We’ve just returned from six days at Esperance. Young Michael (pictured) and I took the wildlife cruise on the Seabreeze II to Woody Island and stayed overnight on the island in a safari hut.
This was a large, canvas tent with a timber floor, furnished with comfortable beds. There are shared amenities, including a camp kitchen and a kiosk which cooks meals to order. We had a fine breakfast there.
The island is fairly small but has some interesting walks and beautiful scenery. The vegetation is more lush than most other islands in the Recherche Archipelago. There is diverse flora and fauna including kangaroos (which were introduced) and lots of lizards, but no snakes.
Apparently one of the nearby islands does have snakes (adders), showing the fickleness of nature when these outcrops separated from the mainland.
According to Wikipedia, the islands became known to Europeans when Francois Thijssen and Pieter Nuyts, sailing on Gulden Zeepaert, sighted and explored the area in 1627.
George Vancouver also passed through the archipelago as part of his expedition in HMS Discovery in 1791. The area was named the Archipelago of the Recherche by Bruni d’Entrecasteaux during a French expedition in 1792. This name was taken from one of the Rear Admiral’s ships, Le Recherche. The town of Esperance is named from the other ship of the expedition.
We arrived just before a cold front which brought heavy showers for most of the time we stayed on the island. We managed to get all our walks in though between downpours. It was actually rather pleasant at night to feel warm and toasty in bed while the rain tumbled down on the tent roof.
If you’re not into fishing or biology there’s not much to do on the island apart from walking and relaxing. Michael probably would have got bored if we’d stayed much longer, but he enjoyed the short visit. I could spend a week there, no problem.
