Esperance's impossible blue

Traveling 631 km south-east of Perth – one of the most out-of-the-way cities on Earth, in far-off Western Australia, is a long way from anywhere. As I traverse Western Australia, I’m hit by that uncanny fizz of sacrifice, the struggle that reminds me this is a part of the world for the patient traveler. The one willing to move slowly and endure large, empty distances to discover pure landscapes, where few others have been. It’s a place that makes you feel things and realize that travel, after all, is an act of movement. I’ve been hooked on WA for a while; perhaps it’s the challenge of getting here, the sense of conquest at the end of each journey that I find so appealing – or it’s the effort that always, always pays off.

It’s late January, and we cross WA’s raw Outback without seeing another single soul. We spend eight hours on the road until, without warning, the deserted landscape changes dramatically. In extreme isolation, massive granite outcrops give way to freshwater pools. Over a few days, we navigate across Cape Le Grand National Park, 50km from the nearest town of Esperance, and discover the most compelling collection of pristine beaches – a place I thought existed only in dreams. But the absence of footsteps in this unheard-off wilderness is so real. There are no hotels, no accommodation within a 50km distance from the Park. Just the whitest sands, the most transparent blue water, in front of my eye, in a protected area of 31,801 hectares.