed our minds and came on into the beachfront park. The person in front of us got the last cabin available, in fact, accommodation of any kind is very difficult to get. We have one of the more sheltered sites and have bought more ties to hold the canvas taught so hopefully we’ll be OK if the winds get bad. If it gets too nasty we’ll join others in the Camp Kitchen. We’re booked in for tomorrow night too.
Welcome to Jerramungup
Tobruk Fuels, Main Street, Jerramungup
Original store?
Most modern looking building, built 1967. Interdenominational church.
“Sammy” looking along old Tanker Jetty, Esperance
2macstracks 
Comments on: "Esperance" (3)
The W.A. locals will be very grateful that you brought them rain. Yes, how very different your life might have been if your Dad took up the farm offer. Hopefully you would have still become a teacher; you are too good not to pass on all your knowledge and experiences.
Glorious sunny day in Adelaide today.
Love
Cindy
I am always interested in Esperance as Danny did a lot of the clearing over there when he left home.
I think they had very bad drought in that area for a long time . Maybe that is why it does not have many new vibrant shops. The IGA store reminds me of the one at Coomealla near Mildura . The shops look terrible feel like saying give the outside a good scrub and lick of paint. Inside is fine .
We have had ferocious winds here on a couple of days.
Esperance is very vibrant and has heaps of new housing development going on. Jerramungup was the place that didn’t seem to have grown much over the past 50 years or so.