Esperance may be famous for its stunning coastline and sunbathing kangaroos of Lucky Bay, but here are some facts you may not already know about our coastal paradise!
1. The Aboriginal name for Esperance is "Kepa Kurl". Kepa means water and kurl means boomerang - "where the water lies like a boomerang."
2. Esperance's Coastal National Parks combine to cover 3,200 sq. kilometres. These are made up of Cape Le Grand, Cape Arid, Peak Charles and Stokes Inlet National Parks. These coastal parks are amazing for swimming, fishing, surfing, boating, walking, hiking or just lazing on the pure white sand of the many beaches.
3. You can fly over a bubble-gum pink lake. Lake Hillier, off the coast of Esperance, is bright pink in colour and contrasted by the green bushland and blue ocean. It's an incredible sight and one you'll never forget. Book this amazing experience with Goldfields Air Services.
4. Esperance is home to the only full size replica of the original Stonehenge in the UK. It appears as the original would have looked around 1950BC. It consists of 137 stones of Esperance Pink Granite that were all quarried locally less than 1km from the Stonehenge's final resting place.
5. In 1973, NASA made its first attempt at an orbital space station with Skylab. When some space debris from this crashed into Esperance, the council charged the space agency $400 for littering. NASA has yet to pay. However, in 2009, 30 years after Skylab’s reentry, California radio DJ Scott Barley asked listeners to donate money so they could finally clear NASA’s books. Though the mayor of Esperance told Barley the ticket had been “written off years ago,” he and his listeners cobbled together the $400 and sent it to the shire. For his efforts, Barley was invited to Esperance and received a key to the city. If you visit the Esperance Municipal Museum, you'll find a large model of Skylab standing on a pedestal at the museum’s entrance and a collection of the debris on show inside.
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